Ray Charles Video:

		List Price: $19.98		Label: Tai Seng Entertainment Salesrank: 58089 Released: February 15, 2000
		Our Price: $99.99
		Used Price: $44.99
		MPAA Rating: Media: VHS Tape

Editorial Review:
Tsui Hark is the definitive moviemaker of the Hong Kong New Wave, and it could be argued that The Blade (1995) is his best film to date, a visually dense and morally muscular martial arts epic that just about reinvents the genre from the ground up. Loosely based on the picture that launched the entire kung fu cycle, Chang Cheh's 1967 classic The One-Armed Swordsman, the movie goes beyond the visceral rush of conflict to question the basic assumptions of the form. The central character, Ding On (boyish Chiu Man-cheuk, who took over the Wong Fei-hung role from Jet Li in the Once Upon a Time in China series), is a skilled swordsmith who begins to wonder if craftsmanship alone is all that matters. Perhaps it is also worth considering how the finished weapon is going to be used? A theme that seems more timely every day! In a dusty, noisy, cluttered landscape reminiscent of Wong Kar-wei's Ashes of Time, Ding seeks to avenge the death of a selfless martial monk who was murdered after thwarting the rape of a young girl. In the process the hero loses a limb, struggles to learn new skills to compensate, and comes back stronger than ever--with the implication that mental dexterity trumps brute force every time. The long final showdown, which makes judicious use of slow motion to turn battling bodies into heroic sculptural forms, ranks with the best work of masters like King Hu and Akira Kurosawa--that is, with the greatest martial fight footage ever filmed. --David Chute