THE MAGIC BLADE has a great premise, and I really enjoyed the concept of a super weapon forcing these two rival swordsmen to actually work together to save the world. It is by far the most suspenseful and spooky Shaw Bros. thriller I've seen up to date. The Devil Grandma character is definitely the sickest individual of them all, and is the most memorable takeaways from this film.
Fu Hung-Hsieh's revolving underhand sword is also really fun to watch. However, the character is definitely a Mary Sue. He seems to have the answer or know the answer ahead of time to most of the events that occur throughout the story. It almost makes me want to see how he was when he was younger before he got so much great knowledge. I would have at least preferred if the other characters at least began to wise up and defer to him before they engaged someone or an activity.
The story gets weaker as the film carries on. There are so many enemies, some of them introduced in cool ways, but the film felt a need to prolong their involvements only so they could be easily cut away later, and unfortunately the twist ending makes the whole story even worse.
The film also doesn't age very well as many of the stunts are poorly performed or edited, really highlighting the lack of technology during the era. I can excuse a lot, as I've rated other Shaw Bros. films 10/10, but I didn't see as best of an effort for special effects in this one. This is a film that could actually benefit from a modern remake.
Fu Hung-Hsieh's revolving underhand sword is also really fun to watch. However, the character is definitely a Mary Sue. He seems to have the answer or know the answer ahead of time to most of the events that occur throughout the story. It almost makes me want to see how he was when he was younger before he got so much great knowledge. I would have at least preferred if the other characters at least began to wise up and defer to him before they engaged someone or an activity.
The story gets weaker as the film carries on. There are so many enemies, some of them introduced in cool ways, but the film felt a need to prolong their involvements only so they could be easily cut away later, and unfortunately the twist ending makes the whole story even worse.
The film also doesn't age very well as many of the stunts are poorly performed or edited, really highlighting the lack of technology during the era. I can excuse a lot, as I've rated other Shaw Bros. films 10/10, but I didn't see as best of an effort for special effects in this one. This is a film that could actually benefit from a modern remake.