Come Drink with Me
This is basically a mix of Dragon Inn (1967) and Swordsman (1990) but is luckily more influenced by Dragon Inn. I was very worried for a bit that this would have been the first film that's I could directly attribute to being bac by King Hu, but luckily, this really stuck the landing.
The characters are neat with the main heroine played by Cheng Pei-Pei and the mini-boss villain played by Chen Hung-Lieh stealing the show! Also, interestingly enough, this is one of the first films to implement the drunken master trope (Who is played by Elliot Ngok Wah.)
The acting is quite reserved but I enjoyed all of the characters in this. There's quite a few moments in this that are pretty impressive for 1966, and others that drop the ball only slightly. It's honestly only really the pacing and some of the editing that I take issue with.
I am quite pleasantly surprised by King Hu's take on Wuxia and am excited to check out four more of his movies. I unfortunately can't watch all 15 of his films as 5 of them seem to be almost impossible to find!
The characters are neat with the main heroine played by Cheng Pei-Pei and the mini-boss villain played by Chen Hung-Lieh stealing the show! Also, interestingly enough, this is one of the first films to implement the drunken master trope (Who is played by Elliot Ngok Wah.)
The acting is quite reserved but I enjoyed all of the characters in this. There's quite a few moments in this that are pretty impressive for 1966, and others that drop the ball only slightly. It's honestly only really the pacing and some of the editing that I take issue with.
I am quite pleasantly surprised by King Hu's take on Wuxia and am excited to check out four more of his movies. I unfortunately can't watch all 15 of his films as 5 of them seem to be almost impossible to find!
Mini Review: A fascinating blend of Dragon Inn and Swordsman, though thankfully it leans heavily toward the former. I feared this might be my first King Hu misfire, but it sticks the landing. Cheng Pei-pei and Chen Hung-lieh are standouts, while Elliot Ngok Wah provides an early take on the drunken master archetype. The reserved performances work well, and there's plenty here that's remarkably ambitious for its time. Only some sluggish pacing and rough editing keep it from being truly great.