Having reviewed the 1981 original, it seemed fitting to revisit Larry Cheung’s star-studded remake, made during the height of Hong Kong’s swordplay revival. Needless to say, the two films share only the barest of similarities.
Constable Yuen (Yuen Biao) tracks a petty thief (Sharla Cheung) and, after arresting her, discovers that there is more than meets the eye with his new prisoner. The thief is an errant princess and when Yuen escorts her back to the palace, he unwittingly finds himself involved in the turmoil of the martial world. At the palace, various factions are waiting for an attack by Golden Snake Man (Danny Lee), who is looking to settle scores with them. Meanwhile, the Five Poison Sect want to insert themselves into the action and target the young princess.
Not being familiar with Louis Cha’s source material, I cannot comment on which adaptation of ‘The Sword Stained With Royal Blood’ is the most faithful. That said, it’s hard to believe that Cha’s work is so tonally imbalanced, lurching from drama to action and to silly humour with such violence that the viewer suffers whiplash from paying too much attention. Hong Kong cinema often fused together disparate elements and embraced these tonal shifts, but ‘The Sword Stained With Royal Blood’ takes this to its logical conclusion. This makes Larry Cheung’s version an exhausting watch, with the genre parody elements making ‘Flying Dagger’ look like ‘Solaris’ by comparison.
While ‘The Sword Stained With Royal Blood’ will be a challenge for those not familiar with this absurdist wuxia style, there is still enough to enjoy. The plot is convoluted, but the cast of characters is at least diverting and that early-90s swordplay aesthetic looks even more impressive in 2026. Yuen Biao doesn’t get the chance to be the Yuen Biao that fans might demand, yet he’s a solid leading man and Danny Lee, for once not playing a cop, is a good foil. And Larry Cheung fills the cast with some of Hong Kong cinema’s most beautiful actresses of the time, each looking absolutely stunning here. Vitally, the action is wild, inventive and a reminder of how good films of that era made use of budgets that would barely cover the catering costs on an Avengers movie today. We really were spoiled in the early 90s, seeing so many of these kinds of nutty wuxia films and taking them for granted. Worth revisiting then, but unlikely to appeal to the casual viewer.
