The Storm Riders (1998) December 6, 2007
Posted by Cal in : Action, Wuxia, 1990s films , trackbackDirector: Andrew Lau Cast: Ekin Cheng; Aaron Kwok, Sonny Chiba, Wayne Lai, Kristy Yeung Territory: Hong Kong Production Company: Golden Harvest
Rarely, if ever, will you find a Hong Kong movie that divides opinion as much as Andrew Lau’s 1998 adaptation of Ma Wing-Sing’s comic book of the same name. It was the first Hong Kong CGI bonanza, and it probably wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that if you have a beef with any aspect of modern day movie making in Hong Kong, you can trace it back to this movie.
The film’s detractors cite many faults with the film, but one universal gripe is the plot - or the lack of one. What it boils down to is a pair of orphans (Ekin Cheng as Wind and Aaron Kwok as Cloud) who are “groomed” by Conqueror (Japanese legend Sonny Chiba) because the soothsayer Mud Buddha (Wayne Lai) decrees that with these two disciples will bring him great power for a full decade. The kids fall in love with the same woman and it all ends badly (for all concerned) and Conqueror finally challenges Sword Saint (Anthony Wong) from the unchallenged City to a duel. Mud Buddha then drops a bombshell about the other half of the prophesy about Wind and Cloud.
Which is a workable, if basic, plot. But then the film’s origin starts to get in the way. I’ve never read the comic book – I bought loads of issues to help with my Chinese reading and eventually discovered I was way out of my depth (I bought a couple of the far inferior US translations and discovered, to my surprise, that they were no easier!) so mainly just looked at the fantastic pictures. But I’m guessing that there are a lot of characters and events here from the comic book that get crammed in just to satisfy fans. What then happens is the film becomes episodic and confusing, with minor characters popping up, doing something (presumably) important and then disappearing forever.
One thing that is sure to date a movie is making it so bang-up-to-date as possible, and Storm Riders suffers from this more than you’d think. Although less than a decade old, it looks too much like a product of its time, and nowhere is this more evident than in the opening title sequence, which now looks like a graphical cut scene from a PlayStation One game. All of the CGI tends to be a little ropey, which is a major problem as the production relies so heavily on it.
However, Storm Riders tries damn hard to be entertaining, and was a necessary step in the evolution of Hong Kong movies, which had been suffering from dwindling cinema audiences for years prior to this film. Although the film looks dated now, it certainly did the trick in getting people back watching local fare over the latest glossy Hollywood blockbusters.
I remember seeing this for the first time and thinking it was just totally incomprehensible, and this seems to be a common reaction. What this film insists upon is a second (and maybe a third) viewing, and things definitely make a hell of a lot more sense. There is an interesting relationship between the two main characters and their beloved Charity (an early appearance by Kristy Yeung) and the two are evidently intended to be two sides of the same coin with the emotional, romantic Wind and the sensual, lustful Cloud.
Over at the Hong Kong Movie Database, which is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Hong Kong films, there are many reviews for this film but one review sums up the depth of feeling that this film can engender. It was written by a user called MilesC, and he gives the film a very poor review before appending this:
Post-script: It’s been six months since I wrote the above review, and well over a year since I saw the film. It’s six o’clock in the morning, and I can’t sleep because I CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT HOW MUCH I HATE THIS MOVIE. The fact that a 130 minute movie could contain so little plot, action, or character development and ACTUALLY BE FINANCIALLY SUCCESSFUL makes me want to destroy the entire planet. I HATE THIS MOVIE! Andrew Lau, one day I’ll come for you.
I’m guessing he steered well clear of the film after writing that, but I can’t help wondering if he watched it again whether he’d feel quite so strongly about it. Likewise, I’m guessing a lot of people who loved it upon release now find Storm Riders a little creaky and rough around the edges. I’d say I’ve grown to love it over the years, but there are plenty of better examples of this type of film nowadays.
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Hard to believe anyone can experience such a negatively emotive response to Stormriders, even on first viewing. I’ve seen far, far ‘worse’ over the years. It did go over my head a little, personally, plus I think it was a little long but I may stretch to checking it out a second time as you suggest. Couple of nice shots you’ve selected too.
Yes, a second viewing is definitely recommended. But as I said, it has not aged particularly well. As for being too long, well, you could always watch the international print which is 90 minutes long but completely sh*t by ALL accounts
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I feel that A MAN CALLED HERO was quite a bit better than STORM RIDERS, but interestingly MilesC, in his scathing review of this film, said: “it is somewhat more watchable than the truly inept pseudo-sequel A MAN CALLED HERO”, so I guess he didn’t like that either.
I still haven’t seen THE DUEL. I never really heard enough good feedback on that to tempt me to watch it, but Andrew Lau has never made a truly BAD film as far as I’ve seen.
Caught this one theatrically back in ‘98 and didn’t find it particularly dense, despite not being familiar with the source books. I think some of the older reviews at the HKMDB have to be taken with a BIG grain of salt, including the ones by Miles Crew (MilesC). I find so little value in reviews that are little more than rants about how much the reviewer “hates” the film, while offering nothing constructive to back it up. Some other HKMDB reviewers attack the film’s particular “style” of action design (which is intentionally modelled on the comic books rather than JUST the traditions of Hong Kong cinema action choreography). I’m happy to cut the CGI some slack, though—in retrospect, of course; at the time I though it was fantastic that Hong Kong filmmakers were embracing the technology to tell uniquely Chinese fantasy stories, even if the CG edges were a teensy bit rough compared to their more established western counterparts. Still a fun film. My own recent viewing of it proved, at least to me, that it holds up fairly well AS a late 90’s Hong Kong popcorn fantasy picture. Not perfect, but hardly worth the scorn heaped upon it by some of the more jaded experts out there! Nice review, by the way. Good to see second chances are given at Heroes Of The East!
