Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

unbrokenmetal Ling Wu Chung (Jet Li) is a great young swordsman with a big problem: the question on which side he shall fight means only choosing the lesser of two evils. On one hand, there is master Wu (Shi-Kwan Yen) who became mad during his imprisonment. Ling frees him from the prison, but does not wish to support Wu's cruel and merciless vengeance afterwards. On the other hand, there is Asia (Brigitte Lin), a wicked, mysterious woman of great beauty who hides many secrets from Ling and cannot be trusted. The movie has many wild, over the top action scenes from the director of "Chinese Ghost Story", but it was impossible to find a happy ending for it. Along with the sad music, visual beauty and spectacular effects, without a doubt a classic of its genre in the 1990s. My only little grudge is that the characters in the first Swordsman movie were more sympathetic than here in the sequel.

popularlibrary This film is clearly based on the same novel which has produced several other versions, notably two which were done as multi-episode television programs. The earlier, from the 1980s, starred Chow Yun-fat as Ling-hu Chong (as the name is given in most versions), and ran at 20 episodes. I have not seen this, though it has an excellent reputation, but the more recent version, shown in China in 2000, ran for 40 episodes, and was shown recently in the US on the AZN cable station under the title Laughing in the Wind. The first half of the series will be available on DVD soon. It was a superb piece of work, strikingly photographed, brilliantly choreographed, and, more importantly, written and acted with a depth and subtlety that did full justice to its possibilities.This version with Jet Li has many excellent qualities, but the limited running time necessary for a theatrical film, plus the unnecessary addition of the Japanese story, robbed it of the ability to develop the psychologically and dramatically fascinating story to anything like its real potential. (I can't see the smallest relation to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which it seems to me is an entirely different kind of story.) For a Jet Li fan, this is one of his more interesting films, but anyone interested in the adaptation of this classic novel into a truly superior dramatic version should seek out Laughing in the Wind.

rogierr Provided you are slightly interested in fantasy, horror, and a little kung-fu, this film is the best in the genre. Great choreography and music, ok humor, very good lighting, nearly perfect sound (unlike many fantasy flicks), a very good story and colorful and dynamic cinematography (Lau Moon Tong) that surpasses even Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Lee, 2000) sometimes though it is nine years older. On every other fields CTHD is simply crushed by this fabulous film. I can't believe CTHD got 22843 votes and Swordsman 2 less than 1% of that. Mwahahahehe: have all these guys missed something! :-PIn Asia Jet Li is very famous and most Chinese who are interested in movies will probably have seen this already. In the rest of the world this is probably only seen by people who liked Evil Dead (Raimi, 1982), Chinese Ghost Story (also directed by Siu-Tung Ching, 1987) AND at recently CTHD. Featured are Recoiling whip, Flying bomb, Rotation of the stars (massive action scene with 6 swordfighters), Essence absorbing stance, Invincible Dawn, Kiddo and Scum Bag (last two are characters). Some of the story elements are hard to follow, but that doesn't diminish the entertaining value (story continues AND action continues): just go see it again if you didn't understand it 8-)THIS is groundbreaking: not CTHD. The action scenes in CTHD may be shot beautifully and without many cuts, but Swordsman 2 definitely has more fantasy and the director isn't afraid of showing blood like Ang Lee WAS unfortunately. Swordsman 2 tries to embed the story in Japanese civil war and therefore the film starts with Japanese swordfighters (speaking Kantonese though) and Japanese music. After the titles we are left with gravity-defying swordfighters of Chinese AND Japanese origin and ninjas as they fight in South China in the 22nd year of Emperor Sun. Also there is a megalomaniac who slowly changes into a woman and there is a girl who constantly is mistaken for a man (not exactly like Vasquez in 'Aliens'). Don't ask for the significance of that plz. Swordsman 2 (haven't seen part 1 yet) is NOT over-rated with 8.6 (211 votes), and provided you liked Iron Monkey (Woo-Ping Yuen, 1993), this one will blow you out of your socks and chop you in half. Finally, the popular Stormriders (Wai Keung Lau, 1998) also couldn't come near this masterpiece.10 points out of 10 :-)

moribana I won't throw out any spoilers, just assure you that this is a great classic of fantasy martial arts films. If you find yourself unable to follow the story or action, just rewatch it a few times. It only gets better and better.I would highly recommend watching swordsman one first though. There are many links in the story and it is nearly as good as part two. The only regrettable thing is that different actors play the same characters (Only Blue Phoenix is played by the same actor in both films).If you enjoy complex plots, scheming factions, dreamlike landscapes and outrageous martial arts all tied together in a whimsical Daoist song about the transient comedy of life, the Swordsman series is for you.