Chow Si Kit (Jet Li) is a writer of serial adventures who imagines himself as the hero of his stories, brave archaeologist King of Adventurers. Recently, Chow Si Kit has been suffering from writer's block as a result of his marriage problems with wife Monica (played by the lovely Rosamund Kwan), but receives help from his friends when his back is turned, making the King of Adventurer's latest exploits a little more outlandish than usual.I'm a massive fan of martial arts star Jet Li, and director Siu-Tung Ching's A Chinese Ghost Story is one of my all-time favourite HK movies, but with Dr. Wai, the pair have managed to deliver one hell of a dreadful film, a shoddy mess of ill-conceived comedy and action scenes that seem to have been edited together completely at random. I defy anyone to make sense of this movie, particularly if, like me, they're watching with English subtitles, the film boasting some of the worst subs I have ever tried to read.Cutting between Chow Si Kit's real life and that of his imaginary character, Dr. Wai pays little attention to logic or narrative flow. The visuals are stylish, as one might expect from Siu-Tung Ching—a lot of time and money has clearly been spent on creating a spectacle—but it's all so incredibly slapdash that none of it works. On the contrary, the film proves extremely tiresome, despite such lavish nonsense as a giant runaway metal bull, a steam locomotive crashing through a town, a mid-air encounter with a man-monster on a crashing plane, and a set-to with flaming whip-swords. Despite such adversaries as a team of ninjas, a pair of sumo wrestlers, and Billy Chow, the showy kung fu fight scenes also fail to impress thanks to an over reliance on ridiculous wire-work.I've seen Dr. Wai described as a Chinese Indiana Jones, but to be honest, the best bits of Dr. Wai aren't even as good as The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull at it's worst, which says a lot.

Plot: Set in the early 20th century where Wai (Jet Li) embarks on an action packed quest in search of "The Scriptures With No Words". Accompanied by his loyal assistant Pao they encounter many obstacles along the way, including the lovely-but-deadly Yu Fung, a top agent for the Japanese who falls for Dr Wai's boyish looks, and lethal fighting skills of underworld gangster Ngai, who falls prey to the scriptures and transforms into an evil monster to confront Li in the final showdown.Review: I'm usually a big fan of Jet Li movies, but this one was really bad. I didn't have a clue what was going on and the acting was pretty appalling. Some of the action scenes weren't to bad, but the storyline was all over the place and it just seemed to jump for one scene to the next. Although the movie was made in the 90's, it looked like it was made in the early 80's with a dodgy camera. The film reminded me of Jackie Chan's earlier work when he was making those ridiculous Kung fu comedies that were equally bad. Anyway, I'll put this movie down to a quick payday for Li because he brought out much better movies in the 90's.Round-Up: I've decided to start a Jet Li collection, but this movie was not a good film to start off with. It might be down to the fact that I lost complete interest right from the beginning, which is why I lost the plot, but it didn't seem like I missed much. The fact is, no matter what type of movie Jet Li is in, his fighting skills are impressive and there very unique, except for appearance in the Expendables were he doesn't seem to do much at all. Anyway, if your a Jet Li fan, don't judge him by this movie because it had to be one of his worst ones.I recommend this movie to people who are into there Jet Li movies about a man in search for some scriptures. 1/10

Dr. Wai and the Scripture With No Words is a rousing adventure tale set in the middle part of the 20th century. Dr. Wai, known as the King of Adventurers, is a writer and archaeologist in the mold of Indiana Jones, and a renowned finder of missing artifacts.He is also the alter-ego of his creator, Chow Si-Kit, played by Jet Li. Chow Si-Kit is a beleaguered writer of serialized adventure tales whose own life is in a tailspin. His wife, Monica (Rosamund Kwan) wants a separation and is going to great lengths to insure the break with her husband up to and including engaging in the equivalent of phone sex with her husband's employer in Si-Kit's presence. Later, at a dinner requested by Monica to discuss divorce, a famous movie star--another apparent romantic swain of Monica's-- barges in, lawyer in tow, offering the barrister's services for the divorce.His rotten home-life is intruding upon Si-kit's work. He is suffering from writers block and cannot seem to move the adventures of Dr. Wai forward--risking his livelihood.Fortunately, Chow Si-Kit has friends in the publishing house where he works. Shing (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is an eager young writer who befriends Si-Kit and tries his best to support him in his marital troubles and help break his writer's block. When that effort is unsuccessful, he enlists the aid of Yvonne, a pretty young colleague, and together they begin to ghost write the adventure of Dr. Wai and the Scripture With No Words. Shing is represented in the tale by an alter-ego--also named Shing who is sidekick and disciple to Dr. Wai The Scripture is actually a two fold artifact which has, in the course of time been sundered into its components. The first is a seemingly ordinary wooden box, with an inscribed lid--which can kill and maim the unsuspecting who open it. The second is a scripture scroll which, when joined with the box creates an oracle which can tell the future. Many nefarious and greedy types are looking for the two artifacts for their own ends. Dr Wai has more than one occasion to engage the villains in martial arts battle, providing a showcase for Jet Li's impressive physical prowess.Shing and Yvonne, who are engaged in a budding romance of their own, soon steer the serial into the area of romance, even while Chow Si-Kit is being ever more plagued by his personal life.The plot of the film within the film lurches forward in a somewhat non-linear way as a "novel by committee" is wrested to and fro between its authors. Ultimately the lines between reality and fiction become less distinct, as a convalescing Monica begins to see her husband in a new light. Coming into his room and finding him asleep and his friends gone, she makes contributions to the novel herself.The dual plots wind down, one to a bittersweet end, the other more hopeful.Jet Li is very appealing in the dual roles of Chow Si-Kit and Dr. Wai "King of Adventurers". Where Chow Si-Kit is a bit of a bumbler and a man victimized by life, Dr. Wai is capable and fearless in his pursuit of his objective. Takeshi Kaneshiro shines as the two Shings, both stalwart and steadfast in their support of their friends.Rosamund Kwan is the perfect ice princess as Monica, and her alter ego, Cammy. Charlie Yeung is excellent as Yvonne and the editor's assistant who is instrumental in bringing the two aspects of the Scripture With No Words together.=

Jet Li stars as a writer of a series based on the character King of Adventures. When an accident puts him in the hospital, friends try to continue his current storyline for him. Great fun ensues as new twists and turns spring from the different characters adding to the story; including a pair of flying sumo wrestlers (!) and some well done CGI. A change of pace for the usually intense Li that's one of the most enjoyable HK movies of '96.