I just watched Swordsman and Enchantress! The famed martial artist Xiao is being framed! A forbidden love story, a powerful sword, and a miniature world all give this eclectic movie a ton of character.
I think this movie is like when you make dinner using leftovers and whatever random stuff is in the fridge. That's a lot of disjointed ideas and weird pacing, but it still ends up being enjoyable despite it's strangeness.
The basic idea is that SOMEONE is framing the famous fighter Xiao. By making it look like he kidnapped the wife of equally famed fighter Lian as well as his Deer Cutting Blade, someone is trying to off both of them. It makes for a compelling mystery and when Lian's wife falls for Xiao it creates a love triangle. Basically there's a ton of excuses to fight due to misunderstandings!
Thankfully the fighting is really fantastic hear. Xiao mainly uses a spear. Some of the choreography makes the spear movement look slow, but if you watch the head of the spear it's actually quite impressive. The real treat is how many multi-person fights there are with extended uncut shots of fighting. Having 10-20 seconds of a dozen people on screen all fighting is extremely impressive. The ending fight must have at least 50 combatants in an open area! Most of the combat is fairly basic, but there were a few moments that really impressed (such as the only slowmo shot where Xiao catches a sword thrust with his feet).
The sets are gorgeous and also one of the real highlights. I love how colorful everything is and how much foliage is in every area. The camera was also constantly moving. Even in the exposition scenes there is always something unique to look at.
I do have some major criticisms though. A lot of the shots, especially close-ups, are out of focus. I don't know if this is unique to the copy available on Amazon or what, but some scenes were straight up blurry. Or the camera was focused on the foreground and not the characters. Also, the plot is a hot mess. The final villain gets revealed 5 minutes before the end of the movie with a bizarre motivation. At an hour into the movie, the characters all take a detour to get shrunk into a miniature model? It's totally out of nowhere. It ties into the villain's plan... Somehow? It's just weird.
Criticisms aside, this is a super fun movie. I am really glad I randomly stumbled onto it. I recommend it!
