LastingAware The greatest movie ever!

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Joanna Mccarty Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Sanjeev Waters A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Anssi Vartiainen The Duel strikes that elusive balance between tongue in cheek and believable wuxia martial arts goodness. The story goes that a master of the sword Yeh Cool Son (Andy Lau) challenges another master, Simon Snow Blower (Ekin Cheng), to a final duel over the rooftops of the Forbidden City. And yes, that is his name. The emperor, believing this all to be in good fun, allows this, but at the same time his special agent, Dragon 9 (Nick Cheung), starts investigating strange murders around the palace.The Duel features some spectacular special effects for its time, though I do admit that they water down the traditional wuxia fighting more than a little bit. There are some cool shots, certainly, but I still prefer the more restrained wire techniques. Luckily though the movie largely makes up for this with a relaxed, tongue in cheek style of storytelling. The characters are played for laughs, the dialogue is quick and witty and overall the movie isn't aiming to be a huge epic. It's more of an affectionate parody of the genre, but in a way that also works as a straight example. If only barely.I also really enjoy Dragon 9 as the main character. He's clearly the comic relief of the film, but refreshingly that doesn't make him the butt of the jokes. Quite the opposite. He is one serious badass, only surpassed by the two masters of the sword. He's also joined by the emperor's sister, Princess Phoenix (Wei Zhao), who's a lot of fun, but also capable in her own right.All in all The Duel is a great watch for all looking for a more lighthearted wuxia experience. It's fun and witty, but also capable of telling a captivating story and featuring some truly great characters.

amid77 There was no real expectations from this movie. Just another HK martial art and romance story, but still, it was very surprising to find out how awful this film is.The story is really dumb and the rest is even more dumber. There is no logical consistence in the plot, no clever dialogs, not even funny jokes or slapstick humor. Well, maybe some situations made me smile, but now I don't remember why. Characters appearing and disappearing in the movie with no reason, most of them have no purpose at all, the others, that got something to do and should move this very simple plot forwards, are actually complicating the whole thing and the movie steps in one place with no progress or interest at all. There was at least five times that I asked myself, when, god damn it, this movie is going to end? Fighting scenes, the main reason for watching this kind of movies, are very boring and has no creativity nor imagination. Just simple and basic moves that I already saw in much better films with much better choreography and with much better camera working.Fantastic and unreal stuff, like people flying or making some "energy waves" with their swords, looks pathetic and completely unbelievable, visual effects are very bad and infantile. The only reason I gave this film a second star out of ten, is the appearance of Vicki Zhao as princess Pheonix. As usual, she is just adorable and sweet as beautiful woman can be.But I got to ask you, Vicki: WHAT DA F**K ARE YOU DOING IN THIS STUPID MOVIE? You should make more movies like amazing "Green Tea" or really funny and interesting "Chinese Odyssey 2002". Anyway, be cool.Thats it. I'm highly recommending not to see this film, especially if you Andy Lau fan, cause his acting skills is very doubtful, well, as much as the rest of the cast. ( Not you, Vicki )

masercot I don't use the term "spectacular spellbinding blockbuster of a movie" often; but, this movie certainly approximates that. It manages to combine humor, romance and martial arts with competent special effects. The women are attractive and dynamic, especially Princess Phoenix (Wei Zhao) who comes across as a little sister to the comic character, Dragon Nine (Nick Cheung).The two "duellists" are attractive and subdued in their performances...The best performance, in my humble opinion, is that of Nick Cheung. He manages to combine humor with facial expressions and physical comedy; however, his character also comes across as a competent marital artist.Granted, the movie is way too short; however, it is worth a watch (or two). Odds are, if you have premium cable, you'll come across it from time to time...

nickthegun I enjoyed 'The Duel'. It certainly isnt the greatest film in the world, but its certainly isn't the worst. It begins with a traditional 'Stormriders'esque action sequence. By that I mean more CGI than actual fighting. I don't mind this at all really. People fly around. A geezer turns himself into a giant snowball and a man regurgitates poison. All in a days work. I like to see things like that. Spectacular and a bit out of the ordinary. The people who usually complain about the flying around in films such as this and Crouching Tiger are the very same ones who believe Bruce Willis can exterminate an elite squad of Mercs by himself or that Toby Maguire does have webs coming out of his wrists. Its funny what people will suspend disbelief over and what they won't. Anyway, after the initial sequence we discover that the main character in this is a parody of James Bond (but one that fraternises with whores and gangsters). His main task in the film is to set up and mediate a Duel between the two greatest martial artists in the world, one of whom is his best mate and the other is a mysterious recluse with a harem of flying beauties. Its just funny to watch, basically. The Duel doesn't take itself too seriously and neither should you. If you liked StormRiders and can sit through A man called Hero without fastforwarding the story parts then you will really enjoy this. On a side note, as most people will inevitably watch this on DVD, The Duel is presented in flawless widescreen with good subtitles. The 5.1 soundtrack is lively and the soundscape is wide. The extras are standard but servicable. Don't bother watching the pan and scan dub. It cuts out half the action (and I mean half. Rendering the story unintelligible).