these Seven Swords do not so much pierce as bore.
Comment
06/15/07
Seven Swords (2005)
23
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:13
Fresh:3
Rotten:10
Average Rating:4.6/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 34 mins
Genre: Sports/Recreation
Synopsis: ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA director Tsui Hark directs this martial arts extravaganza. Set during a time in China when the Ching Dynasty ruled the country and martial arts fighting was strictly... [More]
Reviews for Seven Swords
1 - 14 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Top CriticWhat could and should have been great is reduced to the tragically dull. A wasted opportunity of immense proportions.
04/01/06
Top CriticThis long picture unspooled to its end without ever involving or engaging me all that much.
02/25/06
Top CriticBattle, romance, mysticism; it sounds great. It isn't.
02/22/06
Top CriticIt’s a bravura, artful work.
02/22/06
Top CriticClick to read the article
03/27/09
Top CriticTsui is capable of better than this.
03/02/07
[The film] leaves itself open in the end for sequelization, which would be a good thing. There's enough worth appreciating in Seven Swords to think that a second try could easily find its comfort zone.
03/02/07
The problem is that Seven Swords' narrative is so cluttered with briefly sketched characters and subplots as to be almost impossible to follow.
03/02/07
Looks gorgeous, but ultimately collapses under its own weight, as if it were a Chinese Kingdom of Heaven.
01/18/07
Every now and then, I’d like to watch a movie that could give me thrills, an engaging story, and not force me to think actively about ideology in order to enjoy it.
02/22/06
Tsui's strengths lie mostly in martial arts mayhem ... but unfortunately it's the film's ponderousness that stays with you after it's done.
02/02/06
Your enjoyment will be limited by your capacity to watch people try to carve each other up. Some of the plot is a little familiar and borrowed from better films including THE GUNS OF NAVARONE. Still, there is some nearly majestic photography.
11/11/05
[A] bloated Ching Dynasty actioner.
08/23/05
Top Critic1 - 14 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Latest News for Seven Swords
September 13, 2006:
TORONTO: Zhang Ziyi, Yuen Woo-Ping's Latest "Banquet" Not Very Fulfilling
Zhang Ziyi and action director Yuen Woo-Ping last worked together in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," a movie which helped change audience perception that martial... More...
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