WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:08.480 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:14.840 Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:17.799 This is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. And 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:20.439 today on Weird House Cinema we are going to be 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:24.239 talking about the nineteen eighty three Hong Kong martial arts 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:28.600 fantasy film Zoo Warriors from the Magic Mountain, directed by T. 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:33.640 Sue Hawk, And Oh my god, this movie is so much. 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:36.600 This is one of the most overwhelming films we have 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:39.400 ever watched for the show. And I've been wanting to 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:41.400 cover it for quite a while, or at least for 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:45.000 several months, because in sometime last year, I think it 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:49.160 was November of last year, we covered another movie by Soyhawk, 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:53.280 the nineteen seventy nine film The Butterfly Murders, which did 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:58.640 involve killer butterflies and also had just crazy intrigue, a 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:03.880 lot of like politics and backstabbing and assassins and cool characters, 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:07.800 you know, the Big Boss of the Gangs and the 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:11.960 Green Shadow and all these wonderful characters. I loved that movie. 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:14.840 But when I went to check that movie out at 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:17.760 Video Drome, I think they actually didn't have it, but 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:20.200 they told me about another movie by the same director. 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:22.520 They were like, oh, yeah, you should see Zoo Warriors. 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.679 That one's really good. And so ever since, it has 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:29.760 been on the list, and some further investigation online proved 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:34.440 that this movie has a reputation as an absolute banquet 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:40.120 of weirdness, just bursting with gonzo sorcery, shrieking demons, and 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:44.280 relentless exuberance. And now that I've seen it, I can say, 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:47.480 not only did it deliver on my expectations, it sort 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:51.240 of goes beyond. I found Zoo Warriors from the Magic 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:56.560 Mountain to be immensely pleasurable, frankly to the point of exhaustion, 0:01:56.840 --> 0:01:59.960 like a kind of excess of pleasure that became pain, 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:02.960 And by the end, I was just like, what has 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:03.640 happened to me? 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:07.440 Yeah, this is one of those movies that I maybe 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.640 should have watched in short installments. Sometimes I watch movies 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:13.880 like that sometimes because I'll watch a movie that's maybe 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:16.040 a little bit boring and I don't want to watch 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:19.040 it all in one setting because it would be impossible. 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:21.280 This one, it's it's the opposite. It's everything is just 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:26.760 so exciting and it just doesn't stop that you feel 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:29.480 like you almost need a breather between these action sequences 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:33.560 because the narrative itself doesn't necessarily provide those breathers. 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:36.680 Yeah, and other viewers I've read have commented about this 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:39.760 quality of the movie that it's absolutely wonderful, but by 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:42.959 the end it's like literally overwhelming. It's like too much 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:45.959 to take all at once. So I would just say 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:49.280 I do highly recommend Zoo Warriors from the Magic Mountain. 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:51.680 Once I was done watching it, I was like, I 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:54.040 must own a copy of this. I ordered a copy 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:58.520 to keep. But prepare thyself. Prepare thyself for more pinball 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:02.560 demons and eyebrow to tenta goles and bubble wrap hands 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:04.360 than you could have possibly imagined. 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:08.160 Yeah, yeah, this is there's high martial arts magic in 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:11.440 this film. I was looking around it. You know, this 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:13.680 is what different folks thought about it, and yeah, everyone 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:15.360 seems to love this movie. 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:15.640 You know. 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:19.120 It was a huge hit, like a cross generational hit 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:23.200 in China, so you had like the older generations going 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:25.000 to the theaters and like, yeah, this is great, this 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:27.000 is the kind of story we want to see, and 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:32.160 then new generations of film fans also got on board 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:34.200 with it because it was as we'll discuss kind of 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.800 like a vision of the future. It's high tech, special 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:42.440 effects cinema. And then you know, likewise, it quickly found 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:47.280 an audience outside of China as well. You know, for instance, 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:50.840 Michael Weldon in the Psychotronic Video Guide speaks highly of it, 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:55.360 like any anybody who saw this film was instantly overpowered 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:55.640 by it. 