What Price Survival aka One Armed Swordsman '94- I've been to watch this for the last couple of months, but was waiting for the right time as I knew it wasn't exactly a light hearted film. Firstly, I must confess, I've seen quite a few Shaw films but never the One Armed Swordsman films, probably because of my dislike of Wang Yu (I will watch them someday, though).
Anyway, this film is quite a sad tale, some would criticise it for taking itself far too seriously, but there's a place for films like that so I don't mind the tone at all. Norman Tsiu /Chu and David Chiang have a clan / family feud, with a high price to pay for one of them. I won't spoil the story but it involves family members. There's a bit of a love triangle going on later, and most of the film is about the generation that follows.
The film is very well shot, with heavy use of Autumn and Winter scenes, probably to reflect the sad tone of the film's plot. Some of the themes present are revenge, honour, sacrifice, etc etc. There was no one standout fight in my opinion, as the fights were quite short but well choreographed. A quick google search showed some criticism out there of the fast cuts used during the fight scenes, but as a 90s film I think there's quite a few other films that employed this technique. The fights could have been clearer and used less cuts and more distance, but it didn't really bother me.
I liked some of the dialogue, quite poetic, although at times they may have overdone it a bit. The soundtrack started off very minimalistic and atmospheric but seemed to change a bit after the mid-way point.
Overall, I thought it was a solid film, if watched in the right mood. A 90s swordplay film, with a great cast and good performances from everyone. I would recommend this film, and I'd probably give it something like 7 out of 10. Maybe a 7.5.
Anyway, this film is quite a sad tale, some would criticise it for taking itself far too seriously, but there's a place for films like that so I don't mind the tone at all. Norman Tsiu /Chu and David Chiang have a clan / family feud, with a high price to pay for one of them. I won't spoil the story but it involves family members. There's a bit of a love triangle going on later, and most of the film is about the generation that follows.
The film is very well shot, with heavy use of Autumn and Winter scenes, probably to reflect the sad tone of the film's plot. Some of the themes present are revenge, honour, sacrifice, etc etc. There was no one standout fight in my opinion, as the fights were quite short but well choreographed. A quick google search showed some criticism out there of the fast cuts used during the fight scenes, but as a 90s film I think there's quite a few other films that employed this technique. The fights could have been clearer and used less cuts and more distance, but it didn't really bother me.
I liked some of the dialogue, quite poetic, although at times they may have overdone it a bit. The soundtrack started off very minimalistic and atmospheric but seemed to change a bit after the mid-way point.
Overall, I thought it was a solid film, if watched in the right mood. A 90s swordplay film, with a great cast and good performances from everyone. I would recommend this film, and I'd probably give it something like 7 out of 10. Maybe a 7.5.
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