Remember the golden age of martial arts movies, before Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon entered the scene and suddenly made everything become oh so serious? Remember The Bride With White Hair, A Chinese Ghost Story, Once Upon A Time In China and all those movies from the days when kung-fu movies were also allowed to be goofy, cheeky and yet deadly serious at the same time? Fret not for this year not one, but two of those came along in the form of Tsui Hark’s glorious return to form, “Detective Dee and The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame” and also “Reign Of Assassins”, co-directed by John Woo and Su Chao-Pin.
For those of you who are sick and tired of the seemingly endless amount of period films coming out of China and Hong Kong since the Tiger crouched and the Dragon hid, then trust us when we say that these 2 films will put a huge smile on your face. Yes, they’re not bringing anything new to the table, but the pleasures that they do bring seem like a long-lost art form by now.
If you missed them at the cinemas a few weeks ago, then we’re happy to report that you can also now get them from you-know-where. So do yourself a favour and check out the trailers below, and then later go and hunt the films down. Enjoy!