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:59.160 A couple other things that I found really admirable about 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:04.040 this movie despite it just being aforementioned banquet of weirdness. 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:07.320 The movie also, I think has a good heart, like 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:10.280 even though it is a film about war and demons 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:14.600 and supernatural combat, the moral Refrain is very much about 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:17.160 trying to find a way for people to live together 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:21.200 in peace, and so that sort of connects to one 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:24.640 of the themes, which is that despite how crazy and 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:28.360 overwhelming the movie is, it also in a strange way 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:32.000 kind of has a very clear head, like it's organized chaos. 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.640 I think the feeling of chaos is actually a very 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:39.800 smart depiction of the themes of the story, because you 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:42.440 could argue that one of the things the story here 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:45.640 is about is the great number of ways that people 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:50.640 are distracted and interrupted and divided and set against one 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:54.360 another always preventing them from achieving what should be their 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:59.120 noble goals, for example, bringing about peace, ending war, or 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:01.760 protecting the end. Though in the end of the film 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:06.080 the persistence, especially of the younger protagonists does pay off 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:09.000 to some degree. But it's a rob When you and 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:11.640 I were first talking about it off, Mike, you use 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:17.039 the word side quests. Yeah, that very much describes a 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:19.120 lot of the structure of the plot. There's just a 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:23.400 whole lot of the chaos is used to show this 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:28.359 process for people always getting distracted from or driven away 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:32.920 from by like personal infighting and differences from achieving what 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:34.039 they know they should do. 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:37.800 Yeah, yeah, I agree, And yeah, it is a film 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:40.160 with a good heart, and it's interesting to think about 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.720 it in terms of Hawk's other films, especially as earlier films, 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:46.400 and also comparing it dirrectly to The Butterfly Murders. The 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:48.920 Butterfly Murders is in many way very in many ways 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:54.840 very dark film. We talked about it's nihilistic tendencies, and 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:59.599 by this film it seems like he has moved away 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:04.800 from some of the more controversial or confrontational elements of 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:08.599 his work, and in this movie he's crafting a film 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:13.760 that is funny, that is comforting, that is exciting, but yeah, 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:16.120 ultimately has a good heart and is not here to 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:20.240 show you deep dark truths or anything of that nature. 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:22.520 Well, yeah, it at least has a I guess you 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:24.719 could say a semi happy ending, like it doesn't have 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.479 a bleak ending like Butterfly Murders where all the good 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:32.239 characters die. Yeah, not only do you remember Butterfly Murders 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:34.719 not only die but explode. 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:38.800 Yes in the face as our Yeah, yeah, it's that one, startling. 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:43.560 I still love Butterfly Murders. That's a great one. Well, Joe, 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:47.200 what is your elevator pitch? If we dare for Zoo 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:48.680 Warriors from the Magic Mountain? 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:52.440 Well, the plot of Zoo Warriors is infamously difficult to 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:56.160 summarize and describe, So I'm gonna say a deserter from 0:06:56.160 --> 0:07:01.520 Incoherent Wars, a flying scholarly swordsman, a monk amongst apprentice, 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:05.560 a magic man with prehensile eyebrows, an enchanted countess and 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:08.840 her loyal bodyguard, a Heaven's Blade, and a bunch of 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:11.560 blood demon disciples all walk into a bar on a 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:12.280 magic mountain. 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:16.400 That sounds about right. Well, let's go ahead and listen 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:28.920 to an English language trailer for this film. 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:32.120 Deep in the heart of every culture lives a legend 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:35.280 that will not die for It is told of an 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:40.440 enchanted mountain whose dark and vengeful spirit possesses the power 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:50.400 to destroy all mankind. But now the courage of one 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:54.040 man must rise to uncover the only weapon on earth 0:07:54.480 --> 0:08:15.960 with the power to bring about its destruction. Now restored 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:20.320 and remastered for the first time, Hong Kong Legends invite 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:24.920 you to experience the fantasy adventure which inspired a generation 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:14.080 Zoo Warriors from the Magic Mountain. 