A disappointment after the visual clarity and vision of 4 and 5, sacrificed for the muddy look and overaggressive editing of the nadir of the series, 2. I'm surprised at all the praise of the editing on here, felt like Bay-level screaming in the face to me.

Hits the spot

"Did you go to a funeral?"
"Something like that."

Given that this one wasn't directed by either King Hu or Tsui Hark I kinda expected it to be a lesser film, but was so so wrong. Yes, stylistically it's a slightly lesser film than it's predecessor but it makes up for that with Brigitte Lin as a man who had to turn into a woman to achieve ultimate martial arts skills and magic powers. And what skills and powers they are! The ruminations on the cruelty of the world and the tragedy of the love quadrangle manage to work amidst the crazy fantasy, too, somehow.