This is a visual masterpiece that outdoes the special effects of later movies with sheer artistry, because it is a magical piece.It is a larger than life movie about a fight against evil. It begins with a "scout" giving two leaders a report. They each give him conflicting orders, and then ask which he'll obey. He says "Both", so they both call him insubordinate and condemn him to die.He finds himself on the run. This sets the pace for the film, which is nonstop action and breathtaking visuals. It helps that the visuals are perfectly placed, and logical in their Magic.The scout finds comrades, at first another warrior from an opposing side, and then later some monks who work in a very magical world.The film manages to be the best of all worlds. In spite of the magic, the comedy of human errors is always there. The characters fly in the air, fight demons, and do outrageous acrobatics, yet bump their noses, can't swim, and get smacked by pretty girls. They engage in battle, but play dead at the first opportunity, only to find dozens of others also playing dead.It is one of the funniest films of all time, and also one of the most passionate.This is how to make a masterpiece.

This movie has it all: flashing blades, crispy punchlines, whirling monstrosities, fast paced-combat, incredible heroes and incredibly foxy heroines; it also has chaotic plot diversions, incoherent dialogues, some of the crappiest special effects to date (a great Chaos beast is actually a very recognisable red rug with metal plates attached), random explosions, more than one character that just vanish inexplicably, more than one character that learn to fly and save the world. It is a wonderful, frantic vision from a children's dream, where ordinary things come alive and threaten to eat us, where any component of the game can be immediately dismissed (preferably with a boom) in favour of whatever has just caught our attention.If you like stories of swordsman army drop-outs who walk up the mountain with mentors who fight evildoers who bring up the great chaos beast which grows a double of the mentor that kills the mentor who gives his powers to his student who meets more swordsmen who join him to learn to fly up above the mountain to join the magic swords to banish the evil, this is your movie. Oh, I forgot about the temple where they tried to heal the master who got ill but the queen failed who got encased in ice when everything exploded... sort of. If you are appaled by an idea that a movie with this plot (not one part of it did I make up) could actually be made a have a cult following, then, well, you'd better not watch it. The chances of you enjoying it are truly minute.

Well, I must say, I first watched "Zu Warriors" from 2001 over and over again (about 12 times) with my brother, and we both totally love it. After that movie i got interested in the Chinese legend about zu mountain. Therefore I rented this movie, also because it is recommended in many a review. First to say, the story has many details about the Zu legend, which are important. But only that doesn't make it a good movie. I'm afraid, if I hadn't watched "Zu Warriors" first, I wouldn't have understood one inch of this movie and would be totally confused and bored after 3 minutes. Many a scene in this movie simply is so boring and unimportant, it could have been cut out or replaced (also to say, the never "Zu Warriors" from 2001 nearly tells the same story only backwards compared to this). The so-called special-effects in this high-budget Honk-Kong wuxia are honestly said the worst I've seen for a long time in a high-rated a-movie. Also It's still the early '80s, they could have done a lot better with the given budget.Summary: Only if you are hardcore wuxia fan AND are interested in the legend about ancient china zu mountains!

Frankly, I am confused that this movie has such a high rating from other users. I am a huge fan of Hong Kong period action/fantasy/swordplay movies, but I just couldn't get into this movie. I kept waiting for it to get better, but unfortunately, it just got worse! So much is said about the "ground breaking" special effects, but I felt like I was watching a Saturday morning cartoon. On paper, this movie should've been great. Produced by Tsui Hark, and an all-star cast... Too bad the plot was so silly/bad. I would definitely recommend the movie Deadful Melody (aka Deadly Melody) over this one. Better fight scenes, better humor, colorful-well-played characters, and a plot that makes sense.