''The Storm Riders'' is a 1998 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 f ...

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...

based on the

manhua () are Chinese-language comics produced in China and Taiwan. Whilst Chinese comics and narrated illustrations have existed in China in some shape or form throughout its imperial history, the term first appeared in 1904 in a comic titled ''Cu ...

series ''

Fung Wan ''Fung Wan'' () or ''Feng Yun'' is a Hong Kong ''wuxia'' manhua series. It is the first manhua released by Ma Wing-shing in 1989 with the help of his assistant Siu Kit under his own company, Jonesky Publishing. Before the third part, the manhua ...

'' by artist

Ma Wing-shing Ma Wing-shing (born 16 January 1961) is a Hong Kong manhua artist, writer and publisher. He is best known for creating the ''Fung Wan'' and ''Chinese Hero'' series. Biography Ma quit his studies and became a comic artist in 1976 at the age o ...

. Directed by

Andrew Lau Andrew Lau Wai-keung ( zh, t=劉偉強, born 4 April 1960) is a Hong Kong film director, producer, and cinematographer. Lau began his career in the 1980s and 1990s, serving as a cinematographer to filmmakers such as Ringo Lam, Wong Jing and Wong ...

, it starred

Ekin Cheng Ekin Cheng is a Hong Kong actor and singer. Early in his career, he used the name Dior as a first name (because that was what it sounded like when his younger sister tried to call him 二哥 in Cantonese). He has also been referred to as Noodl ...

as Wind and

Aaron Kwok Aaron Kwok Fu-shing (born 26 October 1965) is a Hong Kong singer, dancer and actor. Active since the 1980s, Kwok is known as one of the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Hong Kong pop music. Dubbed the "God of Dance", Kwok's onstage dancing is influenc ...

as Cloud. The plot involves two children, Whispering Wind and Striding Cloud, who become powerful warriors under the evil Lord Conqueror's tutelage. The sequel to the film, titled ''

The Storm Warriors ''The Storm Warriors'' is a 2009 Hong Kong ''wuxia'' fantasy film produced and directed by the Pang brothers. It is the second live-action film adaptation of artist Ma Wing-shing's manhua series '' Fung Wan'', following the 1998 film '' The Stor ...

'' and directed by the

Pang brothers Danny Pang Phat and Oxide Pang Chun, collectively known as the Pang Brothers, are a filmmaking duo of screenwriters and film directors. The pair are twins, born in Hong Kong in 1965. Among their films is the hit Asian horror film, '' The Eye'' ...

, was released in 2009.

