Over the years, many films and TV series have been adapted from the classic 1957 wuxia novel “The Legend of the Condor Heroes“, by Jin Yong (also known as Louis Cha). Some have been memorable and have become classics in their own rights, like the 1983 TV series or Wong Kar Wai‘s “Ashes of Time“. Tsui Hark‘s latest movie, on the other hand, will not stay long in anyone’s memory.

Trouble starts right away, when the film introduces its characters and their backstories in short vignettes that succeed each other at a furious pace. Little makes sense there, while the events being outlined on screen could easily have filled two movies of their own. It quickly becomes a challenge, for those unfamiliar with the original novel, to understand what is going on and, even more problematically, why the characters are doing the things they do. This is a major...