Cheap Saviour of the Soul (DVD) (Andy Lau, Anita Mui) (David Lai, Corey Yuen) Price

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Customer Reviews of Saviour of the Soul

Incredibly Sylish and Dynamic Fun
"Saviour of the Soul" dazzles with gorgeous design, incredible action, and a surreal storyline set in its own comic book universe. A heady mixture of japanese manga, chinese swordplay, and runway fashion, this film is easily one of my favorite Hong Kong films. The plot in these movies is usually convoluted, but this film takes that trend to dizzying heights. The story somehow manages to encompass a vengeful assasin, three extremely well-dressed crimefighters, a mysterious preistess, a wanna-be pirate, twin sisters, a schoolgirl crush, unrequited love, vengeance, and broad humor. The fights are incredible, staged with tons of panache and complete disregard for the laws of physics. Weapons used include swords, exploding knives, gas that makes you intangible, bullets that suck the air out of rooms, and a yo-yo. Every element of the film is beautifully designed, from the sets to the costumes to the weapons. The rich, saturated cinematography makes it all look that much better. Unfortunately, this DVD is extrememly bare bones, lacking even basic chapter stops, and the image has occasional compression artifacts. The print also has some dirt and scratches. This still looks worlds better than the VHS release, however. Action fans with a taste for the unusual should find plenty to enjoy in this delightful movie.

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Sets a screen on fire
Heavenly King Andy Lau gives a rather corny performance in "Saviour of the Soul", and yet this movie still manages to be striking. An excessively melodramatic romance that proves a typical theme - the one that says, "Love never dies." Another Heavenly King on the screen, Aaron Kwok, is reason enough to buy this film. Aaron plays the "bad guy" - the only "bad" role he has taken in his acting career - and he brings creativity and stirs emotion of the audience through his performance. Why is the word "bad" in quotes? Simply because the film's perspective favors the character of Andy Lau, however if put in Aaron's shoes, he did what he had to do.

This film grips you in the beginning, may get you tear-eyed in the middle, and by the time it's over, you'll be impressed. Even through Andy Lau's solo kung-fu performanes, this movie is not in the kung-fu genre. However, fight scenes were absolutely shocking and extremely original with nice camera angles, sound effects, costumes, and kicks from Aaron Kwok and Andy Lau. Fight scenes could have pleased an audience more by being longer and in more occurence, but like I said, "Savior of the Soul" is not a kung-fu movie. Andy Lau and Aaron Kwok (top performers in Hong Kong) work together again to fill the screen with swords, kicks, romance, tears, and more.

Get this film. You won't regret it. - Priscilla

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WONDERFULLY REDICULOUS
If you liked "The Heroic Trio" and "The Exectioners," you'll probably like "Saviour of the Soul." It has the same kind of comic book texture while being somewhat more understated (however much that's possible in a Hong Kong Cinema film). Anita Mui plays an assasin who's being hunted by another professional killer called Fox who wants revenge for Mui's blinding of Fox's mentor. Mui has several colleagues who come to her assistance and beyond that, this film is quintessential Hong Kong Cinema in that you just have to see it to believe it. Mui herself puts on a nice demonstration of her acting abilities (as well as her legs) playing a dual role of twin sisters. Beyond that, I'd only add that there's a nice number of fights, especially Andy Lau's sword duel with Fox and the younger member of Mui's troop is a teenage tomboy whose love of baseball makes for some interesting and innovative martial arts (I personally haven't seen baseball skills used as martial arts since the New York gang movie, "The Warriors"). This film probably won't be to everyone's taste, so proceed with caution, but if you want something different and if you don't think about it too much, there's a good chance you might enjoy this movie.