FLYING DAGGER is a Hong Kong comedy made at the peak of the craze for the wuxia genre. It's replete with characters jumping and flying in the air and dashing through treetops with sheer abandon, and the constant and frequent fight scenes are heavy with wirework which allows for spinning, jumping, flying characters. Add in larger than life characterisation and a predilection for lowbrow comedy and you have a unforgettable little movie.I admit that as this film started out I wondered what on earth I was watching. A couple of bounty hunters attempt to claim the scalp of some renegade warrior but are interrupted in their duties by a female twosome who steal all the bodies. Undeterred they take on a new job, to capture and bring the thief 'Nine-Tail Fox' to justice, but they find their journey assailed by all manner of danger including immortals, ninjas, and poisoners.After about 20 minutes of watching this I got into the spirit of it and enjoyed it right up to the end. Overkill is the word here: everything, and I mean, EVERYTHING, is completely over the top. The humour ranges from fun self-referencing (Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung are characters!) to the gross-out (farting and drinking urine) to general goofy slapstick. The special effects are plentiful and not so special, but you can't fault the enthusiasm that's gone into making this one. Yen-Ping Chu's direction I'm less sure about; he did well on ISLAND OF FIRE, for instance, but his attempts to be avant-garde here are just too much (he insists on shooting every scene at an angle, for instance).Still, we do get a strong cast that includes a leading heroic role for Tony Leung (DUMPLINGS) and Maggie Cheung (POLICE STORY) playing a woman who fights with 'cat style'; Jacky Cheung (BULLET IN THE HEAD) supplies much of the ample humour, and Yuen Cheung-Yan is a hoot as an evil indestructible warrior. There's a minor role for veteran actress Pei-pei Cheng and a cameo for Lo Lieh. I guess the producers were fans of THE ADDAMS FAMILY, because a disembodied hand is part of the fun as it tags along with and helps out the heroes at various intervals. If you're looking for madcap Hong Kong awesomeness, you've come to the right place!

Kevin Chu's martial arts comedy fantasy is a silly comedy but one that is highly entertaining. It's not the best of its genre as some of the humour is a little too over the top for my liking and there are several plot holes and the story itself lacks direction. The fight scenes, although clichéd, are fun to watch even though the 'gliding in the sky' gets tiring at some point. 'Shen Jing Dao Yu Fei Tian Mao' also doesn't stand out in the technical department. The sound effect is terrible, the cinematography is flat and the special effects are bad. The movie has a campy feel to it. It is the humour that stands out for the most part. There's plenty of toilet humour, nonsensical situations and slapstick. Jacky Cheung and Maggie Cheung are splendidly hilarious. Jacky is already well known for his comic flair and it's nice to see that Maggie can pull off comedy with ease. The rest of the cast are adequate. Overall, 'Shen Jing Dao Yu Fei Tian Mao' isn't among the best examples of Hong Kong's action comedy fantasies but it's a funny little film that has some laugh-out-loud moments.

Kung fu fans seeking stunning, well choreographed displays of martial arts prowess are advised to look elsewhere for their fix: Flying Dagger may feature endless scenes of combat, but with bags of wire-assisted Wuxia-style leaping, terribly confusing direction and editing, and an abundance of swirling mist, 'stylish' lighting, and flapping cloth (surely fighting with such large sleeves must be a handicap!), this film ends up disappointing in the action stakes.Those looking for a large dose of crazy Asian lunacy, however, have come to the right place: this film is totally bonkers! Tony Leung and Jimmy Lin play The Dagger Brothers, a pair of bounty hunters who team up with the beautiful Bewitchment sisters (Sharla Cheung and the VERY cute Gloria Yip) in order to try and catch wanted criminal Nine-Tails Fox (Jacky Cheung), a formidable foe, particularly when teamed in combat with his feisty wife Flying Cat (Maggie Cheung).Battling a variety of foes on the way (all of whom have names that accurately describe their special abilities), the brothers eventually fall for the sisters. But the course of true love never runs smooth—particularly when you're confronted by ninjas, a disembodied hand, cat-women, a singing gay kung fu master, and trans-sexual Japanese warriors armed with poisonous lips.Westerners au fait with Chinese humour will not be at all surprised to find that Flying Dagger contains a plethora of fart jokes, 'carry-on' style smut, and silly slapstick (and the odd joke requiring people to drink urine!), some of which is funny, but most of which is not.Still, this star-packed slice of extreme silliness is worth seeing purely so that one can claim to have seen a film in which the gorgeous Maggie Cheung tears through treetops screeching like a possessed cat.

This is silly. Lots of visual gags and slapstick - some of which fall flat, but enough of which are genuinely funny to make this an entertaining romp. There are plenty of side-swipes at martial arts movie cliches; although at times the farce does get out of hand and descends into Benny Hill territory. Funny film. 7/10.