Plot

The evil Lord Conqueror, head of Conqueror's Clan, is given a prophecy by Mud Buddha when quizzed about his delayed duel with Sword Saint. The prophecy translates that if Conqueror finds two young children by the name of Wind and Cloud he will have good fortune. Mud Buddha provides the birth charts of these two and gives him a puzzle box stating that finding Wind and Cloud is but one half of his destiny, the box will provide him with the latter half once he unlocks it. Conqueror issues an order that every boy with a birth chart matching Wind's or Cloud's must become a disciple of the Conqueror's Clan. Whispering Wind is discovered as the son of long time rival Whispering Prince, who Conqueror had beaten 2 years previously and stole Prince's wife. As they fight again for Prince's Blizzard Blade he reveals he only took his wife to anger him into battle to possess the blade. At the climax of the duel, Prince's wife kills herself and Prince is captured and killed by the fire beast in the nearby cave. Conqueror finds Whispering Wind has fainted and claims him. Striding Cloud's father, a blacksmith named Striding Sky, is forging the Ultimate Sword and completes the blade just before Conqueror's forces raze his village. As he is killed he reveals that the sword can only be used by using his own blood and Cloud is taken by the invading forces. Ten years pass, and Wind and Cloud are now both fully grown and highly skilled martial artists, raised by Lord Conqueror with his daughter Charity and adopted son Frost. The 3 sons act as Generals in Lord Conqueror's army. Wind and Charity begin to form a relationship, but she is seduced by Cloud and secretly has an affair with him. Conqueror is angered by his inability to open the puzzle box, and the disappearance of Mud Buddha. He sends Frost and Wind to find him while Cloud is sent to claim the Unchallenged Sword and kill the clan leader, leading closer to completing his collection of powerful weapons in his Sword Graveyard. Cloud succeeds and Frost and Wind find Mud Buddha, now disfigured by boils as punishment from the Gods for revealing too much about the future to others. Later, Mud Buddha is taken by a masked fighter who easily repels both Frost and Wind. The captured Mud Buddha unlocks the puzzle for Conqueror and reveals that "the dragon is powerful but will be stranded when wind and cloud become a storm" therefore ending Conqueror's tyranny. Realizing it refers to Wind and Cloud and unwilling to accept his fate Conqueror plots to destroy them both. Upon realizing Cloud is interested in Charity, Conqueror decides to use her to marry Wind in hopes of Wind and Cloud killing each other. Cloud discovers the marriage and is quickly angered. On the day of the wedding Cloud abducts Charity. Conqueror tells Wind to fight for his wife if he is a man. Wind and Cloud engage in a battle and Lord Conqueror tries to kill Cloud in their duel, but Charity sacrifices herself to save him. As Wind quietly grieves for his love, Cloud fights the Phoenix family for the Ice Vigor and uses it to preserve Charity's body, but is soon discovered by Conqueror. As they fight in a temple in the desert without water, Cloud's Palm style proves to be useless against Conqueror without any source of liquid at the area. Cloud rips off his arm and uses his own blood as a final resort to be used as source of liquid which is necessary for his palm style to unleash considerable amount of power to create an opening for escape. He is then discovered out cold by Muse and her father, Summit Yu. As they nurse him to health Yu discovers that the Fire Beast Arm he has trained to perfection rejects him and wishes to be bonded to Cloud and calls on specialists to bond his arm to Cloud. Unable to find Cloud, Conqueror moves onto destroying Wind, who he secretly poisons and sends on a mission to claim the Blood Bodhi fruit. As the poison takes its toll Wind remembers the truth about who killed his parents, and uses the Blood Bodhi fruit that grows in the cave to heal himself as well as make himself even stronger. He then defeats the fire beast who killed his father using the Blizzard Blade retrieved by his father's corpse. Cloud trains his new arm with the help of Muse's kindness before deciding to head back to Conqueror's kingdom. Conqueror, believing himself free of the prophecy, challenges and defeats Sword Saint after the latter is distracted by Muse. Frost arrives and announces his discovery that it was Conqueror who kidnapped Mud Buddha and framed Wind and Cloud. Conqueror, now deluded into the belief he is invincible, kills Frost, who attempts to leave the clan. Soon afterwards, Wind and Cloud meet upon the steps to Conqueror's main hall and, united by their common enemy, confront Conqueror. As the fight spills over into the Sword Graveyard, Wind and Cloud are almost outmatched by Conqueror's superior sword skills. However, the blood from a cut on Cloud's arm reveals to him the location of Ultimate Sword (which Conqueror unknowingly had amongst the standard weapons littering the ground). With Striding Sky's sword in hand, Cloud rejoins Wind in the battle and Conqueror is soon beaten, with Wind stopping Cloud from landing the death blow so Conqueror is left insane and tormented by the ghosts of those he has killed, including his beloved Charity.

Cast

as Striding Cloud *

as Whispering Wind *

Sonny Chiba , known internationally as Sonny Chiba, was a Japanese actor and martial artist. Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later before an international audience. Born in Fuku ...

as Lord Conqueror * Kristy Yang as Charity *

Michael Tse Michael Tse Tin-wah (born 15 July 1967) is a Hong Kong actor and singer. Background Michael Tse graduated from TVB's Dance Training Class and worked with TVB as a dancer for five years. He then left TVB and formed a boy band group called 風� ...

as Frost *

Roy Cheung Roy Cheung Yiu-Yeung (; born 20 July 1963 in Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong-based actor, best known on-screen for his roles as Triad gangsters in a number of films. Early life and career As a child, Cheung idolized kung-fu legend Bruce Lee but nev ...

