Z for Zu Warriors

by Lillian Csernica on April 30, 2015

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A few years ago I went through a phase of watching almost anything I could get my hands on that starred Ekin Cheng, Adam Kwok, Nicholas Tse, and/or Louis Koo.  Ekin Cheng is one of the headliners in this heavenly action flick.  I’m not sure why, but I find it very difficult to keep track of all the personalities, relationships, and conflicts that appear within the extensive realm of Chinese mythology.  I cannot possibly reconstruct the plot of this divine soap opera on my own, so I’ll be getting some help from Wikipedia.  Follow along and let’s see if you can make more sense of this movie than I did.

The Plot:

Peace-keeping immortals living in clans inhabit a mythical mountain range called Zu, which exists between Heaven and Earth. A demon called Insomnia desires to rule Zu and the world below; it begins wiping out the various clans. In the Kunlun Mountains, Dawn (Cecelia Cheung) sends away her apprentice, King Sky (Ekin Cheng), because she believes that their emotional attachment hinders their progress. She gives him her weapon, the Moon Orb, to help him train; he is to return only after attaining a higher level. If she cannot be found, the Moon Orb will find her. Moments after they part, Insomnia attacks Dawn and disintegrates her.

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King Sky with the Moon Orb

200 years later, at Omei, Grandmaster White Brows (Sammo Hung) senses darkness coming and dispatches his disciple, Red (Louis Koo), to investigate. King Sky joins Red and the Omei clan to fight Insomnia. White Brows engages and weakens Insomnia with his weapon, the Sky Reflector; Insomnia retreats into the legendary Blood Cave; Omei’s top warriors pursue Insomnia. At the cave, King Sky notices Enigma(Cecelia Cheung), who resembles Dawn. White Brows warns that the cave is capable of sucking away the powers of those who venture near it. Red and King Sky risk their lives to battle Insomnia within the cave, but they narrowly escape after White Brows sacrifices the Sky Reflector to save them. With Insomnia absorbing the cave’s energy, White Brows has Red guard the cave entrance while the Omei reconnoiter.

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Grandmaster White Brows and Red

At Omei, White Brows tries to combine Enigma’s Heaven Sword with Hollow’s (Ng Kung) Thunder Sword, the two guardian weapons, to form a new weapon, the Flaming Sword of Thunder. Unfortunately, the fusion process fails, turning it into scrap metal, and rebounds; Hollow dies and Enigma is seriously injured, but King Sky rescues her. White Brows appears before King Sky and admits that Enigma is the reincarnation of Dawn. He then appoints King Sky as the chief of Omei as he ventures into a new dimension to find a weapon to defeat Insomnia. Before leaving, he resurrects Hollow, who is renamed “Ying”, hoping that the reborn Hollow can wield the Thunder Sword in their most desperate hour. King Sky asks Enigma to help him attempt to use the sword, but is unsuccessful and he was burnt alive in the process. Enigma tries to save him, but fails and buries him.

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Red and King Sky in the Blood Cave

Meanwhile, Red is possessed by Amnesia (a flower demon) (Kelly Lin) while guarding the Blood Cave. Red returns to Omei and decimates the clan and captures Enigma. Amnesia then destroys the rest of Omei, weakening the clan. To the survivors’ frustration, Ying has yet to re-awaken his abilities. In a pitted fight against one of the Sword Saints, Thunder (Patrick Tam), Ying’s abilities and memories return. Concurrently, through the power of resurrection, King Sky revives just in time to intercept White Brows’s weapon. With his new weapon, King Sky joins Ying in confronting Red at the Blood Cave.

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How’s this for a badass sword?  Say what?  It look like a Chinese light saber?

After Ying rescues Enigma, they return to Omei to stop Insomnia’s final assault. King Sky exorcises Red, but the latter sacrifices himself to destroy Amnesia. At Omei, Enigma and Ying successfully fuse their swords to form a new weapon to defeat Insomnia. King Sky joins the duo and they weaken Insomnia. Enigma possesses Insomnia to prevent the demon from escaping, giving King Sky a chance to destroy it. Just as Insomnia is destroyed, Enigma remembers herself as Dawn and tells King Sky she is happy to find him again before disappearing. After the battle, Enigma is reincarnated as a new immortal and Mount Omei is restored. King Sky parts with the Omei to rebuild his clan.

Did you catch all of that?  Neither did I.

If you like lots of CGI, plenty of wire work, glorious colors and a cast of dozens, you’ll have a good time here.  From Tsui Hark and Yuen Wo-Ping, the masters of big flashy martial arts movies.

 

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