Ching (Andy Lau) in both movies
Savior of the Soul is a series of Hong Kong martial arts action films directed by Corey Yuan, starring Andy Lau. Both films are notably among the first produced by Lau's own production company, Teamwork Motion Pictures.
Envisioned as a modern-day take on classic Wuxia films (the Chinese title is even lifted from The Legend of the Condor Heroes), the movies centers around wandering swordsman and gunslinger, Ching (Andy Lau), a mercenary and bounty hunter who runs his business with his love interest May-kwan (Anita Mui) and best friend Siu-chuen (Kenny Bee from Millionaires' Express). There is a love triangle between the trio, which Ching himself is unaware of, but their romance is interrupted when Silver Fox (Aaron Kwok), disciple of an old enemy of Ching, wants all three of them dead.
The sequel is unconnected to the first movie although Andy Lau reprises his role as Ching, who now has godson named Tim who tags along on his missions. Seeking a bounty for the Clown King. Ching also sets out to search for the Ice Maiden, a beautiful woman who appears in his dreams.
Saviour of the Soul provides examples of:
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: Silver Fox’s sword, which can slice through armour, metal, human flesh and bones like soft cream cheese.
- Action Girl: May-kwan and Wai-heung.
- Battle Amongst the Flames: The final showdown between Silver Fox and Ching.
- Belated Love Epiphany: May-kwan only realize how much Siu-chuen means to her when he performed a Heroic Sacrifice for her.
- Bounty Hunter: Ching’s source of income is capturing criminals for the bounty they have on their heads.
- Cool Sword: Silver Fox and Ching both uses these kinds of weapons. For Silver Fox, his sword is closer to a modified jian which he used to slice through flesh, while for Ching his weapon is a Royal Rapier which can extend or compress for easy storage, but isn’t meant for lethal use but for subduing opponents in a harmless way.
- Due to the Dead: Silver Fox at the grave of his master Old Eagle. After killing and burying him.
- Eye Scream: Prior to the events of the movie, Old Eagle lose his right eye when May-kwan blinds him with a dagger. During his last scene the film shows its audience a close-up on the badly-scarred hole where his eye used to be.
- Silver Fox lose his eye in the same way too, and in the second half of the movie he sports an Eyepatch of Power.
- Finger Poke of Doom: Silver Fox can do this, in fact he defeats May-kwan by stabbing her with two fingers…
- Gun Fu
- Homing Projectile: During her confrontation with Silver Fox, May-kwan somehow managed to hurl throwing knives… which homes onto her target. Silver Fox eventually sliced them out of the air.
- Human Shield: Silver Fox in his opening fight uses a guard as a meatshield to absorb machine-gun fire.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Silver Fox does this to several people, including Siu-chuen.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: All three main characters, exemplified in their Establishing Character Moment where they had a contest on shooting the lock off a door from one end of a large hall. Ching and Siu-chuen draws their guns at the same time while May-kwan hurls her dagger, and bullets shot by the former two shatters the lock at the same time while her flung knife lodges into the keyhole.
- In a Single Bound: Mostly Silver Fox who does this, leaping as high as roughly thirty meters per jump, but Ching can do this too.
- In the Hood: How Silver Fox appears in his first scene, with his Badass Cape too.
- Kill It with Fire: Silver Fox’s fate.
- Love Triangle: Part of the B-plot of the movie involves the triangle between Ching, Siu-chuen (He has feelings for May-kwan) and May-kwan (she has feelings for Ching). It gets resolved with Siu-Chuen’s death.
- Martial Arts Headband: Silver Fox wears a dark blue one.
- Melancholy Moon: Invoked in the scene where Ching thinks about when to propose to May-kwan on a moonlit night, while looking at the moon.Ching: "I hear that it is best to propose on a full moon...."
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: In an odd example, after breaking his master Old Eagle out of prison and having a chat with him, Silver Fox then finish the conversation by killing Old Eagle.
- Mystical White Hair: Silver Fox, as another additional trait of his mysteriousness. He’s played by the then 26-year-old Aaron Kwok by the way.
- Nerd Glasses: Siu-chuen, the nerdiest member of the Power Trio, wears glasses.
- Phantom-Zone Picture: In his final confrontation, Ching manage to temporarily turn the tide of battle by tricking Silver Fox to leap into an enchanted mirror (via Deadly Dodging) which keeps him restrained in it. Complete with Silver Fox going Glass Smack and Slide.
