Seven Swords

Seven Swords is a 2005 wuxia film produced and directed by Tsui Hark, starring Donnie Yen, Leon Lai, Charlie Yeung, Sun Honglei, Lu Yi and Kim So-yeon.

An international co-production between Hong Kong, China, South Korea and the Netherlands, the story is loosely adapted from Liang Yusheng's novel Qijian Xia Tianshan and is completely unrelated to the novel except for some characters' names.

Greedy, cruel and immoral, Fire-Wind ravages northwest China with his army and kills thousands of resistance fighters and innocent civilians.

He brings with him two young villagers, Han Zhibang and Wu Yuanying, to Mount Heaven to seek help from Master Shadow-Glow, a reclusive swordsman and sword-forger.

Shadow-Glow allows his four apprentices – Chu Zhaonan, Yang Yuncong, Xin Longzi and Mulang – to accompany the trio on their quest.

In order to buy time for the villagers to prepare for an evacuation, the Seven Swords head to Fire-Wind's base and cause damage by burning down their barn and poisoning their horses.

During the raid, Chu Zhaonan encounters Fire-Wind's Korean slave girl, Green Pearl, and brings her along as they make their escape.

During the Seven Swords' absence, the spy, Qiu Dongluo, sets fire to the entrance of the cave to inform the enemy of the villagers' whereabouts.

Han Zhibang calms Yufang down, while the other six swordsmen realise the only way to save the wulin is to persuade the Qing emperor to withdraw the ban on martial arts.

Director Tsui Hark recruited Leon Lai to portray Yang Yuncong after watching his performance in The Sword of Many Loves and wanting to "see another side of him".

Cheung Chi-sing, the production manager and scriptwriter, revealed that the initial cut made by Angie Lam was four hours long.