Trailer Time: The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, starring Jet Li

I keep hoping famed Chinese filmmaker Hsui Hark will get the same level of adoration here in the United States that he's earned elsewhere around the globe, but Hollywood has pretty much kicked him in the teeth. After establishing himself as a key figure in the new wave of Hong Kong cinema, he made his jump to our shores and was greeted with crappy Jean-Claude Van Damme flicks like Double Team(with Dennis Rodman!!?) and Knock Off, which paired Van Damme with Rob Schneider of all people. So it's no wonder he skedaddled back home, where over the last few years he's been doing some of his best stuff. If you haven't had a chance to check out Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, then add it to your Netflix queue as soon as possible. Think Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon with a touch of Nancy Drew. Seriously.

Hark's next film is The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, the second remake of 1967's seminal wuxia film, Dragon Gate Inn, and has him re-teaming with his All About Women star Zhou Xun, as well as Jet Li. The film was shot in 3D, marking the first time it's been used in a wuxia flick, and judging by this new trailer I'd say Hark has put the technology to good use. It looks absolutely gorgeous.  Check out the trailer below, followed by the film's plot....[Twitch]



PLOT: Flying Sword Of Dragon Gate picks up three years after the infamous Dragon Inn was burnt down in the desert when its innkeeper Jade vanished. A new gang of marauders had taken over: innkeepers by day, and treasure hunters by night. The inn is the rumored location of a lost city buried under the desert, and its hidden treasure would only be revealed by a gigantic storm every sixty years. The gang used the inn as a front to locate the lost treasure.


The storm is arriving. But the situation becomes more complicated when a pregnant concubine who escaped from the palace came to the inn. The concubine was saved by a mysterious woman Ling, and the two fled to the Dragon Inn in hiding.


Hot on their trail were the Imperial Assassins led by the powerful eunuch Yu, followed by the righteous general Zhou who was determined to take down Yu to restore order in the palace.

The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate will open in China on December 15th. Fingers crossed that it'll receive even a limited roll out here similar to that of Detective Dee.