Writer: Lee Man-Choi

The pace of the feature is not as consistent as it needed to be, but Wu Ma makes sure that there is enough reasons to remain interested.

If you like your early 90s wuxia flicks full of excessive theatrical action and characters then ‘Deadful Melody’ is a lot of fun.

Not that ‘Heart Against Hearts’ doesn’t have its moments, but it certainly never develops the story beyond typical moments of Hong Kong farce.

Budget restraints are sometimes apparent, but this doesn’t detract from another quality Yuen Biao vehicle.

Part three has none of the charm of the original and doesn’t even stack up well against the second part; this is a lazy, charmless affair that had me looking at the clock every couple of minutes.

Those who have difficulty sitting through long sequences of Hong Kong slapstick would be best advised to avoid this film as the main concentration of Wellson Chin is comedy and the usual antics of his stars.

It has its faults and no-one could call it the greatest movie ever made. Importantly though, this is a fabulous example of how a combination of technology and innovation can still wow the jaded viewer.

‘Zen of Sword’ has plenty of plot twists, but not so much as to make it convoluted. Performances are good, and the action handled primarily by Philip Kwok pleases.