The Sword (1980)

What price honor and glory?

The Sword asks the question, "what price honor and glory?" It's something I always wonder when I watch these films where swordsmen try to move up the pecking order by defeating someone ranked higher than themselves and toss the word honor around while doing it. "Excuse me, I know we don't have any disagreements, but would you mind terribly battling me to the death to see which of us is the superior swordsman?" This procedure never seemed very polite, much less honorable. In this film, Adam Cheng was forced to weigh the costs of spending years hunting for a legendary swordsman simply to test his skills.

Adam Cheng as Li Mak Yin befriends Ying Chih, a young swordswoman being hunted by a kidnapper, on the road to finding Hua/Wah, the legendary swordsman who has gone into hiding. Along the way he runs into his old flame who grew tired of waiting while he was on his quest and married Lin Wan (Norman Chu). Lin Wan turns out to be a vicious brute who wants Hua's sword Hon Sing. When Ying Chih is finally kidnapped Li goes to help her and is gifted the cursed sword Chi Mud to aid him by a woman who saved his life after a fierce battle with Lin's henchman. Turns out Ying Chih is Hua's daughter. In a very awkward moment after returning the man's daughter, Li asks if they could duel. After that interlude, the bodies start stacking up.

For a 1980 martial arts film, The Sword was slow, melancholic, and artfully done. Director Patrick Tam used beautiful framing and compositions combined with dramatic lighting. 1980's synth music was utilized for the soundtrack which actually worked quite well for setting the mood. The film asked how it felt to get what you wanted. Were the costs in innocent lives worth a lifetime of trying to beat and be the best? For the lone swordsman was the emptiness and loneliness of the lifestyle a satisfying tradeoff to feed one's pride and ambition?

The stunt work and fight choreography were acrobatic and quick. Despite being a more thoughtful movie, it did have gruesome ends to some of the fights. There were not only the traditional impalements, but one person decapitated himself and another was split in half. Chi Mud, much like The Ring of Power, was infused with hate and malice, and considered an evil sword. And just like the ring, it orchestrated the deadly destiny of several lives.

Adam Cheng played the conflicted and ambitious swordsman well. As Li weighed some of his exploitive actions, his life goals began to change. Norman Chu can be counted on to give depth to a villainous character and he did. Tien Feng, often cast as a baddie, was sympathetic as the aging considerate swordsman who cared for those around him. Jade Hsu found just the right balance as the firebrand daughter. She was forced to act idiotic for a scene but the writers finally put Ying Chih back on the right path. Eddy Ko, in a mostly silent role, made for a frightening henchman. Overall, the acting was quite good, especially for the genre.

The Sword was an excellent martial arts film for 1980 in comparison to so many others made during this time. The scenery, settings, and costumes were of a higher quality than most. For those looking for non-stop action, this might be a disappointment because it takes its time developing Li's character arc and the stakes being played for. The movie ends on a mournful note as Li moves beyond what he has been taught about honor and begins to understand that the real world has real consequences for his prideful actions. I would definitely recommend this film for fans of the genre. As always, I rate pre-1990 niche dramas on a curve.

6/27/23

*Many sites use a copy and pasted synopsis that says a swordsman and a samurai team up to find a blade. There is no samurai in this film, my guess is that it's either for a different movie or someone wrote a synopsis who had never seen this film.

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