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:21.880 All right, it sounds exciting, but without the visuals you 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:27.560 only have like twenty percent maybe less of the spectacle here. Now, 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:30.720 if you were interested in watching Zoo Warriors before we 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:33.160 jump into it here, well, first of all, I do 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:35.839 want to stress there's more than one film that has 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:38.240 the title Zoo Warriors in it. There's more than one 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:41.319 Hawk film that is a Zoo Warrior film. We're talking 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:44.400 about the nineteen eighty three film to be clear. And 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:47.000 if you want to watch it, well we watch it 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:49.280 on the excellent twenty twenty three Blu Ray release from 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:52.920 Shout Factory. This is a Great Desk comes jam packed 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:55.840 with extras, some of which I'll be referring to, including 0:09:55.880 --> 0:10:01.040 segments with Peter Koran and academics Victor Fan and Lynn Thing, 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.760 as well as an interview from twenty twenty with Hawk himself. 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:07.199 I didn't get a chance to get into the extras 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:09.120 on this disc before I handed it off to you, 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:11.720 but yeah, it looks like a lot of great stuff 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:13.880 on there, and so I'm excited for the copy I ordered. 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:16.320 I also I went for the Shout Factory one, but 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:18.959 just to clarify in case people come across the other ones, 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:23.040 there is I think the other version of this movie, 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:26.000 or some variation on it that Hawk did, was a 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:28.679 movie I think from two thousand and one, which I've 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:33.600 heard has a similar kind of approach of just tons 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:37.280 and tons of visual effects and strange imagery and all that, 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:41.400 but it uses CGI, though I have so that on 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:44.560 one hand, you think two thousand and one CGI that 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:48.240 sounds really awful. But though I haven't seen it, I've 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:51.280 read some people saying very complimentary things about the movie 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:54.520 that it sort of stands out as a better use 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:58.120 of excessive CGI effects than most other films like that 0:10:58.320 --> 0:10:59.040 from that time. 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:01.920 Well, that would make sense with Hawk, because he seems 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:04.120 like the kind of director who and I haven't seen 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:06.800 the remake that you're talking about here, but he seems 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:10.480 like the kind of director who would embrace the new 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:14.960 technology but also figure out ways to use it effectively 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:19.800 and in a way that would maybe hold up better 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:24.840 than your average sort of scorpion king type usage. All right, well, 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:27.439 let's talk about the folks involved in this movie before 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:33.000 we start wading into the plot. First of all, yeah, 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:38.120 we have Choy Hawk here. If you have not set 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:40.199 his name out loud or heard people speak his name, 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:43.080 you may just see it on IMDb and other places, 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:45.719 and it looks kind of like Sue Hark. That might 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:48.240 be the way you're kind of like you mentally pronounce it, 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:53.960 but it's more like Choi Hawk. I've heard also sort 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:56.960 of a shoe hock, but Hawk will be the way 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:58.360 that I'm going to predominantly be. 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:02.079 Referring to him, usually transliterated in English, most often as 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:04.079 Tsui Hark. 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:08.320 Yeah, so he's a director here. Born in nineteen fifty 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:14.400 Vietnamese born, Texas educated Hong Kong film director, producer, and screenwriter. 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:17.600 He studied film at Southern Methodist University and then at 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:21.200 the University of Texas in Austin. Graduated in nineteen seventy five, 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:23.720 worked in New York City for a bit, I believe 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:26.560 on a Chinatown documentary, and then returned to Hong Kong 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:30.400 in nineteen seventy seven. Now, we previously discussed Hawk in 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:33.520 our episode again on his wild nineteen seventy nine film 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:37.160 The Butterfly Murders, which was his first attempt to breathe 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:40.600 new life into the wusha genre via the incorporation of 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:45.719 sort of cross genre influences and a general zeal for weirdness. 