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A good sword can help a novice, and make an expert really powerful. But most important is who is using the sword. |
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Fung wan: Hung ba tin ha (known in English as The Storm Riders), is a 1998 Wuxia movie based on a long-running Manhua by Ma Wing Shing.
Lord Conquer (Sonny Chiba) is a warlord who is told by the prophet Mud Buddha that if he finds and trains two young martial artists, Cloud and Wind, then he will be invincible for the first half of his life. Lord Conquer sets out to find Wind and Cloud, killing their fathers and raising them himself. Ten years later, he is well on his way to conquering the world. Then Mud Buddha reveals the prophecy for the second half of his life: as Wind and Cloud were responsible for his rise to power, so too will they be responsible for his downfall...
The English-dubbed version released in the United States was badly Macekred, with large cuts making the plot nearly impossible to follow; the uncut subbed version is far superior.
There is a 2009 sequel titled The Storm Warriors and an Animated Adaptation, Storm Riders: Clash of Evils.
This film contains examples of:
- Badass Grandpa: Sword Saint
- Blood Magic: The Life's Best Sword can only be awakened (read: made to extend itself out of the ground to epic soundtrack) with the blood of Cloud and his father.
- Bloody Murder: Cloud can manipulate water, including his own blood if necessary.
- Blow You Away: Wind
- Casting Gag: the sequel features Kenny Ho, who starred in Hongkong's early Manhua Live Action Adaptation of Chinese Hero as lead character Hua Yingxiong - who was played by Cheng Ekin (Wind) in the movie version.
- Cheerful Child: Little Pigtails
- Close-Call Haircut: Phoenix's arrow cuts a few strands of hair from Cloud's head.
- Disney Death: Cloud in Storm Warriors. Clash of Evils, in following comic canon, reveals that he survived.
- Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune: The main theme is sung by Cheng Ekin, who plays Wind, and the tune you hear when Charity is laid to rest is sung by Aaron Kwok, who plays Cloud.
- The Emperor: Lord Conquer
- Everything's Better with Monkeys: Fire Monkey
- Evil Hand: Summit Yu's Fire Beast Arm acts like this because he isn't its true master.
- Extremity Extremist: Detailed by the martial arts techniques and even lampshaded at one point. Wind specialises in kicks while Cloud and Frost deliver palm strikes and punches.
- Field of Blades: The Sword Grave
- Gotta Catch Them All: Lord Conquer is obsessed with collecting the world's four best swords
- Hurricane Kick: Wind's specialty
- An Ice Person: Frost
- Improvised Weapon: Lord Conquer and Wind's father Whispering Prince duel in a bamboo grove with said bamboos, which get whittled from massive 10-foot affairs down to 3-foot slivers.
- Infinity+1 Sword: Life's Best Sword
- Kung Fu Sonic Boom
- Large Ham: Lord Conquer like anything.
- Life or Limb Decision: When Cloud fights Lord Conquer in the tomb, Lord Conquer breaks all the bones in his arm. Cloud tears the arm off and uses the blood to attack Lord Conquer.
- Love Triangle: Wind, Cloud, and Charity; encouraged by Lord Conquer in an effort to turn Wind and Cloud against one another.
- Making a Splash: Cloud
- Monumental Battle: Lord Conquer and Whispering Prince duel to the death atop a mountain buddha statue, which does exist in Real Life, but was rendered in CGI for the scene.
- Mummies At the Dinner Table: The Ice Vigor, which makes a corpse look alive, is used for this purpose.
- Never Bring a Sword to a Fist Fight: Curiously inverted. Several characters, despite being powerful martial artists, will fight with a sword when they can. In fact, Wind and Cloud finally defeat Lord Conquer when they reclaim their fathers' swords.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Muse inadvertently kills the Sword Saint.
- Offing the Offspring: When Lord Conquer learns the second half of the prophecy, he takes this route.
- Orcus on His Throne: Sword Saint.
- Playing Against Type: Shu Qi, former softcore porn idol, in her comedic debut.
- Power Glows: Sword Saint
- Red Left Hand: Cloud after his whole-arm-transplant.
- Sacrificial Lion: Lord Conquer's third disciple, Frost.
- Screw Destiny: Upon hearing the prophecy for the second half of his life, Lord Conquer renounces his belief in fate.
- Steven Ulysses Perhero: The names in Mandarin are not that far off from the English names you see here. Seriously. It gets egregious when Wind, Cloud and Frost are taught martial arts techniques with part of their respective names.
- Meaningful Name: Mud Buddha's name comes from the Chinese adage "a mud buddha, if brought across a river, cannot protect itself".
- Taking the Bullet: Charity blocking Lord Conquer's attack.
- Ultimate Blacksmith: Cloud's father
- Weaksauce Weakness: Sword Saint's out-of-body Finishing Move on Lord Conquer depends entirely on not disturbing his material body in any way.
- You Can't Fight Fate: That's the whole point of the plot.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Cloud
- You Killed My Father: Both Wind and Cloud to Lord Conquer.