The emperor destroys The Sword Worship Villa, Central China's top sword-maker, alleging that its people conspired to overthrow him. The young master of the villa, Ao Jue, is the sole survivor with a Jue sword, which can only be unleashed with the blood of the Fire Kirin. As the only two people in the world who have Kirin blood running in their veins, Wind and Cloud gets embroiled and a deadly calamity ensues.
by minxiu
on 05/06/2009 2 of 4 people found this review helpful
What I loved most: The fight scenes
What I really hated: The plotting
Plot is pretty much incomprehensible and events are cliche-ridden, although fight scenes are energetic and interesting enough. The mix of rather amateurish 3-D establishing shots followed immediately by 2-D characters was jarring.
After the countless action movies on triad societies and other drama pictures of the same ilk, Hong Kong wants to emulate Disney and produce their very own Wuxia film with a heavy touch of computer generated imagery.
Speaking of which, "Storm Riders: Clash of Evils" represents such an approach. The concept is still very much the same as the action movie "Storm Riders" made famous by Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng. With mighty swords on their backs and long hair fluttering in the wind, not to mention the striking pose and superpowers built for destruction, one can never forget the 1998 original.
For "Clash of Evils," the story is neither too great nor too boring but for fans of Wuxia comics, this is something made especially for you. For the general public, one might find the killer abs, well-toned backs and good-looking characters impressive, so what is there not to like about "Storm Riders"?
The characters as well as the sceneries are well crafted. Every expression and form is created using brilliant strokes and colouring. Occasionally though, the backdrop can appear quite fake. It seems like a mix of 3-D backdrop graphics, followed by 2-D characters and props. Sometimes it can almost be very much like basic paper and pencil drawing.
For every fight scene, the art director prefers to use slow motion to depict the intensity. However, not all slow-mo effects hit the bull's-eye. Some of them are quite unnecessary too.
Well, don't expect too much on character development, as the story focuses primarily on the action-driven need to seek revenge and defeat evil forces. Of course, there is still room for the story to expand without leaving so many question marks on everyone's head.
