Product Description

In the early 1600's, the Manchurians have taken over sovereignty of China and established the Ching Dynasty. The newly set-up government immediately imposes a Martial Arts Ban, forbidding the practice of martial arts altogether in order to gain control and order. A group of soldiers travel the country seeking out those who would flout the law. A swordsman and his disciples decide to take the fight to the enemy, following a plea from a group of villagers. The SEVEN SWORDS is formed and their heroic journey begins. As they lead the entire village to the road of a safer place, they discover there is a trator amongst them. Between this narrow gap of life and death, the situation is further complicated by the blossoms of love.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9061 in DVD
• Brand: UNI DIST CORP (MUSIC)
• Released on: 2007-01-16
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Cantonese, English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 153 minutes

Amazon.com
As the title indicates, Seven Swords is in the epic spirit of The Seven Samurai and its American cousin, The Magnificent Seven. A grittier enterprise, it may not surpass Tsui Hark’s 1990s classics like Once Upon a Time in China, but offers its own unique pleasures--like non-stop action (for which it received a coveted Golden Horse Award). Based on the book Seven Swordsmen from Mountain Tian, the action begins in rural China in the 1600s. The Ching Dynasty has just banned martial arts, and in response seven dissidents band together to fight against Fire-Wind (Honglei Sun) and his minions. The septet includes Hong Kong superstars Charlie Young (Wu Yuan Yin), Leon Lai (Yang Yun Chong), and Hero's Donnie Yen (Chu Zhao Nan). One of the mountain villagers they save is pretty Korean refugee Green Pearl (So-yeon Kim), who falls for the moody Chu. Filmed on location in scenic Xinjiang, Seven Swords is a feast for the eyes. Though some critics have taken Hark to task for the army's anachronistic goth-punk garb, it sure looks menacing. Originally four and a half hours long, this version clocks in at 153 minutes. Hark's soft-spoken commentary, along with Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan, is on the first disc. Deleted scenes and other extras are on the second. Because of the cuts, the complex narrative isn't always easy to follow--and the film still feels long--but the gold-tinged visuals and fight choreography by Kar-Leung Lau (The Legend of Drunken Master) helps to compensate. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

Dragon Dynasty's release of Seven Swords
What starts out as a very violent and interesting movie ends up sort of floating the rest of the way. They don't have a lot of character development. Some characters you will understand but most will leave you with a lot of questions. Even Donnie Yen's character who they probably went the most in depth on didn't get full treatment. Maybe it was just that he was speaking Korean bugged me. It is just weird. There is nothing to really carry the story, except the General who is always going to come after the seven swordsmen and the villagers they are protecting. While the violence is well done and the General's top soldiers are truly wicked and have great battle sequences, everything else is just way too standard. The villian is ruthless and just cruel as he can be, the heroes are all very honorable, just nothing really exciting happens. The villain was by far my favorite character but he is not the main character. The acting is good and has some very nice touches with Lau Kar Leung playing Fu and Jason Pao Paio playing the leader of the town. The soundtrack is great. The locations and cinematography are stunning. Costumes really don't get any better than this. I liked the unique editing. The special effects are great and it was done by Weta Workshop who did the CGI for The Lord Of the Rings movies. Unfortunately all of this cannot overcome a story that just doesn't draw you in. By the end of it you realize that the swords were the main story which I liked and the final fight isn't too bad. Actually, the action starts out very well but doesn't really get good again until the end. You will most likely want to watch this movie again since its not half bad, it just doesn't make complete sense. After seeing it once and watching it again, for me there will be no 3rd viewing. I would no doubt watch a part 2 if Tsui Hark ever decides to makes it but I have heard talk of this ever since this "first part" was made and after a while it is too easy to forget about a movie project. I found the TV show 'Seven Swordsmen' with Vincent Zhao and Ada Choi much more enjoyable. Of course, it had a lot more time to explain the characters being 39 one hour episodes long. I was hoping to buy this movie and prove the other reviewers wrong but it just didn't happen. Luckily there are enough extras on this to keep me busy for a while.

