Just another early 80s wire-fu movie – or at least it would be if not for the performances of leads Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh and some fine action from Ching Siu-tung…
Back in the early 90s, it seemed like Hong Kong audiences couldn’t get enough of wuxia films. Those reviewed on easternKicks are but a sample of hundreds released between 1992 to 1995. Greatly influenced by the surreal work of director and action choreographer Ching Siu-tung, particularly A Chinese Ghost Story, these ‘wire-fu’ swordplay films overran the box office until eventually losing steam. Indeed, towards the end even films with Siu-tung’s involvement often felt tired and repetitive. (See for instance the recently reviewed Swordsman III: The East Is Red)
Directed by Michael Mak (Sex And Zen, Island of Greed) Butterfly & Sword is definitely one of the better ‘wire-fu’ movies to come out of that period. It might not grace the heights of A Chinese Ghost Story or The Bride With White Hair, but its more consistent in plot and production than many of its contemporaries, even with its notoriously edited ending.
Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Wing Chun) stars as Sister Ko, head of a martial arts clan ‘Happy Forest’, known for their assassination techniques, along with Meng Sing Wan (Tony Leung, In The Mood For Love, Infernal Affairs) and Yip Cheung (Donnie Yen, Dragon Tiger Gate, S.P.L.).
The trio have been close since orphaned as children, but Meng yearns to leave that life behind, having fallen in love with the daughter of a great martial artist, Butterfly (Joey Wang, A Chinese Ghost Story, Green Snake, Ashes Of Time) who knows nothing of his double life. A tragic love triangle surrounds the trio, with Yip having fallen for Ko when he was young, but Ko longs for Meng.
However, Meng becomes central to Ko’s lastest assignment from Eunuch Li to assassinate the leader of ‘Elite’s Villa’, infiltrating their ranks after faking his own death at eth hands of Ko and Yip. But in this power struggle, all is not as it seems…
With a good, well-known cast this plays out far better than it sounds. Leung and Wang give solid performances for a script that is little more than throwaway, but it’s Michelle Yeoh who stands out, bringing real drama to her cartoonish role and blowing everything else away in the movie even if the script doesn’t deserve it.
Ching Siu-tung’s set pieces are some of the most inspired outside of his own films, and later collaborations with Zhang Yimou. Particularly Meng’s ‘human arrow’ technique, where he either shoots himself, or is shot by Ko, bow and arrow style, through his (exploding) opponents. There’s also a thrilling scene set amidst a bamboo forest that pays tribute to King Hu’s Touch Of Zen some years before Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (though the result is not unlike the bamboo forest Siu-tung choreographed House Of Flying Daggers). The presence of Donnie Yen keeps the fight choreography tight and thrilling.
The film is best known for having an abruptly edited ending shown in both its original theatrical and video formats in Hong Kong. In fact only the Taiwanese version differed, showing rather more than the turn of the head along the mountaintop – again anticipating the ending of Crouching Tiger some years later.
(For that matter, Prince Cha, played by Jimmy Li, a character who never seems to go anywhere without his football, seems to preempt Siu-tung’s work on Shaolin Soccer.)
Butterfly & Sword is an above average slice of 90s wire-fu, typical for it’s time but thoroughly enjoyable.
DVD details
Distributor: MIA (UK)
Okay master of the film, considering those available, but nothing special. This DVD also includes the shorter full screen English language dub - which you could frankly miss. Minimal extras, and sadly no sign of the unedited Taiwanese ending.
Distributor: Tai Seng (US)
A distinct improvement over the UK release, this US disc under the Butterfly Sword title (no ‘&’) is about as good as it gets for this film. That said, despite the remastering billed on the cover, this transfer still shows a lot of defects: the picture is sharper, losing the ‘fogginess’ of the UK version, and the colour is definitely more saturated, but that’s about it.
Along with a commentary by Ric Meyers, this version also includes the much-spouted alternative ending, though sadly not reinstalled within the film itself. An utter revelation, this ending finally makes sense of the characters situation and the inevitable conclusion. This is easily the best version you’ll get for this film and highly recommended.
For those who want to know what actually happens (spoiler alert!) read on: Seeing Meng and Butterfly together, and realising that she will never have him, Sister Ko jumps off the mountain towards the sea. Yip jumps after her, joining her as they fall to their deaths into the sea and finally kiss. Ahhhhhh, well kinda - but worth it...
