Director: King Hu
Cast: Sam Hui, Cecilia Yip, Jacky Cheung
Production Year: 1990
Duration: 120 mins
Award(s): 1990 Golden Horse Awards - Best Supporting Actor: Jacky Cheung
1990 Golden Horse Awards - Best Theme Song
1991 HK Film Awards - Best Action Choreography
1991 HK Film Awards - Best Theme Song
The first part of an epic trilogy that helped revitalize the lagging martial arts genre, Swordsman brings to the screen all the magic and swashbuckling action that one has come to expect from Hong Kong kung fu films.
A young swordsman named Ling Wu Chung (Sam Hui) and his tomboy sidekick Kiddo (Cecilia Yip) are tasked with a quest to recover a sacred scroll stolen from the Imperial library. The scroll contains the secret to a powerful martial arts technique assuring martial arts supremacy for whoever possesses it. With domination up for grabs, many warring martial arts factions begin their search as well, and they are all more than willing to kill to get it. This leads to a power struggle marked by betrayal, double crosses and broken allegiances, culminating in a spectacular showdown for possession of the scroll.
Swordsman has been hailed as a masterpiece that has successfully captured the essence of supernatural martial arts. A gem that’s definitely not to be missed by fans of the genre.