Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

the storm riders is a big budget, special effects laden, martial arts fantasy adventure. based on a popular comic book by ma wing-sing, the film proved a massive hit in the hong-kong box office.set in a mythical chinese past, this fantasy epic is a classic tale of prophetic young heroes and a megalomaniacal warlord (played by sonny chiba) who strives to become the undisputed leader of the martial arts world. chiba excels in this movie and gives an enormously entertaining performance as 'conquer', who frequently comes across as something of a pantomime villain.critics will argue that the film relies too heavily on visual effects, but the extensive use of cgi conjures a stunning overall look and feel which is somewhere between comic book, video game and live action movie. besides, when the special effects look this good, who cares?packed full of swordplay, magic, stunning locations, ridiculous costumes and some quite incredible hair, the storm riders is arguably andrew lau's most accomplished movie to date.

My oh my. I picked this one up on the basis of the reviews in here and loving fantasy martial arts I thought I was onto a winner. What are the reviewers in here smoking? Even when I don't agree with opinions I can generally understand the reasons behind someone liking a film I don't. But here we have a film without a SINGLE redeeming feature yet it's sitting pretty on a way too generous 6.6. Honestly, this is as poor as film making gets. Awful, awful direction with MTV video editing makes for incoherent fight scenes with no fluency coupled with a dog of a narrative. The film is a mess. That isn't even the biggest problem, it's the films visual style that sells it down the river. It's so contrived and riddled with bad CGI it comes out looking like a CARTOON. Honestly, it's that bad. How can anyone possibly give this pass marks? It looks cheaper than an episode of Power Rangers and amazingly is even poorer in execution. I can only imagine kids under the age of 10 enjoying this nonsense. I'm here to warn any adults who are even remotely curious about this turkey to spend your money on something else. Anything else. If you respect class direction and cinematography try Musa The Warrior or Hero for proper examples of Asian film making. If you love Saturday morning cartoons and are 8 yrs old then get this.1 out of 10Niz

In it's original form the Stormriders (Feng yun xiong ba tian xia) is a visual treat for fight lovers, and is touchingly romantic ta'boot. While the martial arts are not of the calibre of your average Jackie Chan flick, the special effects are generally well done, with only a few lapses exposing the computer generated scenery. You might want to keep your finger on the pause button to read some of the subtitles as they generally go by fast. (An error has the English subtitles marked as "Chn" but it is the second one on the menu.) The dubbed international version is unintentionally funny at times, as it changes some of the meanings.Based on a "graphic novel" the story line has been changed a bit, so judge it on it's own merits. Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng are easy on the eye as is the romantic lead, Kristy Yeung. Shu Qi is there for comic relief as she seems to be in most of her films.Give the full screen 90 minute "international version" a wide berth as it cuts the heart and soul from the film in a brutal and baffling manner, and was wholly un-necessary as the running time in the HK version is only 128 minutes.It can be difficult to find the original letter-box version as the market has been flooded with poorly reproduced ripped copies, but legitimate copies can be found with reputable dealers.The lavish Hong Kong DVD version has an un-narrated show about the special effects, and a making of special which isn't too difficult to understand (given that it has no subtitles.) Notes on the Characters, a Poster Gallery, trailers and Actors bios (in English) are a real treat. (The making of special on the international version is not the same one on the Hong Kong version.)Try to find the Hong Kong version and resist the temptation to view the mangled international version on cable, and you won't be sorry!

I really liked this movie,and both leads were perfect in there roles.this is a action fantasy with lots of cool but hoky special effects and almost non stop action.Great fighting scenes and decent special effects.your 12 to 15 year olds will love it as will most si-fi/fantasy/kung-fu buffs.