Legend of the Liquid Sword (1993)

A wuxia comedy from Wong Jing that finds ample opportunity for some wonderful wire-fu fights to break out. I was only vaguely aware of what the hell was going on with the story most of the time, but I didn't care because it was the perfect antidote to the CGI crap that China churns out these days. The bombastic style over substance won me over.
Don’t be fooled by the appearance of Gordon Liu on the cover, he only gets about two minutes of screen time.

3 Jesus punches 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

Flying Dagger (1993)

A direct translation of the film’s title is Crazy Dagger and Flying Sky Cat, which is much more apt but still doesn't even begin to describe how bat-shit crazy it all is. It’s a wuxia action comedy written by Wong Jing with a large dollop of innuendo, self-parody and wire-work that’s off the scale.
The plot has something to do with bounty hunters and a villainous fox, and then someone drinks piss. The English subtitles are a mess, so not only will you be reading and watching, you’ll be decoding. It makes the film even more head exploding than it already was. Fun times.
It managed to attract a hell of a cast, many of whom will be well known to fans of the genre.

3 helping hands out of 5

The Return of the God of Gamblers (1994)

aka: God of Gamblers Returns

Chow returns to the table to gamble some more. It’s a hell of a lot more tense than part one, especially in the finale. The remainder of the film sticks to the same comedy mixed with gun-play formula as before and even manages to balance the two halves much more effectively.
Note: This is the fourth God Gamblers film but is the real sequel to the original. The second and third films, God of Gamblers II (1991) and God of Gamblers III: Back to Shanghai (1991), while also directed by Wong Jing, were focussed on a different character.

3½ aces in the hole out of 5

God of Gamblers (1989)

The legendary God of Gamblers can predict the outcome of dice by listening to them rattle in a cup; he never loses. His smugness is both awesome and outlandishly hilarious, which sets up a wonderful premise for Wong Jing’s action comedy. It’s bookended by John Woo style camera movements and action scenes that use Chow Yun-fat’s abilities perfectly, but the entire middle section, about half the film, is an awkward bonding comedy and it’s there that it loses momentum. It picks up the pace for the ending but fails to recover the same sense of majesty that it offered at the beginning.

3 individually wrapped chocolates out of 5