- Silver Fox somehow manage to take control of the mirror and turn it into an Animate Inanimate Object, which then flies around attacking Ching and May-kwan before hitting a wall and shattering, releasing Silver Fox.
- Retractable Weapon: Ching's sword can retract its blade into the hilt for easy storage, and expand out when needed for combat.
- R-Rated Opening: The Action Prologue, which had Silver Fox killing his way through an insanely well-guarded prison to break his mentor Old Eagle out, slaughtering guards by the dozens in a Mook Horror Show, decapitating at least three guards in the process and slicing one vertically into half.
- Shot in the Ass: In the hospital scene where Ching is frantically carrying the wounded May-kwan to a doctor and demanding him to heal her, Ching points his gun aside and accidentally fires… and ends up hitting May-wai, Ching’s twin sister, who is spying on Ching and her sister behind a set of blinds. Cue May-wai jumping about while clutching on her butt, and actually screaming it out for convenience of the audience who can’t tell what happened…May-wai: "Oh my butt! You jinx! Why did you have to shoot my ass?"
- Spin Attack: Silver Fox uses this attack a lot, spinning himself as he leaps and glides through the air, which can deflect almost all attacks thrown at him, including bullets.
- Sword and Gun: Ching tends to wield both his sword and pistol at the same time during combat.
- Sword Fight: Inevitably, since Silver Fox and Ching are the only two characters armed with a Cool Sword each, they end up battling each other with their respective swords.
- Taking You with Me: Attempted by Silver Fox. In the final battle, Ching triggers an explosion that blows up the entire building the action is taking place. Silver Fox tries to drag Ching back into the flames as he burns up, but fails when May-kwan manage to drag him out.
- Wire Fu
- Wuxia: Even the title translates directly to 91’ Legend of The Condor Heroes!
Saviour of the Soul 2 provides examples of:
- Badass and Child Duo: Ching now has a godson, Tim, which is a Tagalong Kid for most of the movie.
- Bloodless Carnage: Unlike the previous movie, this time Ching gets to slice up plenty of the Clown King’s minions with his Cool Sword, but somehow his victims don’t leave any blood in the aftermath.
- Cloth Fu: The Clown King’s method of attack is by sending rolls and rolls of red silk from his robes, which he uses to ensnare multiple people and suck into the folds of his clothing.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Unlike the previous Big Bad Silver Fox, a One-Man Army and dangerous opponent who attacks Ching heads-on using fighting skills that give Ching a run for his money, the new villain, the Clown King, is a Non-Action Big Bad who sends legions of mooks to fight for him and when forced to face Ching one-on-one, instead of fighting Ching directly, he uses his qi to inflate himself to giant monster form.
- Cucumber Facial: The Clown King has a facial mask on while in his tub.
- Furo Scene: In an example that qualifies as Fan Disservice, the Clown King is introduced taking his bath in a tub with several clown henchmen attending to him. There’s plenty of close-up on his naked male body too (yuck!)…
- Honorary Uncle: Ching, being the Godfather of Tim.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The Clown King’s fate as Ching impaled him through the midsection with a sword. Which somehow causes the Clown King to explode into Ludicrous Gibs.
- In Name Only: The sequel is said to be non-canon to the first film, despite sharing the same main character.
- Lighter and Softer: With a more flamboyant Big Bad, a tagalong little kid, more slapstick humor, additional jokes, enemies which dissolves after being killed leaving no blood or corpses, and mooks which are literally clowns, the second installment seems like it was made for kids.
- Make My Monster Grow: The Clown King can inflate his own body and increase his size until he towers over Ching and the other characters.
- Monster Clown: The Big Bad of the second movie, named the Clown King, complete with a legion of Clown Henchmen.
- Mook Maker: The Clown King can create legions of Clown Henchmen seemingly from out of nowhere, materializing as many of them as he wants through his robes.
- Playboy Bunny: One scene in a pub notably had several Fanservice Extra in this getup, introduced as maids of the Clown King. Being a Bad Boss, the first thing the Clown King do after revealing himself is to unleash his robes to grab the bunnies and swallow them into his robes.
- Remember the New Guy?: Tim was never mentioned at all in the previous film. In this movie he’s introduced like he’s with his godfather Ching the whole time.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Anita Mui's May-kwan is absent for no reason at all, replaced by Rosamund Kwan's ice Maiden.
- Villainous Harlequin: Most of the Clown King’s henchmen are dressed in harlequin getup.
- Wire Fu