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:48.920 I see a lot of commonality between these two movies, 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:51.960 even though they are very different in some ways. So 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:56.000 like The Butterfly Murderers is a much darker movie. I 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:58.560 think you could say that it's more focused, it's less 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:02.360 ambitious in some ways. But what's behind them is in 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.240 both cases what feels like just like a very steady 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:10.160 narrative hand and in terms of directing, like it is 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:13.520 a confidently told story in both cases, and also in 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:19.200 both cases it's just there's this kind of like really powerful, 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:24.079 relentless narrative drive, a lot of energy, no dullness, and 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:27.360 like incredible density of platam. 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.160 And definitely weirdness. Like I want to stress that this 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:34.480 isn't just a case of Hawk's work, especially as early 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:38.360 work being weird to westernize, only because I believe it 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:40.600 was Victor Fan and one of the extras on the 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:44.160 disc who mentioned weird storytelling is being a key hallmark 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:48.080 of his films, something we could of course tie into 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:51.199 the long tradition of weird stories in Chinese tradition, as 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:54.160 well as the global realm of sort of psychotronic cinema 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:58.000 now based on Thing and Hark's own comments on the 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:00.319 disc there, I think a few things to keep in 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:03.360 mind about the filmmaker here. So his earlier films prior 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:07.160 to this are more confrontational. Like a lot of creatives, 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:09.240 he had more of a zeal for that in his 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:12.240 earlier films, but then he moved away from that. Is 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:18.320 his career developed, challenging sensors, less, challenging viewer expectations, maybe 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:23.000 a little less, while also retaining originality and creativity. But 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:25.880 even as he moved out of that kind of confrontational phase, 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:31.040 he remained fearless when it came to bucking traditions, combining genres, 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:35.280 and exploring filmmaking possibilities, Like they described him as being 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:38.480 this kind of filmmaker who if you told him you 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:41.040 don't do that or you can't do that, he would ask, well, 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:43.200 why not, Why can't we do this? Why can't we 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:46.120 try doing a film like this? Why can't we incorporate 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:49.800 this influence or another influence? And in Zoo Warriors we 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:52.920 see this especially in his use of cutting edge Hollywood 0:14:52.920 --> 0:14:57.680 special effects via American experts brought in to work on 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:01.520 the project. And we'll mention the in a bit, and 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:03.920 ultimately the creation of a film that is at once 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:06.760 old fashioned and based on a nineteen thirty two novel, 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:11.320 but also futuristic in many ways. So Hawk himself cites 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:14.040 this idea that the film is in many ways science 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:18.000 fiction but extending backwards through time instead of into the future. 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:23.080 I've seen this idea explored concerning Western fantasy fiction before. 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:25.280 I think I saw our Scott Baker talking about this, 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:27.600 but in a way that's more perhaps more based in 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:31.000 myth and meaning. While I feel like Zoo Warriors exhibits 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:34.240 this more visually, you know, like we are seeing a 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:39.960 presentation of the mythic, legendary, literary past, but it has 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:44.120 all the zeal of a futuristic effects movie. 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:47.120 Yes, and I would say that it comes through in 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:52.040 the like the relationship between the characters and their magical 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:56.320 implements and spells, because a lot of times in fantasy 0:15:56.320 --> 0:16:00.760 movies where there is magic, there's a kind of a 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:04.240 kind of reverence with which the magic is treated, or 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:07.480 a kind of old fashioned, almost kind of high Church 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:11.280 mentality and relation to it, Whereas in this movie, I 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:13.920 feel like the magic and the magical instruments are treated 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:17.160 much more like technology in sci fi movies is treated 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:22.280 like people have a very just kind of like familiar 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:27.160 instrumental relationship with their magical items and body parts and 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:29.880 powers and stuff. 