The Legend of Zu

Not so much a sequel to the 1983 Zu, more a way of life: Tsui's later films are so concerned with process that they hardly stand up as dramatic structures at all, and this barrage of digital effects (more than 1,500 shots involving CGI, they say) plays more like an extended showreel for a digital studio than a movie as such. This time around, no human character gets a look in; everyone on screen is a sword god, an enigmatic goddess (aside from a tiny cameo by Zhang Ziyi, virtually all the women are played by Cecilia Cheung) or a cosmic villain. China's sacred peaks are under attack from the dreaded Insomnia, whose Blood Cloud threatens total annihilation. King Sky (Cheng) is the sole survivor when the Kunlun School is wiped out (he was waiting 200 years for his beloved woman teacher to be reincarnated at the time); he flies around urging the other schools to set aside their differences and rally for the defence. Matters aren't helped when his chief ally (Koo) goes over to the Dark Side.