Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero introduced the Western world to quality wuxia (period martial arts heroes) cinema. Seven Swords leads on with the genre's ultimate weapon.

Seven Swords director Tsui Hark believes wuxia literature has played an important role in Chinese culture by creating an ideal world where heroes live. These romantic figures bring justice and protection to the poor and oppressed, their good deeds challenging them to perform with unmatched courage and skill. In Seven Swords, Tsui makes them spectacularly real.

Adapted from the 1970s wuxia novel Seven Swordsmen from Mountain Tian by Liang Yusheng, the film is set in the early 1660s when the Manchurians established the Ching Dynasty. The government imposes a ban on martial arts in an attempt to gain control and maintain order.

Fire-wind (Sun Hunglei), a opportunistic former military officer, makes a fortune by enforcing the law, killing those who practice martial arts. He receives a per capita reward for every martial artist's head he claims.

To satisfy his bloodthirsty greed, Fire-wind sweeps across northwestern China and approaches Martial Village. Retired executioner Fu Qingzhu (Lau Kar-leung) feels obliged to save Martial Village from the brutality of Fire-wind and brings villagers Wuyuanyin (Charlie Young) and Han Zhibang to seek help from master Shadow-glow in Mount Heaven.

The hermit master of swords sends four disciples, among them Chu Zhaonan (Donnie Yen) and Yang Yunchong (Leon Lai), together with seven custom-made weapons, to save Martial Village with Fu and company. They become the Seven Swords and return to the village just in time.

The film doesn't lack subplots. Two love triangles and an attempted relationship between Lai and Young punctuate the fight scenes. The affair between Yen and a Korean slave is also intriguing.

Intricate but not confusing, the director and team of writers deserve credit for doing justice to the detail of the story, despite an editing style that leaves some of it unclear.

The action choreography by Lau Kar-leung and Tsui's long-time collaborators, Stephen Tung-wai and Xiong Xinxin, is brilliant, from the opening massacre on horseback to the the climactic scene in which Fire-wind and Chu Zhaonan face-off in an alleyway.

Even Lai and Young, not known for action roles, manage to look impressive. Young fills her warrior character with depth and fervor and flavors it with commitment to her fellow villagers and the anguish of lost love. It would be no surprise if she were nominated for an award for this performance.

It's a different story for Lai who is at his best playing introverts and appears a little too restrained this time. And he is up against tough competition - with six other swordsmen on the scene there is not really enough room for him to shine as he did in Comrades, Almost a Love Story.

Yen, however, is explosive in his fight scenes and magnetic in his script delivery, even more so than his previous best performance in Hero.

The villainous Sun is masculine and charismatic, focused and full of tension. His time with the Central Academy of Drama was clearly not wasted.

It has been a long time since Hong Kong films showcased weapons with such emphasis. The swords are not as fascinating as they are described on the official Web site, but that's what happens often when you bring something from paper on to the screen.

Director of photography Keung Kwok-man uses advanced techniques of cinematography, playing with lighting, lenses and movements. Some of the action sequences look better as a result but some may find the camera play distracts them from properly seeing the martial arts as they are.

Still, it's very much a Tsui movie - straightforward and to the point. Wong Kar-wai it is not.

elaine.chan@singtaonewscorp.com