''Swordsman II'', also known as ''The Legend of the Swordsman'', is a 1992 Hong Kong ''

wuxia ( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fiction, its popularity has caused it to be adapted ...

'' film very loosely adapted from

Louis Cha Louis Cha Leung-yung (; 10 March 1924 – 30 October 2018), better known by his pen name Jin Yong (), pronounced "Gum Yoong" in Cantonese, was a Chinese wuxia ("martial arts and chivalry") novelist and essayist who co-founded the Hong Kong dail ...

's novel ''

The Smiling, Proud Wanderer ''The Smiling, Proud Wanderer'' is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It was first serialised in Hong Kong in the newspaper ''Ming Pao'' from 20 April 1967 to 12 October 1969. The Chinese title of the novel, ''Xiao Ao Jiang Hu'', literally m ...

''. It was the second part of a trilogy: preceded by '' The Swordsman'' (1990) and followed by '' The East Is Red'' (1993). Directed by

Ching Siu-tung Ching Siu-tung (Chinese: 程小東, born October 31st, 1953), also known as Tony Ching, is a Hong Kong action choreographer, actor, film director and producer, who has directed over 20 films, including the critically acclaimed supernatural fantas ...

, ''Swordsman II'' starred

Jet Li Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, martial artist, and retired Wushu champion. He is a naturalized Singaporean citizen. After three years ...

Brigitte Lin Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia (; born 3 November 1954) is a Taiwanese actress. She is regarded as an icon of Chinese language cinema for her extensive and varied roles in both Taiwanese and Hong Kong films. Biography Lin was born in Chiayi, Taiwan. ...

Rosamund Kwan Rosamund Kwan Chi Lam (born Kwan Kar Wai on 24 September 1962) is a Hong Kong former actress, best known for starring as the female lead "Thirteenth Aunt" in the 1990s ''Once Upon a Time in China'' film series. She had since retired from acti ...

and

Michelle Reis use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , nationality = , citizenship = , alma_mater = Maryknoll Convent School , ...

in the leading roles. None of the original cast from the previous film return except Fennie Yuen.

Plot

Linghu Chong, Yue Lingshan and members of the Mount Hua Sect are planning to retire from the ''

jianghu ''Jianghu'' () is a term that generally refers to the milieu, environment, or sub-community in which many Chinese wuxia stories are set. The term is used flexibly, and can be used to describe a fictionalized version of Historical China (usually ...

'' (martial artists' community). They learn that

Dongfang Bubai Dongfang Bubai, literally "Invincible East", is a fictional character in the wuxia novel ''The Smiling, Proud Wanderer'' by Jin Yong. He is the leader of the Sun Moon Holy Cult (), an "unorthodox" martial arts sect. In his quest to dominate ...

has seized control of the Sun Moon Holy Cult and is secretly plotting with some Japanese ''

rōnin A ''rōnin'' ( ; ja, 浪人, , meaning 'drifter' or 'wanderer') was a samurai without a lord or master during the feudal period of Japan (1185–1868). A samurai became masterless upon the death of his master or after the loss of his master' ...

'' to rebel against the

Ming Empire The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...

and dominate China. Dongfang Bubai had castrated himself in order to master the skills in the ''Sunflower Manual'', and his appearance has become more feminine, even though he is now a formidable martial artist. Linghu Chong meets Dongfang Bubai by chance without knowing his true identity, mistakes him for a beautiful young woman, and falls in love with "her". Dongfang Bubai knocks out Linghu Chong while he is not looking and imprisons him in an underground dungeon. In the dungeon, by coincidence, Linghu Chong meets Ren Woxing, Ren Yingying's father and the former leader of the Sun Moon Holy Cult. They escape from captivity together. One night, while Linghu Chong is distracted by Dongfang Bubai's lover Shishi, Dongfang tracks down his Mount Hua Sect fellows and kills them. Linghu Chong brings Yue Lingshan, Ren Yingying, Ren Woxing and Xiang Wentian with him to confront Dongfang Bubai at Black Woods Cliff. In the ensuing battle, Dongfang Bubai apparently dies after refusing Linghu Chong's help and falling off the cliff. Ren Woxing regains control of the cult and starts killing the traitors who defected to Dongfang Bubai. Linghu Chong and Yue Lingshan secretly escape with help from Xiang Wentian and Ren Yingying because they know that Ren Woxing cannot tolerate them.

