Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain - Eureka, 20th April

[Eidolon]

The uk dvd from Hong Kong Legends has an english dub, not sure if it's the one you're after.

[backslashio]

Watched this movie for the 2nd time today on Google Play and just like my first viewing (some 10 years ago) my attention span kept wavering. I'm sure this movie will look great on bluray but I struggled to enjoy it & won't be pre-ordering now

[chen lung]

Originally Posted by backslashio

Watched this movie for the 2nd time today on Google Play and just like my first viewing (some 10 years ago) my attention span kept wavering. I'm sure this movie will look great on bluray but I struggled to enjoy it & won't be pre-ordering now

I haven't seen the film myself, I don't think (just clips). Maybe it was a lacklustre presentation you watched? This will have re-translated subtitles, so that might make it better.

[Shingster]

Nah, it will bore the tits off some, some will freaking LOVE it. It's just one of those films.

[backslashio]

Decent subtitles wouldn't change my opinion, just didn't enjoy it. Could be a movie you need to grow up with and have nostalgia for

[Ben_C]

Originally Posted by backslashio

Decent subtitles wouldn't change my opinion, just didn't enjoy it. Could be a movie you need to grow up with and have nostalgia for

I have the region 3 dvd, and have only watched it once many years ago, and seem to remember being a bit unimpressed.

Having said that, I’ve still preordered it so as to continue my support for these movies getting blu-ray releases.

[backslashio]

Originally Posted by Ben_C

Having said that, I’ve still preordered it so as to continue my support for these movies getting blu-ray releases.

If it goes cheap I may still get it, I enjoyed Woochi (2009) a lot so I thought I'd enjoy this on the same level. Woochi's probably got more in common with Iceman Cometh 1989 which desperately needs a new transfer

[El_Fez]

Originally Posted by backslashio

Decent subtitles wouldn't change my opinion, just didn't enjoy it. Could be a movie you need to grow up with and have nostalgia for

When my copy arrives, I will report back on that hypothesis. I've never see it before, but I do loves me some crazy, over-the-top Wuxia.

[sonny gaunt]

Originally Posted by Futurhythm

It's a very important film for technical and cultural reasons, but it's also a mess and not the kind of wonderful mess that Tsui Hark would eventually be the master of.

It works kind of just as spectacle. It's got some very cool wuxia wire work in it, but it's drowned out by a lot of janky optical effects. Most of the plot feels like the first episode of a series, and then it all gets shoved aside to a rushed third act.

I love it purely for aesthetic reasons. There's some very appealing designs and imagery and the the attempted scope is admirable.

When I was putting together the new translation, I would compare what I did with the old English subtitles out of curiosity because there's a lot of jargon and some absolutely obtuse turns of phrase. The old subtitles tended to simplify or outright explain some of the more difficult lines. They also left out a lot of names (such as the name of the ice fort) or completely skip over specialised or esoteric terms which don't necessarily have an 'official' English translation or equivalent. Another thing that doesn't quite come through in the previous translation is how the characters would jump between sounding extremely ordinary to sounding outright archaic and baroque.

That being said, I'm not sure if my translation would improve the enjoyment of the movie per se, but it's definitely much closer in tone to the original dialogue.

The film is brilliant. It used new(at that time) effects to translate Asian fantasy cinema to a wider audience, the influence of Hu is very obvious.

I think Hark is the parallel/equal of Spielberg, he can create a film that appeals to the masses and still maintain a strong artistic vision unique to the himself.

[Jared A.]

Somewhat surprised at the amount of naysaying I'm seeing about this film, so I'll just add my two cents for what it's worth (which is honestly, only about two cents).

I love this movie. It's a personal favorite. Top 20 if not Top 10. It might be a mess, but it's a glorious, beautiful, crazy, high-energy, weird mess. I would prefer to watch this over any of the more "classic" kung fu or wuxia films from say, the Shaws. I often find those boring. This is anything but.

Of course it's just my opinion but consider this: I love this movie so much that when I got married almost two years ago I rented a small local indie theater and a 35mm print of the film from the American Genre Film Archive and screened it for friends two days before the actual ceremony.

For the most part, of the 30 or 40 or so people who attended, none or very few were seasoned cult or Asian film fans. And yet, the movie absolutely killed. Brought the house down. Everyone emerged with the biggest grins you ever saw and took the time to thank me for showing it to them.

What a great night that was. And what a film. So, this is my most highly anticipated BD release of the year so far. Can't wait to experience it again, but with this new restoration and improved subs.

