Flying swordsmen is really a drama movie and has nothing to do with martial arts or swordplay (we dont have a drama section so we put the movie in swordplay). The story is set in some unknown period in ancient china. The movie is non linear, 20 or 30 minutes into the movie the flashbacks are over done and you end up really lost but by the end of the movie things get sorted out and you understand. The story is generally simple but the way it is presented makes it complicated to follow.

There are very few characters in this movie, none of them really shine. Sonny Chiba plays one of the characters but even his performance is rather ordinary. Probably the biggest problem is the main character; he is basically a drunk and does not think too much. He is supposed to be dealing with some personal anguish and thus the drunkenness but it really did not seem convincing. A lot of the characters had certain issues to deal with, like Fun Li's wife with her depression but none of it was presented in a good way. The characters as important as they were did little for this movie.

For the action fans out there, do not let the title of this movie mislead you, if it were up to us we would name the movie Legend of the Flying Drunkard. There are no martial arts in this movie, there is a single fight scene in the movie and the statement "Watch them Twirl in the Air" pretty much sums it up. The killing blow is given in a wondrous CG light show that kinda has no place in the movie. This movie is strictly drama; the story had some good and strange elements but at times was just confusing.

The subtitles on this VCD were some of the best we have ever seen for a VCD, the picture quality as well was very strong. Flying Swordsman has some great scenery and an interesting story but that is pretty much in our opinion. The extreme drama did not work with the characters, the story and the setting was just not right for those characters and their drama. One thing that did not help the movie was the overdose of Canto-Pop, you have songs start in the worst of times that really made the scene cheese like. At some point the movie seemed really cool because with all the flashbacks the story started getting weirder. In our opinion the guy should've stayed drunk and some weird story develop in the tavern rather going on that silly mission. Kung Fu and Swordplay fans beware, do not go near this movie. This is certainly a rent before you buy type of movie.