Moon Warriors

A mythic tale of crossed swords and double-crossed allegiances, princes, peasants and killer bamboo, Samo Hung's film is a visually splendid, dramatically rich, but somewhat rarefied martial arts yarn. Andy Lau (Days of Being Wild) is Fei, a peasant fisherman who finds himself protecting the beautiful princess Yueh (Mui) and her betrothed, the rightful heir to the kingdom, who has been usurped by his evil younger brother. Taking refuge in an ancient subterranean palace, it becomes clear there's a traitor in their midst. Much imaginative staging, even if the romanticism sometimes topples into kitsch (Hei Wei the whale seems to have swum out of a Disney picture). The highly acrobatic fights, however, are oddly uninvolving.