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:33.320 Oh yeah, that's a great point. Absolutely. Another way to 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:35.040 think about all of this is, you know, we've covered 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:37.480 several films already on Weird House that come in the 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:40.760 wake of nineteen seventy seven Star Wars and attempt to 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:44.920 cash in on its success. In this film, Hawk successfully 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:49.120 does something similar. He takes inspiration from its effects, from 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:52.640 its visual storytelling, but translates all of that into something 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:56.600 distinctly Chinese and also distinctly his own. As a director. 0:16:57.040 --> 0:16:59.240 Hawk remains a huge name in Hong Kong cinema and 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:00.920 continues to play in active part in some of the 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:04.400 biggest Chinese film projects out there as both a director 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:07.000 and as a producer. Now a note, I'm the source 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:10.040 material here. I mentioned like a nineteen thirty two novel. 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:13.440 This would be Legend of the Swordsmen of the Mountains 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:17.159 of Shu and this is by Han Chu Lao Chu, 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:20.679 which I believe translates to Master of Returning Pearl Loft. 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:22.959 This is an author that lived nineteen oh two through 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:26.000 nineteen sixty one, and this work is considered one of 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:29.560 the most influential of the Wusha fiction and it's apparently 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:34.800 the first work of that genre translated into English. I've 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:37.640 not read it, but there are translations available online, and 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:41.080 it appears to be a very traditional adventure saga in 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:44.679 many respects, but with lots of fascinating myth and magic 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:47.439 woven into it. So I'm no expert on the genre, 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:52.720 literary or cinematic, but I'd say that the text seems traditional, 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:55.080 but yeah, also just full of the sort of magic 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:58.399 that opens up the possibility for just wild visual interpretation. 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:03.720 The screenwriter on the film is Chuck Hon Zetto, who 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:07.200 was born in nineteen fifty four, Hong Kong screenwriter who's 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:09.399 actually come up on the show before because he was 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:13.840 a writer on nineteen eighty five's Mister Vampire. Ah yeah, 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:17.000 so this is one of his earlier credited screenplays, but 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:19.719 he started out really strong working on films directed by 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:23.480 the likes of Hawk and John Wu. I should also 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:26.240 note that there is another screenwriter that is like a 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:29.200 credited as being an uncredited writer on the film on 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:31.919 both IMDb and the Hong Kong Movie Database, and that 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:43.240 is Chung Yu Shu. Now, this film has a lot 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:44.840 of actors in it. We're not going to touch on 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:47.439 all of them, but hopefully we have some of the 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:50.800 main actors lined up to briefly discuss. 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:54.320 There are a lot of characters, all. 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:58.119 Right, So we have a master swordsman in this master 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:02.400 ting Yin ting Yin, played by Adam Chang born nineteen 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:05.440 forty seven, Hong Kong actor whose credits go back to 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:07.840 the late sixties, and he also seems to have had 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:10.520 a solid pop music career going back to the mid seventies. 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:14.639 His other films include nineteen eighty threes, Titanium Blade, nineteen 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:17.199 ninety three is the Legend in nineteen ninety four's Drunken 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:20.200 Master three. I looked him up on discogs, as I 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:23.760 usually do for anybody has a pop music background, and 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:26.439 I included a nice album cover here for you, Joe. 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:30.480 Oh Yeah. He's wearing a leather jacket with wide lapels 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:33.440 and a cowboy hat. He looks super cool. 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:35.040 All right. 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:38.720 Another character we have, the Countess, played by Bridget Lynn. 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:43.320 Lynn was born nineteen fifty four, iconic Taiwanese star of 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:47.199 both films both in Taiwanese and Hong Kong cinema. Her 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:50.680 best known films include nineteen eighty five's Police Stories starring 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:55.399 Jackie Chan, nineteen ninety four's Chun King Express, and Ashes 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:57.720 of Thyme nineteen ninety three is The Bride with the 0:19:57.760 --> 0:20:00.600 White Hair, and Hawk's nineteen eighty six five film Peaking 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:05.400 opera Blues. We also have a monk. This is Abbott Sauyu, 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:09.200 played by Damian Lao born nineteen forty nine, Hong Kong 0:20:09.240 --> 0:20:11.960 actor whose credits include nineteen seventy nine's Last Tu Raw 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:15.040 for Chivalry, nineteen eighty three is Duel to the Death, 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:17.439 and nineteen ninety two's Royal tramp. 