The Swordsman (1996)

Some dramas are meant to be dark and gritty. The hero is a victim of all kinds of tragedies, betrayals, and emotional manipulation. I can accept that, as long as there are some proper character development. There was none here. All that suffering was rather pointless.

This series had more than its fair share of rape. I really don’t have the stomach for that, either.

Damian Lau was pushing 50 at the time, much too old for the lead role of Bak Wan. The bad wig and costume didn’t help his cause. The few characters worth watching were Eric Wan’s Chin Ming and Mak Ging Ting’s Hiu Yuet. Unlike Bak Wan, they at least showed some character growth.

The fight choreography was actually pretty good and creative for its time. But not good enough to save the story.

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