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Sing (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) is one of the chief assassins in the martial
arts world, working for eunuch Tsao, but he keeps his profession a secret
from his wife, lovely but naive Butterfly (Joey Wong), telling her he's a
mere merchant, as she despises the martial arts world, as her father was a
top assassin himself until his job cost him his life.
However, Sing works together with Ko (Michelle Yeoh), whom he has known
since childhood & who is in (unrequitted) love with him. In turn,
their partner Yip (Donnie Yen) is in love with her, also unrequitted.
Soon, Ko learns that Lord Suen (Elvis Tsui) of the Elite Villa wants to
become head of the martial arts world & therefore attack the Happy Forest, which she heads, thus she sends Sing to the Elite Villa so he can
infiltrate Suen's clan, pretending to be in love with Lord Suen's
favourite prostitute Ho Ching (Yeh Chuan Chen).
But then things start to happen: On one hand, soldiers attack Sing's
& Butterfly's house, set it on fire & leave Butterfly, who is
pregnant, to die in the flames (she is only eventually saved by Yip), on
the other hand, Suen decides, to ensure himself Sing's loyalty, to marry
him to Ho Ching ...
But Ho Ching turns out to be another of Ko's assassins who has
infiltrated the Elite Villa years ago. & on their wedding night, Ho
Ching tries to kill Suen for good, but is only killed in the attempt.
Sing leaves Elite Villa to make Ko tell what's really going on ... but
she only declares her love to him once again, even sheds a tear, &
Sing just can't be angry with her anymore ... but the scene breaks the
heart of Yip (once again), as he hasn't given up on her yet, whiloe at the
same time he has to take care of Butterfly, since he is the only one who
knows where she has been hiding after the fire ...
Back at the Elite Villa: Suen & his troops, including Sing, make up
a plan on how to attack the Happy Forest, when Yip & Ko break in
(literally break in, through a wall), & the two of them, gtogether
with Sing, slaughter everybody in sight, including Seun himself.
But when Sing & Ko later make their report about this to eunuch
Tsao, they are in for an unpleasent surprise; Tsao has only played the
Happy Forest & thje Elite Villa against one another to get rid of one
of them, so he can fight the winner & become head of the martial arts
world ... & the plan seems to be working too, as even the combined
forces of Sing & Ko prove to be no match against Tsao's skills ... but
Tsao hasn't taken into account Prince Cha (Jimmy Lin), whom everybody
thought to be a good-for-nothing at Tsao's court, but who proves to be an
agent of the emperor & a top martial artist ... & the 3 finally
wreck Tsao's palace & manage to kill him, even it it costs Prince
Cha's life.
But once they have achieved that, Ko has to realise she will again (or
still) lose Sing to Butterfly ...
A mix of violent martial arts (only rarely are so many bodies
graphically dismembered in martial arts flicks as in this one) & love story with
a mystery subplot ... who now suspects this film is based on a novel by
writer Ku Lung is of course right: This is another convoluted yet
fascinating story set in the martial arts world, where the laws of logic
& of nature are often temporarily suspended, & the plot is a tad
more sophisticated than good guys versus bad guys. But still, even if you
can't - or are in no mood to - follow all the plottwists & turns, this
film has some impressively staged & highly imaginative, high octane
fight scenes that might be worth the price of admission alone, & is
furthermore beautifully filmed, action & lovescenes alike.
By the way, Ku Lung's source novel was previously filmed in 1976 as Killer
Clans by Chu Yuan - even though storywise the two films have
little in common.
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