unbrokenmetal Since Asia the Invincible (Brigitte Lin) seemingly died at the end of part 2, several impersonators try to rule in her name. When a Spanish conquistador and a masked Japanese warlord attempt to conquer the land during this chaos and confusion, the real Asia returns with a vengeance. It seems at first that a villain of the previous part turned hero for this sequel, but Asia's rage is not under control, she says love is gone and hate is all that remained."Swordsman III" is - even more than "Swordsman II" - a celebration of Brigitte Lin, larger than life, a goddess of war. You find less sense of humor than before in the final part of the trilogy, but a stunning lesbian love scene involving Joey Wang from "Chinese Ghost Story" - actually it's about a woman pretending to be a man with a man pretending to be a woman... read that twice - is thrown in for compensation. The European version is about 10 minutes shorter than the Asian one, and probably one scene was cut for blasphemy when Asia humiliates the Spanish priest, forcing him to worship her instead of their catholic god. I voted 8 of 10 for each part of the trilogy, because on one hand, they all have too many little narrative flaws to get near a perfect 10, but on the other hand, they are all highly entertaining and equally recommendable.

bornenasty Having missed any preceding films, I knew from the genre that this was going to make little to no sense to me at points, but right from the off I was confused...Making no attempts to explain itself, it gets straight into the action. Fantastical fighting and some incredible wire work really do make this film a visual spectacle, but the absence of continuity at times does hinder it.Certain scenes appear to have been either cut completely, or just parts of them left in, which again doesn't help the mix. If you watch the trailer you'll see that Jet Li is in it... but when you watch the film, you realise he has been left on the cutting room floor...! Overall it makes for a very enjoyable, if not inexplicably odd/hard to follow film - but it's certainly made me want to watch the earlier instalments!!

winner55 I like everyone connected with this movie, cast and crew - but I don't like the movie.It's not that I can't follow the plot. The problem is that the whole story is symbolic fantasy - or what they called in the Middle ages 'allegory' (i.e., an allegory for the loss of Chinese inner power with the arrival of foreign colonialists). They only recent film that comes close to this in structure is from Japan, Toyko: the Last Metropolis. The most recent western film to approach this kind of story is, possibly, Terry Gilliam's ill-conceived Baron Munchhausen movie. But I liked the characters in those two movies; I don't like any of the characters in this one. Which may be the point, but not any reason to watch the movie again.I should remark that these three movies are all extremely well-made, and all dishwater dull.I'm afraid film is not a medium conducive to allegory. Film seems to work best when the characters remind us of people we've met - or are likely to meet - even if we don't like them much. When actors stand in for metaphors, they can't stand in for people. In which case, why should we care?

crypto88 This is one of the most outrageous, totally hyper-kinetic stylish and bizarre (kung-fu fantasy) films I've ever seen. Brigitte Lin is stunning as Asia the Invincible. This is a really beautiful action film. It is unabashedly fantastical. If you haven't seen any modern kung-fu fantasy films from Hong Kong, this will leave your jaw scraping the floor. Super cool.