The Sword

THE SWORD (1980) marks Hong Kong director Patrick Tam’s directorial debut and it is his ‘homage’ to the popular ‘wuxia’ genre. Central figure is Adam Cheng as a young swordsman whose sole ambition is to challenge a legendary older swordsman to a duel… and win. It is, in parts, a morality tale about how too much ambition can lead to loss of love, of meaning and even to loss of life… rendering one’s ultimate goal as futile.

In a prologue sequence, legendary swordsman Fa Chin-shu (Tien Feng) visits blacksmith Wong to have a certain sword, called the ‘Harmonious Sword’ re-forged – having already had the so-called ‘Cold Star Sword’ given a makeover by the blacksmith. However, Wong warns Chin-shu to stay clear of the ‘Harmonious Sword’ as apparently, this particular weapon was created under a bad omen and will bring nothing but bad luck, in fact, it may well bring about Chin-shu’s demise! Ignoring Wong’s well-meant advice, Chin-shu takes the sword, however, then decides to keep a low profile and hides the cursed object. Forward several years, and warrior Lee Mak-Yin (Adam Cheng), an experienced but as yet not fully accomplished swordsman sets out to find Master Chin-shu and his ‘Harmonious Sword’ – ignoring his teacher’s warnings that he isn’t ready to take on the legendary swordsman. Does Mak-yin listen? Of course not! Oh, the follies of youth! Mak-yin’s goal is to find Chin-shu, then challenge him to duel which he intends to win, thus making him the new and best swordsman in the land.

Along his quest to find Chin-shu, Mak-yin stumbles across Fa Ying-chi (Jade Hsu), who not only happens to be the daughter of the old swordsman (though Mak is not aware of it) but when he spots her she is being chased by some men on a mission of their own! Quite why she is being chased, well, Mak-yin will find out soon enough. With nowhere concrete to go except the same direction, Ying-chi accompanies her saviour and the two decide to spend the night at an inn where a second, unexpected surprise lies in store for our wannabe ace-swordsman: he happens to spot Yin Siu-yu (Jo Jo Chan), his childhood sweetheart for whom he obviously still has feelings (and vice versa) walking into her guest chamber, accompanied by two maids. When he knocks on her room, she asks him in but then it transpires (much to Mak-yin’s chagrin) that Siu-yu is now a married woman, albeit forced into an arranged marriage by her parents. Speak of the devil! No sooner is Mak-yin tasked with digesting this piece of disappointing news does Siu-yu’s husband Lin Wan (Norman Chiu) return. We know from his entire demeanour that he’s a bad lot and soon, Mak-yin will know, too.

Outwardly polite and asking Mak-yin to stay for a drink since he happens to be ‘an old friend’ of his wife, Mak-yin feels understandably awkward about the situation and finds an excuse to leave. By doing so, he arouses the jealousy of Lin Wan, who is fully aware that his wife still harbours feelings for him. While the double-faced Lin wishes Mak-yin the best for his journey, he secretly instructs his henchman Tit-yee (Eddie Koo) to kill him at the first opportunity before hitting his wife in a jealous rage. Of course, there is another reason why Lin Wan wants his love rival dead: he himself is a collector of swords and it’s in his own interest to get to Chin-shu and the troubled sword, no matter what! Then a third feisty dame by the name of Yuen Kei (Bonnie Ngai) bounces on to the scene, who happens to know Mak-yin and saves him by taking him back to her house but it’s not before long and the chase is on again. Yuen Kei and Mak-yin are informed that Yin-chi has been kidnapped. Setting off to rescue her, both are pursued by a bald-headed assassin, Sau Foon (Hoi Sang Lee) and along the way, we are treated to some pretty nifty duels, including a huge scaffold with the kidnapped Yin-chi bound to it. To give more away would spoil the plot as there are more twists and turns in store – just don’t expect a happy ending. The fight choreography is impressive and Adam Cheng and Yuen Kei in particular are very competent at handling swords – as are their adversaries. Shame that some of the fight sequences are let down by obvious wire work – at one point, an attacker seems to fly towards his target, which makes it look less realistic and as is often the case with martial arts, defies the rules of gravity.

THE SWORD is presented in 2K restored Blu-ray format in a Limited Edition O-card slipcase (2000 copies) plus collector’s booklet. Various audio options, audio commentaries, interviews and trailer make up the usual bonus features.