Anssi Vartiainen The biggest problem with Zu Warriors is its inability to tell a coherent story and to keep its audience captivated. The actual setting and story are both interesting enough, if you're into the fantasy martial arts genre. It has relatively few original ideas, but the basic setting of supernatural mountain clans defending their realms against an evil entity has its merits and could make for some awesome visuals and fight scenes.The problem is, half of the time I had no idea what was happening on the screen. Either this movie pulls heavily from Oriental mythology and I would have to know a lot more about the myths and legends to get the plot, or alternatively it just makes stuff up and even Asian viewers are confused. Some scenes lean more towards the former, some towards the latter. The basic problem remains that it's very confusing movie to watch. This leads the viewer to not care what's happening or to whom its happening.The special effects are also awful. And there are a lot of them. I have read that they were fairly good for their time, but they have not aged well at all.Zu Warriors has its upsides. The fight scenes, while nothing groundbreaking, are fun to follow and some of the visuals are genuinely nice. If only the plot had been a bit more coherent, or the characters more interesting, this could have been a lot better.

chrichtonsworld The Legend of Zu has been a favorite of mine for a long time. Mind you this was based on the two times I have watched it. Read what I originally wrote about it: Zu Warriors of the Magic Mountain was and is an impressive classic! You never would have guessed it was made in 1983. Tsui Hark's use of special effects was very creative and inventive. (He continued doing in most of his later productions.) Even now it can measure up to other movies in this genre. "Legend of Zu" is connected to "Zu"warriors from magic mountain"! It is not necessary to have seen this movie to understand the plot of this one. The plot is a bit hard to follow. But to be honest it doesn't matter. It is all about the action and adventure! I always was wondering what Tsui Hark would do if he got his hands on CGI. Now we know, he made this movie. Maybe it sometimes is too much but the overall result is so beautiful that I am not going to be critical about that. There is so much happening on the screen, you simply won't believe. I think it is a big shame that this movie wasn't shown in theaters here in Holland. Because this movie is screaming for screen time in cinemas. This movie easily can beat big budget Hollywood productions like Superman Returns or X- Men 3 (putain merde, never ever watch this atrocious film. It's a downright insult to film fans and comic book lovers). The only thing I do have to mention is the lack of humour. In most of Tsui Harks's movies he combines drama, fantasy, martial arts and humour. Somehow it is missing in this movie. Again I am not going to be picky about these small matters. "Legend of Zu" delivers on the action front with the most beautiful special effects you will see. A true classic! When I got the chance to buy the Blu Ray DVD I did not hesitate a second and purchased it from www.dddhouse.com. This was based on sentiments alone. Now after having watched it I am almost completely shocked how badly it has aged. The once so impressive spectacle isn't that impressive anymore. Because of that I was able to focus on other elements a whole lot more and I have to admit that The Legend of Zu is not the classic I thought it was. However that does not mean it's a total fail. There are still some elements in the film that are incredibly creative and inventive visually. But the once gorgeous eye candy definitely has lost it's shine considerably. Could you fault a director for using a technology that is ever advancing? Well, judging from the few scenes I watched on Youtube I can already tell the original, Zu Warriors of the Magic Mountain, holds up better than Tsui Hark's second film in the franchise. (But I will get back to this once I have looked at the original more critically.) If I have to guess it's because practical effects look better than CGI effects. That and that other elements in the original are stronger. It's like Tsui Hark got completely caught up into the application of special effects and spectacle too much and very hastily designed the story and characterization around it as an after thought. Naturally this should have been reversed. But this could imply that at least the action is memorable. Which brings me to my main gripe with The Legend of Zu. There are only a few fight scenes that offer the action goodness I crave in these kinds of films. If you remove all the razzle and dazzle there is very little left to enjoy. The saving grace easily is the cast since they all do their best to take the confusing mess seriously.So is this still worth watching? If you haven't before and love Wuxia and Hong Kong films then definitely. But if you are not a big fan then I can't recommend it since it's not an easy film to get into.For more honest reviews check: www.chrichtonsworld.com

misg This movie is very cool. If you're a fan of Tsui Hark and Chinese fantasy films, you should love this. This film is the Asian Lord of the rings: A high fantasy story, based in actual Chinese mythology. (I realize many critics have called this film plot-less, I think they probably have zero knowledge of Chinese mythology.) If you liked Stormriders or Warriors of Heaven & Earth, this one should be right up your alley. This film is still very difficult to find in the U.S., even though it was purchased for U.S. distribution along with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Iron Monkey. Well worth the search!!! This DVD is also worthy of owning.

chinesefan This movie was rated among the worse movie of Tsui Hark's and a box office failure in Asia but I don't understand why so many voters' comments here gave it a full 10 votes here. This is simply the worst movie of such genre and I don't understand why the director could do a remake of his own without being sure of improvement. Obviously this film was made for commercial reasons. During the 2 years before this film was made, everyone Chinese movie fan is talking about the epic and commercial success of Feng yun xiong ba tian xia(Storm Riders(1998/98) and Tsui Hark changed his personal style and copied that movie's style, effects and ideas. Another victim among those who copied other's success. Stick to his 80's version acted by Brigitte Lin which is so much better and the effects are much more realistic. There is no sense of direction and the story was simply boring you will feel like walking off after 15 minutes. The action scenes and plots are mindless. If anyone can enjoy such movie, I recommend Storm Riders, a very similar style movie but the story and action is more interesting and logical. The only thing a bit watchable is some of the characters and weapons creation but we are not watching a picture book. This is a movie. Don't be fooled by the name "Ziyi Zhang"(Memoirs of a Geisha) as she appeared only for a very short scene and can hardly be recognized.