Saw The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (thanks Basil!) It was a very pretty, period martial arts film. Computers and wires stuff many scenes with splendor and acrobatics. It follows some political dissidents who try and rescue a pregnant maid (Imperial droit du seigneur is implied) from an evil and oppressive bureaucracy run (and staffed, presumably) by eunuchs (apparently evil eunuchs are a thing in Chinese films. I suppose if I was castrated, I'd turn to evil as well.) The plot is very twisty and I completely blame myself for not following it. In my defense, however, the plot seems a bit overstuffed. There's inexplicably identical characters who disguise themselves as each other, a woman with a mysterious past, prophesies, a Tartan woman whose stakes are kind of obscure, and double-crosses and side-deals a-plenty. I could always follow who I was supposed to be rooting in the fights for however and the fights are, of course, the real reason to see this film. They're pretty fun and gleefully physics-defying (the main villain seems to wield the titular flying sword. Bits of it break off and reattach like a boomerang.) There's an awesome set-piece fight that I won't give away because most of the fun is how unexpected it is, but it made me wonder what Wizard of Oz would be like as a kung-fu flick.
This film is fun and campy, not good in the sense that Citizen Kane is good, but pretty and spectacular. The bits between the fight scenes dragged a bit for me, as I watched half-recognized people with mysterious agendas scheme with each other but there's always another spectacle coming 'round the bend, so who cares?
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