With all the attention that Yuen Woo-Ping
has received for his eye-popping martial arts choreography in blockbusters such
as The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Corey Yuen has
gotten lost in the shuffle. A revered kung-fu director in his own
right, Yuen has directed some of Jet Li's most successful movies (Fong Sai Yuk, the Bodyguard From Beijing), and this film stands
as one of his most groundbreaking achievements. It's all about surfaces -- the
glint of neon off a sword blade just before it transforms into a deadly yo-yo,
a martial artist tearing through the frame with eyeblink speed, two photogenic
lovers bathed in a painterly sunset. A plot? You'll likely be disappointed, but
Yuen's film works because it maintains a consistent level of visual invention.
His fight choreography tends to be less fanciful than Yuen Woo Ping's, but it can also
accommodate the outsize gesture -- the sight of stars Andy Lau and Anita Mui soaring
through the air will no doubt bring back memories of Crouching Tiger, but
keep in mind that this movie beat Ang Lee's film to the punch by ten years. At
its best, the film is like watching the kinetic flow of a comic book page come
to life. It helps that Hong Kong pop stars Lau and Mui are clearly enjoying themselves
in their sometimes-campy, sometimes-glamorous roles, and Aaron Kwok (in the days
before he buffed up and became a macho cipher) is surprisingly effective as the
villainous Silver Fox. Running the gamut between unabashed romanticism and low
slapstick, Savior of the Soul should be too disjointed to succeed, but
the film is testament to how the pure energy and joy of filmmaking can overcome
virtually all limitations. The DVD is bare-bones, as is typical for Hong Kong
DVDs, and the picture quality and soundtrack are fine, if nothing spectacular.