Film: ‘Storm Warriors’; Directors: Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang; Cast: Aarok Kwok, Ekin Cheng, Kenny Ho, Nicholas Tse, Simon Yam, Suet Lam; Rating: 1/2
There are films that excel because of their good storyline. There are others that do well because of their special effects. Then there’s the third category, that hang nowhere and belong nowhere, like ‘Storm Warriors’ and the audiences are left wondering what happened to the filmmakers who’ve made some good movies in the past.
The little of what you can gather of the story from the film goes like this. An evil Japanese warlord, Lord Godless (Yam), subdues two martial arts masters Cloud (Kwok) and Namless (Ho). When Godless crosses all limits, it is up to Cloud and Wind (Cheng) to make themselves stronger and take upon the might of Lord Godless.
‘Storm Warriors’ is the sequel to the hugely popular 1998 martial arts extravaganza ‘Storm Riders’. Both these are based on comic books. However, while the first had a good story, acting and effect, this part boasts of only having pointless special effects without any cement of story to hang even the effects together.
There is no scope for acting and the background score is loud, perhaps to din out the lack of any sense in this fantasy.
Even the greatest fans of comic book adaptations would be disappointed with this film where just like the swords that flies past some actors in the film, the story flies right past you like a googly.
And this despite having directors in the Pang Brothers – Oxide and Danny Pang – who have made some delightful films in the past including ‘The Eye’ and ‘Bangkok Dangerous’, both of which have been remade in Hollywood.
You are most likely to walk out of the theatre if you end up going for ‘Storm Warriors’.
