Customer Reviews

The Storm Riders

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

Storm Riders is a nearly perfect chinese fantasy movie! If you are thinking, maybe another Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, you are not even close. I am not at all saying that if you like C.T.H.D. you won't like this, they are just two very different movies. Along with some high-wire acts, Storm Riders combines great visual effects with exciting and original sword play. The sword fighting along with some hand to hand action is purely of the fantasy kind consisting of swords throwing huge waves of energy out from them to whirlwind kicks and manipulating liquid to be used as a weapon. There is also real fighting mixed in there to keep you from saying this is too much.

Sounds a bit out there, doesn't it. You must know that this film is based on a comic book. The story is of two young boys who are raised and ruled by the man who killed their parents and grow up to become martial arts masters. Filled with a ton of action, this tale is of loyalty, love, and revenge. The movie slows down a few times, but only to add to the depth of the story, then right back into another gravity-defying brawl. The acting is much better than I anticipated and is probably the best I have seen Ekin Cheng perform.

The movie is in widescreen but not anamorphic. Excellent film quality and sound(DTS/Dolby Digital) help this movie really come to life. You will have to read subtitles but they are done very well. There are no extensive lines that will cause you to have to speed read.

If you have an open mind when it comes to fantasy you will surely enjoy this one. Overall, I was thoroughly impressed and must recommend checking this out.

This version "Wind and Cloud - The Storm Riders" made in 2004 is not the same as "The Storm Riders" made in 1998.

This dvd is a condensed version of a TV series packaged by Tai Seng. It is full-screen and was made for TV. It is pretty disjointed as it was condensed into 2 hours from 30 hours.

Most people doing the reviews for this DVD is confusing everyone writing positive reviews for the 1998 film staring Aaron Kwok and Ekin Chen.

AMAZON PUT THE COMMENTS AND RATINGS FOR THE TV SHOW AND THE MOVIE TOGETHER.
The movie is titled simply "storm riders". this is good people like this movie.
The TV show is call "storm riders blah blah blah" noone likes it. It was condensed from a 30hr Tv series in to a 2hr. disks.
noone was trying to fool anyone. amazon's system just does not recognize the difference.

NOTICE: this is not really a sequel.

This is one of those Television movie/mini-series remakes of a theatrical release. You will not get cinematic visuals, you will get TV quality visuals.

Too many people are not providing appropriate reviews and this is more a betrayal of your consumer bethren.

The original Storm Riders is an amazing fantasy tale, this is not. This is more like a standard kung fu action flick that uses the characters. Storm Riders had that fantasy feel, this does not. There is good kung fu action, but this thing seems incoherent while you are trying to watch it, and that may be because they have tried to cut and paste the movie together, if my theory is correct in that it was a miniseries adaptation. The story starts and stops with no flow.

If you just want an action flick with some decent fight scenes get this, it's tolerable, but in no way is it on the caliber of Storm Riders. I really wish they establish a standard that differentiates the TV adaptations from real theatrical releases, such releases tend to be a bit insulting.

The ONLY thing that is redeeming for this is a really cute female actor, and that's it! I've never seen Wind and Cloud so unattractive, and this is based off Aaron Kwock and Ekin Cheng. These 2 are appropriate, but no substitute.

Every once in a while, a film comes out of Hong Kong that reminds me of why I like Asian cinema. Storm Riders is such a movie.

While less frenetically paced than many of my earlier favorites ("Swordsman II", "Fong Sai Yuk", etc.), it nonetheless has outstanding action scenes and a creative visual style. The imagery has the mythic quality that I liked in films such as "Bride with White Hair" and "Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain", but it has a much more solid plot, more complex characterizations, and far better special effects than those films.

I was also impressed with the special features on this DVD, which were far superior to the usual Tai Seng release, though not as good as many modern American-made DVDs. Even though I only watched a couple of them, it's refreshing to see that they made the effort to include a good variety of features.

If "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" is the only Chinese martial fantasy film you've seen, this film may not be what you're hoping for. This is not a deep character drama, though the central love triangle is well played, and the characters do have more depth to them than in most action films. Still, though, you'll enjoy the movie best if you expect a deeper-than-normal action film rather than a more-action-packed-than-normal character piece.

Finally Asian cinema is bridging the gap of clacciscal martial arts filming and new age graphic technology. Storm Riders far out ways any ohter new age martial arts/sci-fi movie. The movie is based on the Chinese comic book series Fung Wan. Which alone has developed a cult following through out Asia. The plot is easy to follow and charecters are developed reasonably well for a comic book crossover film. Fantastic editing, special effects and acting! If there is one dvd to buy from the east this is it.

