The Legend / Fong Sai Yuk (1993)

The evil Emperor suffers from unpopularity among his people, who have formed the Red Flower Society, an underground organization vowing to overthrow the malevolent regime. A list is circulating which contains the names of the members of this secret organization, and the Emperor is murdering many citizens in his search for this list. Fong Sai Yuk, a young martial arts expert recently married to a wealthy and beautiful daughter of a Cantonese merchant, does what he can to protect his father from being assassinated, after it is discovered that he is a member of the Red Flower Society.

FONG SAI YUK is a wonderful mix of comedy, romance, action, and political intrigue. It is quite astonishing to consider how the film can handle such a wide mix of tempos, styles, and genres and still work, but it does. At times laugh-out-loud hilarious, at others heart-wrenching, and at others fostering exhilaration graceful in its action scenes. It does so much in under two hours, and does all of them well. What more could you want from an action/comedy? This has it all. A great cast and brilliantly stylish direction make this a quintessential example of Hong Kong kung-fu cinema.

Qwipster’s rating: A+

MPAA Rated: R for violence
Running Time: 100 min.

Cast: Jet Li, Sung-Yun Chan, Josephine Siao, Li Xia Xing, Chu Kong
Director: Corey Yuen
Screenplay: Kin Chung Chan, Jay On, Chai Kung-Yung