Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983)

A Chinese action/fantasy film from director Tsui Hark set in the fifth Century on Zu Mountain, a place of strategic military importance. A soldier longing for peace stumbles into a world of magic, comedy, flying demons, scary white sheets, swords (many), virgins, skulls, and er… eyebrows. It's completely bonkers but was hugely influential to the supernatural xianxia genre. Tsui himself would go on to use the same techniques many times in later years to better effect. I'm not as fond of it as I am of some of those later films, but I acknowledge its importance and won't contest its place in film history.

3½ colourful battles out of 5

The Bride with White Hair (1993)

TBwWH is a little different from the majority of Chinese fantasy martial arts movies because it spends more time developing the romance side of things than it does on showcasing the mind-blowing action scenes. The story of the two lovers with different backgrounds and their eventual struggle to be together is basically Romeo of Wu Tang meets Juliet of the Evil Cult.
It's only in the finale that it really lets loose with the flying and the fabric and the swords and the people getting torn in half, so don't be disappointed if the trailer made you think otherwise.

2½ bad hair days out of 5

Fire Dragon (1994)

If you watch enough Woo-ping films, you'll see trends. It would even be possible to create a graph of when action scenes occur, when character building occurs and when comedy occurs; those last two would occupy the same space some of the time. Fire Dragon fits that formula, but being predicable doesn't mean it's boring. It stars Brigitte Lin as an assassin with some nifty sword skills and some dangerous pyrotechnic skills. If she can't achieve her goal with force, she'll find another way.
The set-up enables Yuen to get crazy with wires as only he can. It's not his best work, but should satisfy fans eager for more.

3 fistfuls of glitter seeds out of 5

The Dragon Chronicles: The Maidens of Heavenly Mountains (1994)

aka: Semi-Gods and Semi-Devils

A Chinese martial arts fantasy from the halcyon years with an almost incomprehensible story. Who’s that guy? Wasn't she… but… WTF is going on? Despite the head-scratching there’s a lot of fun to be had because the production is bursting at the seams with ambition. All the usual genre staples are in place: flying maidens, supernatural occurrences, daggers of light projecting from fingertips, exploding rocks, etc.
The real draw is seeing Brigitte Lin, Gong Li and Sharla Cheung (aka Man Cheung) together. They eat up the screen with grace and beauty. Brigitte fills two roles, but she’s done this kind of film before so she feels at home. I was surprised by how well Gong Li adapted.

3 heroic losers out of 5

New Dragon Gate Inn (1992)

aka: Dragon Inn

A remake of King Hu's earlier Dragon Inn (1967) film. A power hungry eunuch, in employ of the Emperor but acting without his consent, sends his secret Black Arrow Troop to capture and kill the children of an army commander so that his goal of ruling China can get underway.
A quick scan of the people involved lets you know that you're in for a kinetic, balletic storm of action. It's a comedy/action wuxia adventure that takes some time to get going, but like all good wuxia films the ending is simply amazing; it even manages to do things that I'd not seen before anywhere else.

3½ drifting duckweeds out of 5

Police Story (1985)

No one can take a kick in the spools quite like Jackie Chan can; he's the undisputed King of the martial arts action/comedy. In the first of the Police Story films he's on the trail of a crime lord, which is really just a premise into which he can weave some wonderfully inventive action set pieces.
The plot has him playing nanny to a female suspect, which puts strain on his relationship with girlfriend May (Maggie Cheung), but the real joy is in watching Chan put himself through hell to nail the perfect action shot. The film contains some of his most famous (and dangerous) stunts, including a truly memorable and jaw-dropping leap in a Hong Kong shopping mall.

3½ heads through glass out of 5