Based on a Chinese comic book, the story centers around two warriors, Wind (who has powers to manipulate the wind, like a tornado) and Cloud (who can control water) who eventually must confront the warlord Conquer, the main villain (played by Sonny Chiba), who have trained and used them to conquer other lands. Add to that bunch of flying Kung Fu / sword fights, melodrama, a love triangle, magic monkey, posessed arm, winding plot, some beautiful scenery, and you get a movie that works, feels, and as imaginative as comic books can get. Characters are well-done and although the plot is a bit convoluted (but hey, it IS from a comic), the movie continues to remain energetic and exciting. As kung fu fantasy movies go, the bigger-budget computerized visual effects are very well-done, one of the most stylish and creative I've seen, as it also opens up newer possibilities in action choreography. But other than that, it is always more fun to see non-Hollywood films handle computer technology (let's face it, Hollywood films only use it for explosions or morphing nowadays, no flying speed-kicks or multi-fist attacks). Nevertheless, the visuals and the audio are excellent and of course, a very entertaining (and stylish) flick. (Plenty action, less serious than "Crouching Tiger." If you liked X-men, you may like this even more)

I am a novice to Hong Kong cinema. But this movie really blew me away! Awesome CGI, and fun, 'over-the-top' acting made me buy the DVD, and want to look for the SPECIAL EDITION version.

This is the story of Cloud and Wind, both young men raised by the (evil) dictator Lord Conquer. Loyal to Conquer, the two friends are drawn apart when Conquer engages his daughter Charity to Wind, the gentler of the two. In doing so, Conquer hopes that Wind and Cloud will kill eachother and save him the trouble.

What follows is a CGI extravaganza, with Wind and Cloud vying for Charity's attentions, and Eventually confronting Conquer.

Definitely a movie which will appeal to women, this movie is beautifully filmed... And has a great sound track! A must for lovers of romantic films.... Truly one of a kind!

This is quite simply one of the best Martial Arts movies you will see. I recently saw Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and although I loved Chow Yuen Fat and Michelle Yeoh I found myself saying "The story is great...but I wish it had the wow factor of Storm Riders". After the hand-over of Hong Kong to China and the mass exodus of many of Hong Kongs film makers I was a little worried we wouldn't see much in the way of Asian blockbusters. This movie dispelled all my fears and showed a changing face of Asian cinematography. Your collection isn't complete without this title!

There is poetic elegance in most Chinese films and I am happy to state this film is no exception. It is one of the main reasons I love Chinese cinema. This film has a playfulness and creativity with an exaggeration of certain qualities and characteristics that seems to be the hallmark of Chinese films. It is whimsical, funny, and entertaining. The costumes are very colorful and artistically designed. The hair styles of the actors and actresses are true to each character, some are modern and punkish, others are classically beautiful and elegant. The natural scenery is breath-takingly beautiful: jagged mountains, various green oriental foliage, a peaceful lake, gorges with multi-layered soil that looks like a modern art painting, and lovely valleys. Lok City is done in ancient Chinese splendor. The architecture and carvings of various buildings are stunning. There is one scene in which cherry blossom are frozen on the trees which creates an eerily glistening creatively beautiful effect. Feng Shui is clearly evident within the interior sets where minimal furniture, wall hangings and carved structures speak loudly of the artistry and creativity of the designers.

In this film, Wind and Cloud are martial artists who represent the righteous forces of justice and goodness. When they combine their energy and forces against an evil immortal named Dai-Sik-Tien (DTS) and his followers, fireworks erupt. DTS has captured Mung, the beautiful wife of Wind and put her into a state of suspended animation. She looks dead as she lies in her coffin made of ice while floating on a canopied raft in the middle of a lake. Wind tries to revive his wife without success. DTS offers him a capsule, with two options: he swallows it and dies so that his wife may live or she takes it and dies, so that he may live. Of course, Wind is generous and loving so he swallows the capsule. It turns out to be a trick: she remains in a state of suspension, neither alive nor dead. Wind turns into al demonic fighter for three days. He is pitted against the very forces he had defended and to which he had belonged. Eventually, the spell breaks and he returns to his previous personality and revives Mung. But the battle lines have been drawn, the population is suffering as the dark forces descend deeper into their lives. With stunning choreography, Wind, Cloud, Wave and several other righteous fighters do battle against the evil fighters. The sword play is outstanding. This brief scenario describes one of the many subplots within this magnificently done film.

In another scene, Wind helps a lady who had stolen something in the marketplace, he heals her injured arm. Little does he know that she is in disguise and part of the evil empire. He escorts her to her destination but along the way, she falls in love with him, tempting him in every possible manner. He resists and does not fall for her trap. While DTS is disappointed, he is very cunning and develops a devious plot to destroy the righteous fighters. In fact, he has won over at least one of the righteous ones to his side. He devises a scheme to destroy the dragon which lives in a gorge in the realm. He engages seven righteous martial arts warriors to join him in a coalition to kill the beast. The fight scenes are stunningly beautiful and highly creative. In one, the seven fighters on signal use their sword to ride ... like a surf board in the sky. In another magnificently conceived scene: the seven fighters stand on each other's shoulders, DTS joins them at the top. They make what looks like an energized totem pole which becomes a huge sword from their combined energy. Needless to say ... the dragon is slain. However, the biggest fight is yet to come as DTS attempts to gain the dragon's spirit all for himself. At the time, the dragon's spirit had split into small fireballs ... each of the seven warriors and DTS managed to retain one for himself. DTS wants it ALL ... Uncle Tsui Fook, an immortal from the righteous realm, joins the warriors in this fight. From this point forward, there are several treats and surprises in store for the viewer. Be assured that I have only touched the tip of the iceberg in describing scenes from this most highly recommended film. It is playful, entertaining, creative and a joy to watch. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]