Evil magician Mo Kuei has brought death & destruction to the world, so a
wide array of heroes has gathered, & they fight & even defeat him -
though at a great losss to themslves - & bind his soul, as he can't
actually be killed.
Lord Jian is left behind to guard his soul - but is overcome by the
Unfriendly, the demons of Mo Kuei, who not only steal the soul but also
horribly burn Jian's face.
In the meantime, Huan Chen is looking for a way to forever get rid of Mo
Kuei's soul & finds it in the Heaven's stone, which is hidden in the
deepest hell ... where he & his sidekick Yang Zi are soon heading ... only
to find out the Unfriendly had pretty much the same idea (though they need the
stone to revive their master), which pretty much leads to a battle in
hell, & none of them getting the stone because they are all lacking th
final key.
The daughter of Jian, Ru Bei meanwhile - who does have the final key
- begs Lord Hong Jen for help to get her into hell to obtain the stone for her
father ... which is a good thing for Huan Chen, too, since he became trapped in
hell after the hell's bridge broke down & only the martial arts skills of
Lord Hong Jen could save him now ...
Everything seems to end happily though, our heroes retrieve the stone from
hell in a concerted effort & it is decided to give it to Ru Bian, who seems
to be most deserving it because her father was ÄMo Kuei's soul's keeper.
... but Jian might not be the upricht hero everybody has thought him to be,
since he both harbours a personal grudge against Huan Chen - since he didn't
participate in the battle against Mo Kuei - and he wants to use the stone to
gain world domination. So he makes elaborate plans to alienate Lord Hong Jen
& Huan Chen from one another & make them battle it out between
themselves, & he must somehow make his daughter make a wish on the heaven's
stone for him (since whoever makes a wish on the heaven's stone dies).
Lord Hong Jen & Huan Chen though after a short while look through the
evil scheme of Jian & join forces to fight him, & Ru Bian gives her
life to grant her fahter'S former mystical powers returning, but only under the
condition that he doesn't try to kill either Lord Hong Jen or Huan Chen, lest
he dies himself.
Jian, once all mighty, has no motivation though to spare the lives of our
heroes ... & really, he dies, being hit by one of his daughter's tears
turned to ice ...
Doing a martial arts-fantasy movie with puppets seems like an outrageous
idea at first ... but on second thought it is just a logical development
considering the wireworks often used in life action martial arts movies that
make the actors seem almost like marionettes. - & the fight scenes (often
also helped by spectacular CGI-effects) are really excitingly done, plus the
puppets also work fine in the beautifully designed sets that are reminiscent of
1970's Shaw Brothers
martial arts movies.
However, with the use of puppets also comes the film's biggest problem: The
puppets, with very very limited facial movements, just can't act, no feelings
are represented in their faces, making every dialogue scene alost painful to
watch ... & despite all fights & effects, there are quite a few
dialogue scenes, as the plot is almost ridiculously complex & thus needs
quite some explanation - & that makes the movie, despite all that's going
for it, a rather dire affair.
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