Cast

as Linghu Chong (), the most senior member in the Mount Hua Sect. *

(), the leader of the Sun Moon Holy Cult. *

as Yue Lingshan (), Linghu Chong's junior. *

as Ren Yingying, Linghu Chong's love interest and Ren Woxing's daughter. *

Waise Lee Waise Lee Chi-hung (born 19 December 1959) is a Hong Kong film and television actor best known for playing the roles of villains and antagonists in various films. Biography Lee graduated from TVB's Artist Training Academy in 1982 and was from the ...

as Hattori Sengun, the ''

'' chief and Dongfang Bubai's ally. *

Chin Kar-lok Chin Ka-lok, sometimes credited as Chin Kar-lok (Chinese: 錢嘉樂, Pinyin: Qián Jiālè, born 6 August 1965), is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, and television presenter. Chin was born in Hong Kong, the younger brother of actor and ...

as Sarutobi Kazuki, Hattori's henchman. * Lau Shun as Xiang Wentian (), an elder of the Sun Moon Holy Cult who remains loyal to Ren Woxing. * Fennie Yuen as Lan Fenghuang (), Ren Yingying's subordinate. * Yen Shi-kwan as Ren Woxing (), the former leader of the Sun Moon Holy Cult who was overthrown and imprisoned by Dongfang Bubai. *

Candice Yu Candice Yu (Yu On On; born Yu De Ying; 22 October 1959) is a Hong Kong film actress and occasional singer best known for her films with Shaw Brothers Studio of the 1970s and 1980s. She was the first wife of Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-fat. Film c ...

as Shishi (), Dongfang Bubai's lover. * Cheung Kwok-leung as Eunuch Hong

Alternative versions

The United States version has nine minutes of the original film cut and was released under the title ''Legend of the Swordsman''. It is dubbed in English and retains the original music score. The Hong Kong version is in Cantonese and it retains the nine minutes of extended footage and gory violence. The Taiwanese version, which is dubbed in Mandarin, contains an additional four minutes of rare extended and gory footage that was removed in the United States and Hong Kong releases, bringing the total runtime to 112 minutes. It has some different music scores and features

's original voice. It has aired on

Chinese Television System The Chinese Television System Inc. () is a terrestrial television station in Taiwan and was founded in 1971. Recent milestones of the network are in sports events, including having the distinction to offer exclusive coverage of the 2017 Un ...

many times.

Production

In the Mandarin-dubbed version of the film,

and Fennie Yuen speak

Sichuanese Sichuanese, Szechuanese or Szechwanese may refer to something of, from, or related to the Chinese province and region of Sichuan (Szechwan/Szechuan) (historically and culturally including Chongqing), especially: * Sichuanese people, a subgroup of th ...

instead of

Standard Mandarin Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern standa ...

. This was meant to enhance the fact that their characters are of the Miao ethnic group.

Music

The original soundtrack album for the film, "Ching Hsia Lin/ Swordsman 2" (

traditional Chinese A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays ...

: 東方不敗－林青霞電影音樂紀實;

simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example * Simplification of algebraic expressions ...

: 东方不败－林青霞电影音乐纪实; pinyin: Dōngfāng bù bài - línqīngxiá diànyǐng yīnyuè jìshí) was released by BMG Music Taiwan in 1992. It contains 20 tracks with 3 sound recordings at the scene. The theme song from '' The Swordsman'', ''Chong Hoi Yat Sing Siu'' (), performed in Cantonese by

Samuel Hui Samuel Hui Koon-kit (born 6 September 1948), usually known as Sam Hui, is a Hong Kong musician, singer, songwriter and actor. He is credited with popularising Cantopop both via the infusion of Western-style music and his usage of vernacular Canton ...

in the first film, was played in a few scenes in ''Swordsman II''.

Reception

Critical reception

Brigitte Lin's performance was listed as one of the "Great Performances" by Richard Corliss under TIME magazine's "All-TIME 100 Movies". On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 71% based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 6.79/10.

Box office

The film grossed HK$34,462,861 at the Hong Kong box office and remains Jet Li's highest-grossing film in Hong Kong to date.

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swordsman II 1992 films 1992 LGBT-related films 1992 action films 1992 martial arts films 1990s Cantonese-language films Films based on Chinese novels Films based on works by Jin Yong Films directed by Ching Siu-tung Films set in the Ming dynasty Hong Kong action films Hong Kong LGBT-related films Hong Kong martial arts films Hong Kong sequel films Transgender-related films Works based on The Smiling, Proud Wanderer Wuxia films 1990s Hong Kong films ja:スウォーズマン#スウォーズマン／女神伝説の章