I bet seeing on the big screen was a spectacle. Wish I’d have seen it that way - I was watching stuff on my 14″ portable TV back then!
I was only a casual user of the HKMDB back then and don’t remember bumping into MilesC, but I’ve read so much stuff from other HK fans that is polarized either for or against it. Like you say, taken in context it’s not a bad film, and even out of context it’s still better than some. The one other thing that made the film look dated to me, though, was the lack of live sound. I could have sworn all HK films were using live sound by then.
As for second chances, I’m always re-evaluating stuff. For example, as I’ve mentioned on the HKMDB, I watched SPL the other week and loved it this time around and now regret that slightly condescending review I wrote for it. Going to fix that soon.
Interesting thoughts on SPL. I fairly raved about it at HKMDB and even duplicated the review to the IMDB when I first saw it at a film festival that year. That review was one of the first available (though certainly not the best), yet all the while I feared I was probably OVER-rating it, and in effect setting up a round of naysaying reviews from folks who simply HAD to counterbalance the foaming positivity. And yet, when I watched the film for a third time a few weeks back (in its entirety) I discovered I still stood by my praise one hundred per cent. Guess it just hits some folks differently, as any movie should and does, but a second viewing in this world of abundant internet opinionizing can be an absolute necessity sometimes.
I’ve changed my tune a few times as well, but on SPL, I STILL like that melody, and look forward to your updated take on it. I think, for me, STORM RIDERS falls into that camp as well to some degree, but I gotta wonder if the theatrical screenings play into that; in other words, it really was a case of “first impressions” since there were no reviews or other information available for either film when I viewed them, so I had to go on gut instinct with virtually no expectations good or bad. Maybe it’s easier to be blown away under such circumstances, I don’t know. Then again, I saw EXODUS (a film that evidently didn’t impress you, according to your HKMDB review) at last year’s film fest and was left equal parts visually impressed and mentally cold (not unlike yourself), but the more time passes, I find myself thinking about it, which doesn’t happen often . . .
I can think of many films viewed on video that have left me quite firm in my fawning over the years, even on repeat views! LOL. But there have been some that have improved or deteriorated greatly in my mind once I was able to find good, serious scholarship on them to offset the usual mixed bag of reviews.
Of course, FINDING the time for repeat views is a whole other ball game!
Yes, I agree that first impressions count for a lot and I find this either raises or lowers expectations to a degree than sometimes I can’t be trusted to view a film properly. Actually, these three films mentioned are good examples: with STORMRIDERS and SPL I heard all the “OMG! BEST. FILM. EVER!!!” kind of talk before I’d seen the films and came away from the former scratching my head and the latter thinking it was fine but nothing to write home about.
With EXODUS (yes, I noticed we have differing views on the film when I posted my review!) I was sold on the concept and had already got a clear image in my mind of what it was going to be like. The result, as you’ve noticed, was I was hugely underwhelmed. I admire the style of the film and those piano solos were amazing, but I felt the whole thing lacked CONTENT. As it was, I thought it was a story that could have been told in a quarter of the time and made the same point - like a two line gag stretched to 90 minutes. But of course, now that I’ve lowered my expectations, that view is subject to change on subsequent viewings
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I’ll give you that. EXODUS does feel a bit . . .expanded I guess. Almost like it should have been a short story in a Twilight Zone-style anthology or something. I thought they did OK fleshing it out, but I was still a bit thrown by shift in tone in the last 20 minutes or so. I actually wish MORE of the film had that sense of dark whimsy about it. At the Toronto film fest screening, I got the impression that the director was a bit underwhelmed at the response, and stumbled a bit in trying to explain to some members of the audience (the dense ones; film fest types can’t always be trusted to “get” things on the first try, despite their pretensions) just what he was trying to do. I certainly dug his vibe (as you seemed to, as well), but the first two-thirds of the film are probably just a bit TOO laid-back in light of what comes later, almost as though he was afraid to play his hand too early, which he probably could have without spoiling anything. Weirdly enough though, aspects of the film keep coming back to me. Not enough to change my rating, but I think there’s definitely some choice moments worth revisiting some day, and the visual style has managed to linger in this ol’ brain for a while now.
Nonetheless, I think EXODUS might actually stand up to a remake in just about any other country, even Hollywood. It’s not culture-specific, so it would be neat to see what a different filmmaker might do with the material. Not sure if anybody’s bothered to option it, what with Hollywood types so pre-occupied buying rights to every mediocre Korean horror thriller that shoots out the pipe.
Yes, I’m pretty sure EXODUS would translate to Hollywood (as would most modern HK films now that I think about it). Don’t know how I feel about that but I suppose it would make a nice change from the endless remakes of other Hollywood movies that they seem so keen on at the moment.
Rest assured, I will revisit the film again, probably sooner rather than later!
Saw it, loved it. Saw it again, still loved it. Saw it AGAIN, and STILL loved it. Then again, I must concede that I watch movies purely for their entertainment value.
i love aaron so0 much