The blade (1995)

The peak period for Hong Kong martial arts films lasted forever in the 1990s.

“Huang Feihong”, “Mount Shu”, “New Dragon Inn”, “Swordsman”… all of them have been glorious for a while.

And all of these works lead to one person — Tsui Hark.

He won half of the Hong Kong martial arts films alone, which greatly influenced the aesthetic tendencies of a generation of viewers.

Yet beneath the aura of many of Tsui Hark's classics, there is a film that is often overlooked——

"The blade"

Let's take a look at the very high Douban 8.0 score, shall we?

In Tsui Hark's work, his score is second only to "Green Snake" and higher than "Swordsman".

But sadly, the box office failed miserably after its release that year, and it's also forgotten in a corner of history. Although "The The blade" was forgotten, it also shed Tsui Hark's blood and all his energy to vent his hysterical self.

This film can be considered as Tsui Hark's most cult style martial arts film——

This whole film is fighting for flesh, power and power, the director will not be gentle in thinking about your perceptions.

His skin was stiff and his corpse was hung upside down, leaving people to face the bloody brutal scene.

There were also scenes of ripped wounds and severed arms, leaving people feeling heart-piercing pain on the screen.

The rivers and lakes in "The blade" are a world where the weak can eat the strong.

There is no unparalleled martial arts here, both justice and evil, neither right nor wrong.

Take note, whose sword is fast.

Just like the bald monk at the beginning of the film, he draws his sword to help when he sees injustice, but ends up being beheaded and split open.

Even though people witnessed his justice, no one helped him when he died.

This is the director's brilliance. He used the death of a monk to interpret the sin of the entire arena.

Lianfenghao Foundry The blade Factory is a unique existence in this arena.

Shopkeeper Xiang Qizheng always carries out his duties, even though his disciple is a tall individual, he never causes trouble, never asks questions about the world, and only puts his mind on running the knife business.

Therefore, it has been able to enjoy peace for more than two decades, and the business has become more prosperous.

The oldest disciple Ding'an (played by Zhao Wenzhuo) also inherited his master's temperament, humble and steady.

He won the trust of his master and was appointed heir to the foundry.

However, the brothers at the factory didn't seem to be waiting for Ding'an, and they admired the hot character of Tietou (played by Hao Chen).

Ding'an and Tietou are two iron men at the foundry. They are brothers and rivals in love.

The only younger sister of the two was originally designed to let them fight for themselves, but they fell in love with another girl at the same time.

The girl, without a name and surname, met only once, and the two of them fell into her gentle eyes.

When the two of them were jealous of this spirit of love, Ding'an stumbled across his life experiences.

His biological father's surname is Li. He used to be Xiang Qizheng's senior, but his father was hacked to death because he was looted by horse thieves.

Afterward, the horse thief skinned his father with cramps, and was hung upside down at the city gate.

After Xiang Qizheng found Ding'an, he hid his name, stayed away several times from horse thieves, and placed the knife used by Li's father in the knife factory to warn his students to stay away from strife.

Even though Ding'an had practiced swordsmanship with his master for decades and seemed stable, he never forgot to kill his father.

So, after learning about his killer, he is determined to take revenge, leaving the knife factory, stepping into the rivers and lakes, looking for his father's killer.

However, once he embarks on a path of revenge, he is "besieged and suppressed" by horse thieves.

A group of people surrounded them, knives, swords, horses, all weapons were used.

In the end, he lost to the horse thief, was dragged several tens of meters away, and his right arm was cut off.

Desperate Ding'an decided not to ask questions about the world, and formed a small family of female peasants, and spent the rest of his life working as a farmer.

However, these rivers and lakes could not tolerate someone carrying out their duties.

Their already poor homes were ransacked by horse thieves, their fields destroyed, and their huts burned.

His parents were killed, his right hand was wiped off, and they were at the end of the road. They just wanted to stay, but they didn't even allow the huts to be used to withstand the wind and rain.

Now that it was inevitable, it was better to stand up and fight than just wait for death.

So Ding'an regained his confidence with his broken knives and knives, and practiced peerless martial arts.

No qigong, no internal strength, no flying to escape, his sword technique only had one simple trick——

Using its own fast spin, relying on centrifugal force to move the blade in the hand to achieve incredible lethality.

Without his right hand, he had to use his left hand to hold the knife, which also made his left hand knife very fast, and almost no one could take it.

In previous film and television works, martial artists often used swords to demonstrate their strength, and few people wielded swords.

Swords often give off a sublime and elegant feel, with a hint of romance.

The knife was rough and grounded, looking blunt but actually very sharp.

Just as a sword is a noble noble, and a sword is a sharp weapon in the hands of commoners.

Therefore, to match the rugged blade temperament, Tsui Hark also used a rough and chaotic scene in his selection.

Dust, yellow sand, hotels and teahouses, knife fields, and courtyards all seemed to be on the verge of collapse.

There is a sense of moisture and dirt everywhere.

All of this had to be done on purpose by Tsui Hark.

Because in the "Knife" arena, it's a head-to-head, force versus force martial art.

From start to finish, almost all of the protagonists in the film get into fights and fights.

Therefore, when the two peerless masters of Ding'an and Feilong faced each other, they took out a PK of life and death.

Feilong was alone in this world with his sword, if Anping wanted to take revenge on his father, that sword would be faster than him.

Not only fast, but also violent.

Therefore, even though it was the final battle, Tsui Hark did not use a beautiful fight.

Some are just fists to the flesh, close to the flesh.

Just like two beasts that are trapped in despair, relying on the last will to fight to the death.

You may think that such fights are too "cruel".

But this is the interpretation of Tsui Hark that is closest to the real world.

In "The Knife", Tsui Hark completely leaves the heroic plot, and he describes rivers and lakes as bloody Syura farms.

Here, the hero is dead, and all that's left is straightforwardness that will never give up until the goal is achieved.

Therefore, after the cold sword, the bloody truth about rivers and lakes is in front of you and me.

However, it is also possible that Tsui Hark's power duel live performance in "The Knife", a lack of romantic and artistic flavor, caused the film to lose to the box office upon release.

I think people who like to watch Cult movies and rough, live R-rated films will love "Knife".

However, if you want to see a free and relaxed world and an open-minded arena, "Knife" may disappoint you.

But then again, standards are set by people. Some people like it, others don't. Don't force other people.

Well, let me use this article to cherish the memory of Hong Kong's once glorious martial arts film!