The Storm Riders [Asian Movies]

THE STORM RIDERS



THE STORM WARRIORS




Chinese (Cantonese) film. English subtitles.



A little like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, but more special effects which makes for a purely visual watch as far as fantasy and action go. Set when people still wore robes and a few who don't. The film could use a update in HD, but worth a watch if you're into this sort of style. The fantasy aspects come off as typical, but a bit refreshing if you cannot name something similar right away.



Storm and Cloud are the names of our protagonists, both are raised in martial arts with stylized exaggeration. Meaning effects will be somewhat similar to "super human" and a little on the flashy side. They are both raised by a Conqueror who killed their fathers and they both have strong attraction to Conqueror's daughter. So essentially there are two obvious sources of conflict, but it is nice to see how it all plays out along with super human feats revolving around martial arts and swordplay.



In the sequel, conflict comes from trying to elicit power from a source of pure evil which makes for an interesting watch. And the story actually has a decent progression and twist that makes it worth revisiting. Though the scenes with childlike humor is a bit much to stomach... Remains something visual I enjoy every now and then.



SCORE 8/10

Like I said an update to HD would be nice, but executes well enough that it's worth watching time to time. The leads act somewhat like lovestruck teenagers, but their personalities and character design contrast in a interesting way. The sequel does pretty well and rounds out the Shakespearean story element in these movies. They should have gone without the more childish parts, but then this is based off a comic book. Would have liked a more mature and well rounded translation to film like how Berserk went from a less interesting manga to an even better anime series.
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