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Feng Xiaogang’s Legend of the Black Scorpion (aka The Banquet) isn’t the first Shakespeare re-make by an Asian director (Kurosawa’s Ran and Throne of Blood come to mind), nor will it be the last. But there’s no doubt in my mind that it is one of the best.

Benefiting from gorgeous cinematography by Zhang Li and fight choreography by legendary master Yuen Woo Ping, as well as taut, grand performances from Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Daniel Wu (New Police Story), Xiaogang has crafted a sweeping, mythical epic that succeds in every way possible.

Using the bard’s Hamlet as source material, writers Gangjian Qiu and Heyu Sheng have spun a remarkable re-iteration, taking as much inspiration from their own culture as they have from the original play. Using ancient China as a surrogate for Elizabethan England does little to diminsh the power of the story. All the passion and intrigue is completely intact and, coupled with some truly spectacular visuals and action, Legend of the Black Scorpion makes for some serious entertainment.

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More than 40 years after its original release, The One-Armed Swordsman remains a classic martial arts film. Its pageantry, performances, drama and unstoppable action exemplify everything audiences love about Shaw Brothers films, and rightly made stars of its director, Cheh Chang, and its smoldering star, Jimmy Wang Yu.

While we’re on the subject of noted genre pictures I’ve never seen, I have a shameful confession: one of them was the 1967 Shaw Brothers classic The One-Armed Swordsman. I’ve long been a big fan of Jimmy Wang Yu, but somehow never got around to seeing the film that catapulted him to stardom. Fortunately, a typically excellent Dragon Dynasty DVD released in summer of 2007 provided the opportunity to correct the situation. Read the rest of this entry »