Sword Master Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Sword Master Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 12, 2017

Those of you who enjoyed the compilations Kung Fu Trailers of Fury and Return of Kung Fu Trailers of Fury may enjoy Sword Master if for no other reason than it often seems like a feature length update of some of the wild and wooly wuxia teasers of yore. That’s probably not entirely by accident, not just given the collaboration of director Derek Yee and producer Tsui Hark, but also because the film is based on an iconic tale by Gu Long which was previously filmed in 1977, at the height of the wackiness often on display in the Kung Fu Trailers compilations. That film was entitled Death Duel and probably not so coincidentally starred Derek Yee as the so-called Third Master, the greatest sword duellist of his day who has nonetheless decided that perhaps a more peaceful lifestyle might better offer him, well, longevity. As might be expected given the fact that Tsui Hark is on hand as a producer (and co-writer), the film is decidedly more opulent than some of the wuxia films from decades ago, with a ubiquitous use of CGI that was obviously meant to exploit the film’s overseas theatrical exhibition in 3D. Unfortunately, once again a domestic Blu-ray release of an Asian 3D film has been granted only a 2D treatment, something that may rob the film of at least some of its visual ingenuity. But in a throwback to wuxia films of yesteryear, Sword Master doesn’t really have that much on its cinematic mind other than tethering a series of vignettes together in order to provide just enough structure to get the film to its next action set piece, something that Yee seems to delight in offering at a pretty breathless pace.

Sword Master starts out with a series of set pieces that might be somewhat confounding, since little to no context is given. A seemingly diseased assassin named Yen Shih-San (Peter Ho) whose face looks more or less like a veined skeleton, dispatches a retinue of nemeses, at least one of whom has a longstanding grudge against him. A larger fracas erupts when Yen is supposedly seduced by a witch like woman named Mu-Yung Chiu- Tu (Jiang Yiyan), who wants to hire Yen to take out a famous “third master” from a legendary fighting family. Her reasons are initially unclear, though it’s obvious the motive she’s feeding Yen isn’t the real one, and Yen takes on her army rather than oblige her “request”. Already the film is cartwheeling through a series of nicely staged action pieces which nonetheless often seemed divorced from any narrative through line simply because nothing is explained very well.

In the meantime an itinerant stranger who ultimately is given the nickname Ah Chi (Kenny Lin) seems to be awfully distraught about something, though it’s not clear exactly what. Ah Chi ultimately falls into working at a brothel, where he’s attracted to the pretty if slightly scheming Princess (Jiang Mengjie). Ah Chi becomes the young woman’s unofficial protector and actually takes a few knife wounds on her behalf, something that understandably endears him to her. In one of the film’s probably too predictable coincidences, Princess, who’s also known as Sweetie, turns out to be the sister and daughter of two people with whom Ah Chi takes up a bit later in the story. It’s also none too surprising when it’s revealed that Ah Chi is of course the aforementioned third master, but one who has eschewed his former fighting ways in order to live a “normal” life among everyday people. Guess how long that lasts?

The film kind of veers uneasily between a dreamlike mythical ambience and something that often plays more like a Keystone Cops comedy, and the collision of styles and tone doesn’t always redound to the overall benefit of the film. It’s more than obvious things are moving toward an epic showdown between Ah Chi and Yen, but the film probably takes a few too many detours to build up much tension. Those who are already familiar with Hark’s hyperbolic tendencies (admittedly more on display in films he directed rather than produced) will know what to expect from a visual standpoint here, and in fact it’s the look of this film that may be its chief allure. That said, with yet another 2D presentation of a film that was obviously designed with 3D effects in mind, it may be hard to even fully appreciate that aspect of this occasionally interesting but kind of fragmented feeling entry.

Sword Master Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sword Master is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The IMDb lists the Red camera as the technology utilized, and a lot of the imagery on display is crystal clear and nicely detailed, at least when some pretty soft looking (and perhaps intentionally so, given the film's dreamlike ambience) CGI surrounds the players. The palette is quite ravishing, exploiting an extremely wide range of colors that includes everything from some very bright primaries to a lot of rather interesting tones, including some unexpectedly evocative grays at times. Unfortunately, there are some intermittent artifact issues which are kind of odd looking, with transitory moments where what almost looks like yellow webbing shows up on occasion.

Sword Master Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sword Master features a highly effective DTS:X (DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 core) track in the original Mandarin, along with a less pleasing English dub in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (Dolby Digital 2.0 mixes in both languages round out the audio options). The DTS:X track is a riot of spatial placement, with some excellent panning and whooshing effects when swordplay enters the fray. There are some very evocative uses of ambient environmental noises as well, both in some cacophonous outdoor scenes at locals like local markets or the brothel, but perhaps even more so in some of the dreamlike places Yen visits on his quest to find the perhaps mythical third master. Dialogue and score are both rendered very cleanly and clearly on this very enjoyable track.

Note: Our database is currently being updated to include Mandarin DTS:X and the specs above will reflect that once the process is completed.

Sword Master Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Mastering the Sword (1080i; 1:27) is a brief piece that has some glimpses of behind the scenes footage.


• Trailer (1080p; 1:32)

As is usually the case with Well Go USA releases, the supplements have been authored to follow each other automatically. The disc then moves on to the trailers for other Well Go USA releases after playing the supplements for this film.

Sword Master Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sword Master was a near miss for me personally, but that may be because I have something of a soft spot for wuxia films from decades ago, notably some of the goofier Shaw Brothers outings. Those of you who share my sensibilities may get a kick (so to speak) out of this film, though many of you will probably find deficits in the storytelling, especially in the early going, much as I did. Yee stages things very nicely and the film is often quite ravishing from a purely visual standpoint. Video encounters some minimal issues, but audio is outstanding for those considering a purchase.