Dir: Tony Ching Siu-tung

Orig Story: Jin Yong's The Smiling, Proud Wanderer

Scrs: Tsui Hark, Hanson Chan Tin-suen, Elsa Tang Pik-yin

Prod Co: Golden Princess, Long Shong

Cast: Jet Li, Brigitte Lin, Rosamund Kwan, Michelle Reis, Fannie Yuen

1992 / Colour / D Beta / Cantonese / Chi & Eng subtitles / 104min

 

Swordsman II is one of history's most magical adaptations of literature to film. The first chapter of producer Tsui Hark's adaptation of Jin Yong's The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, though not without artistic merits, had been disastrous, with catastrophic production problems and disappointing box office receipts. Yet that didn't deter a Taiwan company from approaching Tsui to mount a sequel. The ever imaginative and adventurous Tsui boldly discarded most of the major characters, coming up with a new story that shifted focus onto the minor character Dongfang Bubai, the Sun Moon Cult leader who castrated himself to master the powers of the Sunflower Manual. In an ingenious touch of casting, Tsui convinced screen goddess Brigitte Lin to play the transgendered Dongfang, whose ravishing femininity so beguiles the titled swordsman (Jet Li) that the latter is blissfully clueless to the true identity of that beautiful woman in red. Tony Ching Siu-tung, taking over the helm under Tsui's directives, shows off his energetic inventiveness for action design, complemented perfectly by William Chang's gorgeous costumes, making the film a bountiful feast for the eyes. And Lin, ever so mystical and commanding as the androgynous martial artist, turns in a performance that materialised into a lasting icon of Hong Kong cinema.