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Starring
:
Aaron
Kwok
Ekin
Cheng
Sonny
Chiba
Kristy
Yang
Shu
Qi
Michael
Tse
Lawrence
Cheng
Anthony
Wong
Action
:
Dion
Lam
Producer
:
Manfred
Wong
Director
:
Andrew
Lau
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THE
STORM RIDERS (1998)
A.K.A.
- The Stormriders
Reviewed
by Andrew Saroch
Based
on the best-selling comic book of the same name, 'The Storm
Riders' coupled a strong cast of Hong Kong stars with special
effects hitherto unseen in local cinema. The result proved to
be the year's biggest grossing local film, even brushing aside
strong foreign competition in its bid for box-office dollars.
Therefore another landmark in Hong Kong cinema was created and
numerous attempts to plunder its success continue to this day.
Conquer
(Chiba) hopes to rule the turbulent martial world he observes
from his formidable kingdom. The opportunity for this arises
when Conquer is told about an obscure prophecy which sees him
attain power if he adopts two children - Wind and Cloud - and
teaches them his skills. However, there is a warning alongside
this and Conquer is told that, even though the two children
will bring him great power when they grow up, they will
eventually destroy him. With typical arrogance, Conquer
listens only to the first part of this prophecy and sends out
his minions to capture the two boys, killing the real fathers
in the process. As the years pass and the powerful skills are
taught to Wind and Cloud, the first part of the prophecy
begins to take place and no-one can stand in Conquer's way. He
hasn't, though, forgotten the second part of what he was told
and now, with full power at his command, Conquer plans to use
his adopted sons on two more missions and then have them
killed. The unity that Wind and Cloud need for revenge is
somewhat difficult to achieve as both are in love with the
beautiful, yet flirtatious daughter of Conquer (Yang) and the
obvious resentment between the two only increases as time goes
on. The time for teamwork arrives when the two survive their
respective assassination attempts and Wind discovers who
really killed his father; now in tried and tested fashion,
only by overcoming their animosity towards one another can
Wind and Cloud combine and gain revenge on the tyrannical
Conquer.
As
was earlier stated, 'The Storm Riders' is certainly a landmark
in Hong Kong film-making with its emphasis on western special
effects in a uniquely eastern project. This doesn't mean it's
a great film though; there are certainly weaknesses that are
very apparent on first viewing and are further repeated as
progressive viewings are taken in. The unpredictable pace of
the film is the first weakness that clearly presents itself
with Lau seemingly unable to combine moments of action with
those of narrative development. This problem as often
afflicted Lau's work, but in a two hour film like 'The Storm
Riders' this is more apparent than ever. Coupled with this is
the over-abundance of characters which are thrown into the
story, but not properly expounded upon; some deserve films on
their own and so seeing them make a rudimentary ten minute
appearance and then disappear from the film is a confusing
experience. Had Lau concentrated on a few of the important
characters and not tried to drag in every aspect of the
long-running comic book, he may well have avoided this hurdle.
Instead, the viewer is left to puzzle things out.
These
criticisms do not condemn 'The Storm Riders' as a waste of
viewing time though as there are elements that are to the
film's credit. The huge cast will please many Hong Kong film
fans with appearances by lots of well-known faces and
respected actors. In the acting department, Ekin Cheng has the
slight edge over Aaron Kwok with this mainly due to his
character; Kwok as Cloud is merely asked to brood throughout
the film and this quickly loses the audience sympathy. Cheng
as Wind is at least asked to inject a few emotions into his
character and - though he's often the butt of reviewers' jokes
- he pulls them off fairly well. The real reason to watch the
film is the eye-candy which at least shows Hong Kong
film-makers trying to beat Hollywood at their own game. The
effects are excellent and fully earn the viewer's attention,
particularly in the three-on-one finale.
'The
Storm Riders' is a film that all Hong Kong film fans will want
to watch for its reputation. Whether or not it'll stay in the
viewer's mind much longer after the final credits role is a
different matter.
Rating:
 
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