Writer: Chun Tin-Nam

Somewhat frustrating due to its fractured narrative, yet compelling within its aesthetic and themes, Eddie Fong’s directorial debut remains a unique experiment of its era.

‘An Empress And The Warriors’ is enticing enough to divert the attention, but without anything substantial within the duration it is quickly forgotten.

Overall it’s a wonderful film, a blockbuster people call it, and maybe it is, but really for us Asian movie fans this is what it’s all about – a hard hitting, hard punching film with a heart of gold and a fist of iron.

This isn’t a Jackie Chan film, it’s a very entertaining and absorbing action-thriller that just so happens to have a strong central performance from a man called Chan.

There’s some very powerful visual displays of violence that pepper the film throughout, showing us that if you turn to the dark side you really will become slave to its master.

In a relatively short time Yee creates a fascinating martial world every bit as involving as the visions that Chor Yuen used to put together years before.

Though ‘The Great Magician’ recalls films like ‘The Prestige’ and ‘The Illusionist’, Derek Yee’s offering is much lighter in tone.

This is not a flashy costume drama or a CGI enhanced flight of fancy but rather a gritty, grimy and quite often, an in your face epic.