Again, just my two cents. But anyone who's a fan of Asian films or weird genre films in general should give this one a look.

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by Jared A.

Somewhat surprised at the amount of naysaying I'm seeing about this film, so I'll just add my two cents for what it's worth (which is honestly, only about two cents).

I love this movie. It's a personal favorite. Top 20 if not Top 10. It might be a mess, but it's a glorious, beautiful, crazy, high-energy, weird mess. I would prefer to watch this over any of the more "classic" kung fu or wuxia films from say, the Shaws. I often find those boring. This is anything but.

Of course it's just my opinion but consider this: I love this movie so much that when I got married almost two years ago I rented a small local indie theater and a 35mm print of the film from the American Genre Film Archive and screened it for friends two days before the actual ceremony.

For the most part, of the 30 or 40 or so people who attended, none or very few were seasoned cult or Asian film fans. And yet, the movie absolutely killed. Brought the house down. Everyone emerged with the biggest grins you ever saw and took the time to thank me for showing it to them.

What a great night that was. And what a film. So, this is my most highly anticipated BD release of the year so far. Can't wait to experience it again, but with this new restoration and improved subs.

Again, just my two cents. But anyone who's a fan of Asian films or weird genre films in general should give this one a look.

Also, hasn't John Carpenter said that Zu: Warriors was a big inspiration on Big Trouble in Little China? I blind bought this and can't wait to watch this for the first time as I've been slowly getting into more and more Hong Kong films so what Eureka and 88 have been doing has been like the Lord's work.

[backslashio]

Originally Posted by Jared A.

Somewhat surprised at the amount of naysaying I'm seeing about this film

Ftr I don't want to be a biased naysayer but that was my opinion as someone who never grew up with the movie at all & just randomly jumped in some 30 years later. I'm sure its treasured by a large volume of people

I think its also tougher to accept older movies as the years go on too, watched Millionaire Express the other week & well..my very first watch wasn't promising either

[Show spoiler]may have gotten really bored midway & started skipping bits

[dodgysteve]

What's the runtime of the HK version? IMDB says 112min international but that seems wrong as the one on Google Play is ~96 and that's with Chinese audio

I projected this for my Uni Chinese Society (ie HK students; there were no mainland Chinese back then) back in Nov 1985, and the 35mm print ran 97½ mins. That would have been in Cantonese with English subs.

[Killer Meteor]

I saw ZU in 2005,but my obsession of HK cinema was in temporal decline by then, so I don't think it registered that much with me. Didn't help that the HKL remix was poor and muffled a lot of the sound effects.

Certainly looking forward to the BD - the extras sound great.

I'd love a relase of my fave Hark movie - Swordsman. Which features one shot directed by King Hu, all that remains from his abortive stab at it.

[Killer Meteor]

I'm a huge fan of Millionaire's Express. It's such good fun!

[Shingster]

Yeah big fan of Millionaire's Express here as well, but I'm a Sammo Hung fanboy so I was an easy mark for it. I think Righting Wrongs is up there with it as well, so I'll give Rothrock props for that. Hard to give her props for anything else, she was a pretty terrible actress for much of her early career, loosening up more later on.

[Markgway]

Love Millionaires' Express. It's in top five Sammo's.

Cyndy wasn't a brilliant actress, but given that she didn't understand anything her co-stars were saying... let's just say she's better than most westerners in Hong Kong movies.

The Blonde Fury is a silly little flick, but lots of fun for fans.
City Cops is fun too, despite some off-colour humour.

[Shingster]

I actually think she's fine in the HK films, it's her move to America and completely stilted, wooden way of delivering her lines that showed her up, but after a couple of years she started to loosen up and become more of an "actress".

I think a lot of the straight to video action stars of the 80s/90s were really wooden though tbf, she wasn't even in the bottom 5. Billy Blanks anyone?

[Killer Meteor]

Originally Posted by Shingster

I actually think she's fine in the HK films, it's her move to America and completely stilted, wooden way of delivering her lines that showed her up, but after a couple of years she started to loosen up and become more of an "actress".

I think a lot of the straight to video action stars of the 80s/90s were really wooden though tbf, she wasn't even in the bottom 5. Billy Blanks anyone?

Cynthia, like Dolph Lundgren, is easy on the eyes.

[Killer Meteor]

I think my China O'Brian tapes are at my grans, I'll see if I can dig them out