Dragon Dynasty puts outs out the uncut version as opposed to the shortened version which is widely distributed. The sound and picture are truly some of the best you will find. 5.1 English and 5.1 with the original soundtrack. When the Dragon Sword gets pulled out expect a roar from the subwoofer. It is sad how neither Dragon Dynasty or Image's releases have had the subtitles properly in the black bars with all of them being widescreened. I suppose this is minor.

Special features include a feature commentary with the director of the movie Tsui Hark and Hong Kong film expert Bey Logan. That is 154 minutes with these 2. Very enjoyable. While I didn't love the movie, you may have, and this is the best special feature you could ever imagine. Not to mention the rest of the extras.

Six extended and deleted scenes and one 10 minute alternate take(final fight). Best part of this is that we get WAYYYYY more Donnie Yen action.

Four 5-7 minute behind the scenes featurettes.

Interviews include 45 minutes from Tsui Hark. Talk about in depth, with the commentary you get 200 minutes of interview time with the director. He knows there were problems with the movie as a whole and is not afraid to talk about any of it. Can't really complain about this special feature.

26 minutes with Donnie Yen. He talks about what is was like playing his character and gives his thoughts on the director and the movie.

18 minutes with Zhang Jing Chu talking about where she grew up and how she became an actress. I love the quote on her childhood about being 3 years older than the other people in her class. She says "her parents wanted her to be simply outstanding." At 16 years old she wants to become an artist which her parents disagree with. She ends up running away! Wonderful interview.

26 minutes with Duncan Lai talking about his windsurfing career and getting into the movies. Nice to get all the info provided here since I have never heard of him before.

Amazingly all of these interviews are English. I guess it is just a coincidence that they all spoke the langauge.

There is also a making of that is about 20 minutes long and is accompanied by some very good music. This includes interviews and a look behind the scenes. Steve Tung Wai and Xin Xin Xiong are the credited action directors but I only saw Lau Kar Leung in all of the behind the scenes featurettes and this making of special feature. I guess it is just a given that Master Lau and Donnie Yen had a hand in the action. In the commentary though, they actually do credit Lau with the biggest part of the action and planning everything.

I wish the movie was good enough to give it a rating of at least a 4 but the DVD itself gets a 5 star rating for the amount of special features and the quality of it overall.

Enjoy the movie
Yes the other reviewers are correct. Its difficult to go into a lot of character development when you have 7 characters (not counting the bad guys) to fit into a two hour movie. It would have been nice to find out more about the bad guys also. And yes you have to "fill in the blanks" because it doesn't explain a lot but hey its not a four hour movie so they can only do so much. But you can also simply relax and just enjoy an action flix. It reminded me of the Magnificent 7 and 7 Samurai in that there are 7 of them coming to the aid of a 'helpless' village against the bad guys. If you like action/martial arts movies at least rent this one.
While its not the best action flix its not the worst neither. I certainly enjoyed it more than Crank (which I had high expectations for, hoping it would be as good as Transporter.)

I'd give it 3 1/2+ stars but bumped it up to 4 rather than down to 3 due to the extra features along with an uncut version (haven't viewed that just yet but did go through most of the interviews.)

I'm considering getting the Seven Swordsmen DVD box set which according to reviewers of that TV Series is a more detailed story about the individual characters.

Bubble Gum Action Flick
Unlike Seven Samurais (by Akira Kurosawa) & the Magnificent Seven (American version) which explored the pscyhes of the rogues who formed the seven characters and their relationships with villagers that they were protecting, Seven Swords is more akin to a manga (comic books) where the seven characters were literally two dimensional. The seven swords from Mountain Tian had their own distinctive personalities and they only fitted to the beholders. I believe that Tsui Hark is to a certain extent influenced by Lord of the Rings trilogy where the so called baddies had those gothic-emo look (talking about mixing the old with the new). Considering that this is a triple joint venture with various film studios, more budget is expended in giving it a more authentic look by filming it at the picturesque XinJiang. There's also a subplot of love triangle between the main character (Donnie Yen) and the Korean female love interest. Truthfully, the movie feels a tad slow with nonstop action sequence. Perhaps, I expect Seven Swords to have more depth. For those that are enthusiastic with martial arts flick, this movie might not disappoint but for those that are into slow and arty martial arts flick such as the Banquet, this is definitely NOT the movie for you. Commendable effort.