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:20.520 Now this next actor you've got here, Rob, I'm very 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:22.600 excited to talk about because I made it all the 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:25.680 way through my first viewing of the movie without realizing 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:28.720 that he had a second role in the film. He 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:29.879 plays two characters. 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:32.760 I had the same experience. I thought, because the actor 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:35.600 is Samo Cambo Hunk or Samo Hunk, as many of 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:37.520 you are going to be familiar with him. If you're 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:39.520 not familiar with any of these other actors, you probably 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:43.959 know Samo Hunk because yeah, the rotun martial arts acting 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:47.159 and stunt legend. But yeah, at my first viewing of 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:49.280 the film, I was like, oh man, they introduced him 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:51.480 as this sort of side character and then we don't 0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:53.560 see him again for the rest of the film's runtime. 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:56.000 He just comes back again at the very end, and 0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:58.560 I'm like, that's not enough Samo. And then I found out, 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:00.280 oh no, he was in it pretty much. It's the 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:02.640 whole time, because he plays two characters. 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:05.840 Right, So in the first fifteen minutes or so of 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:08.399 the movie, they're setting it up like the movie is 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:11.720 gonna be like sort of a buddy comedy adventure between 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:16.479 our arguably our main character, Die ming Chi and this 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:19.480 red Army soldier played by Samo Hung, who I don't 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:22.080 know if we ever learned that character's real name, do we? 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:23.440 Or is he called Chubby? 0:21:24.480 --> 0:21:27.520 He is referred to as Chubby, and I think he 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:31.680 is often credited in English translation as Red Army Soldier. Okay, 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:34.800 but yeah, the other character plays is Chang Mee, also 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:39.000 known as long Browse Long Brows. Yes, yes, so he 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:41.639 plays this one character who you think is going to 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:43.960 be a major character in the movie, and then disappears 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:46.320 for most of the movie but has an incredible payoff 0:21:46.359 --> 0:21:50.520 return in the last couple minutes and then he shows up. 0:21:50.800 --> 0:21:52.760 We didn't realize it was the same actor, but he 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:55.600 shows up as the wizard in the film, who has 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:59.160 eyebrows that function like squid tentacles, like they can shoot 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:02.359 out and grab hoole of things and even graft onto 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:05.639 other people's eyebrows and become part of their eyebrows. 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:10.159 Yes, we're not exaggerating. If anything, we're under selling the 0:22:10.160 --> 0:22:10.960 weirdness of this. 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:14.640 But Samo Hung is fantastic in both of his roles. 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:19.560 Oh yeah, yeah, he brings fabulous energy. Yeah. His work 0:22:19.600 --> 0:22:22.720 as a stunt coordinator goes back to the late sixties, 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:25.359 and his action acting credits go back to the early sixties, 0:22:26.080 --> 0:22:29.280 and along with Hawk and other actors and directors, he's 0:22:29.320 --> 0:22:31.600 often credited as part of the overall Hong Kong New 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:34.760 wave cinema movement of the nineteen seventies. He was also 0:22:34.920 --> 0:22:38.000 very active as a producer for several decades. In fact, 0:22:38.040 --> 0:22:40.320 he was a producer on Mister Vampire. We did mention 0:22:40.400 --> 0:22:43.960 him briefly in that episode. He played a huge part 0:22:44.080 --> 0:22:47.320 in the surge of spooky Hong Kong films and Jungshi 0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:51.600 hopping vampire movies, not only with the Mister Vampire film 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:54.679 and its sequels and imitators, but also Encounters of the 0:22:54.720 --> 0:22:57.600 Spooky Kind from nineteen eighty and The Dead and the 0:22:57.640 --> 0:23:00.720 Deadly from nineteen eighty three. Other films of note from 0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:03.560 Samo includes seventy Three's Entered the Dragon, He's In There, 0:23:05.000 --> 0:23:08.400 twenty Tens, It Man two, and two thousand and fours 0:23:08.440 --> 0:23:11.399 Around the World in eighty Days. He's worked extensively with 0:23:11.480 --> 0:23:15.880 Jackie Chan, among other Hong Kong cinema legends. Now, another 0:23:15.960 --> 0:23:17.639 character that is a whole lot of fun in this 0:23:17.760 --> 0:23:20.879 movie is Lee Iichi, the Ice Queen. 0:23:21.240 --> 0:23:24.200 Okay, So this character I believe appears in the second half, 0:23:24.240 --> 0:23:26.960 where it's becoming harder to keep track of all the 0:23:27.000 --> 0:23:29.760 new plot developments. But is this the character who has 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:33.800 retreated to the Heavens Blade Mountain to be in solitude 0:23:33.880 --> 0:23:35.480 with the two legendary swords. 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:38.240 Yes, and she has freezing powers. She has like sub 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:42.959 zero powers that are as magical and convincing as anything 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:46.119 you'll see in a Mortal Kombat game or movie, but 0:23:46.280 --> 0:23:49.600 without the use of computer generated effects. But anyway. She's 0:23:49.640 --> 0:23:54.080 played by Judyong born nineteen fifty Taiwanese Japanese singer and 0:23:54.160 --> 0:23:56.760 actress who made her debut in the nineteen sixty one 0:23:56.840 --> 0:23:59.840 Japanese US production The Big Wave, based on the Pearl 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:02.840 Buck novel. This is the film that launched her career. 0:24:03.640 --> 0:24:06.840 But she wasn't really a Wusha star prior to this movie. 0:24:07.119 --> 0:24:10.200