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The Swordsman

Play trailer Poster for The Swordsman R 1990 1h 50m Adventure Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 3 Reviews 74% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
A young swordsman inadvertently takes delivery of a sacred scroll, which has been stolen from the Emperor's library. The scroll, said to contain the details of a secret martial arts technique, is sought by a number of groups including the army, a martial arts school, and a tribe of snake-wielding women.

Critics Reviews

View All (3) Critics Reviews
Panos Kotzathanasis Asian Movie Pulse Although not a Shaw Brothers production, the movie follows the recipe of the iconic company, having, though, better production values. The chaos and the lack of logic are here as always, but so is the fun Rated: 7 Aug 25, 2024 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 3/5 Oct 3, 2005 Full Review Keith H. Brown Eye for Film Rated: 3/5 Jan 29, 2004 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (25) audience reviews
Audience Member Super nice theme song. Campy-style from HK 90's. Finally watched this fully. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Shame on me that skipped this and go straight to sequel(Legend of Swordsmen).Frankly,Sam Hui is quite old to play Ling yet he is the best choice to sing the main song that was done by my all time favorite HK composer James Wong,those Golden Days.Plus,Director King Hu is the man behind the camera.They didn't kill the tittle even without following the original novel. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member When the Sacred Volume of a mystical martial art is stolen, the clan responsible for guarding it tries to frame another clan and ignites a. war A Sect, samurai, and more parties battle each other as everyone tries to get their hands on it. It starts off pretty good, but then slowly gets a bit too complex for my taste. There are some fantastic fantasy martial arts action sequences and camera work for an older film. A solid martial arts fantasy epic. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member Funny supernatural martial arts flicks in Tsui Hark style, with quirky inventions and confusing plot, but mesmerizing action. My only complaint is the rather obnoxious, but rather folkloristic, leit-motif song, but I'll end whistling it anyway...damnit! Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member One of my favorite old fashion HK action movie. The story is based on a famous novel. But lots of plot has been changed in the movie as most of the case in those HK action movies. However, the movie totally has the spirit of the novel. Acting is pretty good. The song is A CLASSIC. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member Swordsman II has been a favorite of mine for 8 years. How could any other film in that series possible be as good? I was wrong, this is better. Should have acquired it a long time ago. Great story, great characters... the action was good but that's not what kept me into the movie. Plus it's from the director of Come Drink With Me! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Swordsman

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis A young swordsman inadvertently takes delivery of a sacred scroll, which has been stolen from the Emperor's library. The scroll, said to contain the details of a secret martial arts technique, is sought by a number of groups including the army, a martial arts school, and a tribe of snake-wielding women.
Director
King Hu
Rating
R
Genre
Adventure
Original Language
Chinese
Runtime
1h 50m