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List Price: $14.95 | | Label: Tai Seng
Salesrank: 36988
Released: June 22, 2004 |
| Our Price: $6.86 |
| Used Price: $1.98 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Action stars Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen are featured in this swordfighting tale starring Joey Wang as "Butterfly." Along with Tony Leung, the foursome all parry and thrust their way through a deliriously-paced yarn.
Description of Butterfly Sword (Special Edition):
This pinwheeling period-fantasy action film is all over the map--in its plotting, for starters, but also in its action sequences, staged by A Chinese Ghost Story's Ching Siu-tung, which are so frenetic that we can barely keep track of who's skewering whom. Based on a serialized swordplay novel by leading Chinese pulp writer Gu Long, the endless twists and turns in the conflict between two rival clans of quasi-magical warriors are all but impossible to follow. The result of this multilayered confusion is a less than completely involving cinematic experience, although the dashing Michelle Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Dies) and soulful Tony Leung Chiu-wai (Hard Boiled) are an unusually classy pair of comrades in arms. Newcomers interested in the distinctive Hong Kong subgenre known as wu hsia pian ("martial chivalry films") should consider beginning their researches elsewhere, with either Raymond Lee's Dragon Inn or Ronny Yu's The Bride with White Hair. --David Chute
Butterfly Sword (Special Edition) Reviews:
Excellent 
2009-11-10 - The actors bring the story to life as the
plots unfold until the end of the film.
The action seguences are outstanding.
A job well done by the people that brought this movie
to be for all to see.
Best Martial Arts Thriller
2009-10-25 - From the action director of DRAGON INN, THE DUEL, and the Jet Li Blockbuster HERO comes this dazzling martial Arts adventure starring action Goddess MICHELLE YEOH (Tomorrow Never Dies), TONY LEUNG (In the Mood For Love) and DONNIE YEN (Iron Monkey)! When the powerful Eunuch Tsao assigns Sister Ko and Brother Sing, siblings who are also assassins, to infiltrate a group of rebels, they are caught in a web of deceit and betrayal. Unbeknowst to them, Tsao is already dead and the impostor has a goal of his own. With jaw-dropping martial arts choreography by the legendary CHING SIU TUNG and featuring the now-classic "Human Arrow", BUTTERFLY SWORD is a wonderfully wild kung fu thriller with amazing swordplay and innovative action sequences.
Butterfly Sword fails to deliver 
2009-04-24 - I'm sword fight movie fan - Toshiro Mifune, Kurosawa, and the more recent Zaitoichi, the blind swordsman (never much liked the original). The Duelists, Scaramouche, The Mask of Zorro, The Three Musketeers (1973 & 1974), and of course Highlander and Rob Roy. The first Pirates of the Carribian, Kill Bill, Gladiator, Star Wars Episode V, etc. My experience with the Chinese movies is much more recent, starting with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon & Hero, etc.
I've enjoyed Michelle Yeoh in CTHD, and she is the all time best Bond Girl in Tomorrow Never Dies. She was interesting in the SciFi psychological thriller/head trip movie "Sunshine", and belivable as Mameha in "Memoirs of a Geisha". I've gone out of my way to watch her in "The Touch" and "Silver Hawk" - both mediocre, but watchable. I love chicks with swords, so I broke down and spent $12.00 on "The Butterfly Sword".
The production values are better than I expected, and the fight scenes are beautifully choreographed. But the WIRE-Fu is too over the top, to the point of becoming boring. I didn't care for any of the characters, therefore couldn't get involved in the movie's complicated plot line. It wasn't a waste of time to watch, but I wish I'd seen it on cable - not paid $ for it. I suspect you need to be a hard-core wire-fu fan to truly enjoy the movie.
Disappointing. Not as good as I'd hoped.
2008-07-23 - I must be spoiled by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, Iron Monkey and House of Flying Daggers. I was expecting something along the same lines (in terms of art direction, costuming, story, etc.). In that regard I was disappointed. It felt unpolished.
Was hoping for something a bit more epic or fantastic. The fights were also somewhat unpolished. Granted, I saw some things I hadn't seen before, but it just looked a bit rough / raw in terms of the actual film style and that turned me off from enjoying it. As the Amazon review also said, some of the fights and editing cuts are so frenetic it's hard to tell who's slaughtering who until it's over.
In all, unless you're really a fan of the genre and don't mind what I'd call unpolished camera work, you might want to rent this before buying it. It's unfortunate that the box/art exceeds the quality of the movie itself.
Off the wall martial arts 
2007-10-09 - Off the wall, the ceiling, treetops, clothesline, and just about anything else.
Oh, there's some kind of convoluted plot in there about multiple levels of secrecy and multiple loyalties, a scheme to take over the world of martial arts, and a chastely inept romance. We also have Michelle Yeoh, a few years before the West discovered her in Tomorrow Never Dies, in a role that threatens to bring credibility to this flying-swordsman flick. Fortunately for all concerned, not even she could pull it off.
The movie starts off slowly. The final fight scenes are all you could hope for, though, with magical weapons, mystical powers, and cartoony if bloody violence. The flying fighters, whirling off (and sometimes through) walls are enough to leave any professional wrestler crying in envy, but the costumes, scenery, and group scenes are far better. If you're after serious cinema, you've made a horrible mistake; if your tastes have matured beyond cartoons but only just barely, this might be a good one for you. Or might not.
-- wiredweird