as Shaolin Monk *Jason Chu as Ming *

Wayne Lai Wayne Lai Yiu-cheung (; born 4 May 1964) is a Hong Kong actor. He became one of Hong Kong's most successful television actors after starring in TVB hit drama series ''Rosy Business''. Lai won three TVB Anniversary Awards for Best Actor, maki ...

as Mud Buddha *

Lawrence Cheng Lawrence Cheng Tan-shui (born 28 December 1954) is a Hong Kong film actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and master of ceremonies. He was a Hong Kong DJ and radio channel executive. Cheng became famous after he created the radio drama ser ...

as Jester * Anthony Wong as Sword Saint * Alex Fong as Whispering Prince *

Yu Rongguang Yu Rongguang (; born 30 August 1958), also known as Ringo Yu, is a Chinese actor and martial artist. He is best known for the title role in '' Iron Monkey'' along with Donnie Yen as well as being featured in films such as '' The East Is Red'', ' ...

as Striding Sky *

Shu Qi use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinate ...

as Muse *

Wan Yeung-ming Vincent Wan Yeung-ming (, born 2 February 1958 in Macau) is a Hong Kong actor. Filmography * '' Find Your Voice'' (2017) * ''Shock Wave'' (2017) * ''Guia in Love'' (2015) * '' Imprisoned: Survival Guide for Rich and Prodigal'' (2015) * ''IPCC Fi ...

as Summit Yu *

Christine Ng Christine Ng Wing-mei (; born 24 February 1969) is an actress and singer based on Hong Kong. She was under contract to Hong Kong's TVB and ATV. She is known for her roles in TVB's dramas including '' C.I.B. Files'' and ''The Silver Chamber of ...

as Ying *

Dion Lam Dion Lam (林迪安; Lam Dik-On) is a Hong Kong action choreographer and actor. Filmography * 1980 ''The Hangman'' * 1982 ''Energetic 21'' * 1983 ''Crazy Blood'' * 1988 ''Mistaken Identity'' * 1989 '' The Killer'' * 1989 ''Ghost Ballroom'' * 19 ...

as Hawk *Ng Chi-hung as Bat *

Elvis Tsui Elvis Tsui Kam-kong (born October 12, 1961) is a Hong Kong actor and artist. Tsui is primarily known for his roles in erotic films and martial arts films, where he's more often cast as villains. Some of the famous characters he has portrayed repe ...

as Seedy Sword * Lee Siu-kei as Dragon *

Xu Jinglei Xu Jinglei (, born 16 April 1974 in Chaoyang District, Beijing) is a Chinese actress and film director. She was hailed as one of the Four Dan Actresses in China. In 2002, Xu won the Huabiao Award for Outstanding New Actress for her performance ...

as Phoenix

Awards and nominations

Sequel

Ekin Cheng and Aaron Kwok returned for the sequel, reprising their respective roles as Wind and Cloud. The film was helmed by the

and followed the ''Japanese Invasion'' story arc of the comics. They were joined by newcomers to the franchise Hong Kong

Cantopop Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") or HK-pop (short for "Hong Kong pop music") is a genre of pop music written in standard Chinese and sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production ...

stars Nicholas Tse,

Charlene Choi Charlene Choi Tsoek-jin ( zh, t=蔡卓妍; born 22 November 1982) is a Hong Kong Canadian actress and singer. She is a member of Cantopop group Twins, along with Gillian Chung. Early life Choi was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada ...

, newcomer

Tang Yan Tang Yan may refer to: *Tiffany Tang Tang Yan (, born 6 December 1983), also known as Tiffany Tang, is a Chinese actress and singer. She graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in 2006. In 2007, she was nominated for the Best Actress award at ...

and veteran actor

Simon Yam Simon Yam Tat-wah (; born 19 March 1955) is a Hong Kong actor and film producer. He received international acclaim for his performances in international film festival and box office hits such as ''Naked Killer'', '' SPL: Sha Po Lang'', ''Election' ...

. Tse played the villain Heartless while Yam played his father, Lord Godless.

References

External links