The Stormriders (Feng Yun)

Released 1998
Stars Sonny Chiba, Aaron Kwok, Ekin Cheng, Kristy Yang, Shu Qi, Roy Cheung, Lai Yu-hung, Anthony Wong
Directed by Andrew Lau

Turning a comic book into a feature film is no easy task, as many Hollywood studios can certainly attest. When Golden Harvest, Hong Kong’s largest film studio, and special-effects company Centro teamed up to use one of Hong Kong’s best-selling comic book series as the background for their film “Feng Yun” (called “The Stormriders” in English), they laid ambitious plans. With a budget of over $10 million, this film set new standards for the local film industry. When the film finally hit the box office in July 1998, it broke all kinds of records in Asia, making “The Stormriders” the highest grossing film of the year in Hong Kong. The verdict: The film is truly stunning.

Conquer (Sonny Chiba) is the head of a large clan in medieval China who desires to expand his empire. The seer Mud Buddha (Lai Yu-hung) one day predicts that Conquer will have to earn the help of Wind and Cloud to achieve this goal. The emperor sends his troops to find Wind and Cloud, kills their parents, and adopts them as his children, raising them with Charity, his blood daughter. As the prophecy foretold, Conquer’s empire flourishes for the next ten years. As the boys grow up, helping their master to expand his reach, they both fall in love with Charity (Kristy Yeung). She returns the love of both and is torn between the two but one day Conquer makes the decision for them, not aware of the love triangle. He wants Wind (Ekin Cheng) to marry Charity, much to the dismay of Cloud (Aaron Kwok), who interrupts the wedding ceremony and attempts to spirit Charity away from his brother. Wind and Conquer are determined not to let the impulsive Cloud get away with this. A fierce war erupts between the men that will take them to the limits of their abilities and emotions.

Summary by Guido Henkel & Lieu Pham