The animated story is a little on the convoluted side, but once you get all the characters straight by the half-hour mark, it's simply a matter of following what happens to Wind and Cloud. The animated film is something of a sequel in that it follows the two main characters, Wind and Cloud, after the events of the earlier film. The comic was previously adapted as a live-action film called THE STORM RIDERS (1998), which starred Ekin Cheng, Aaron Kwok and Sonny Chiba. The film is based on "Storm Riders," a comic book by Wing Shing Ma that has been published in English by a company called Comics One. I found my import DVD copy in a Chinatown video store in New York. As far as I know, it never got any release outside of those regions. IMDb lists release dates in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, but I have found no information on how it was received critically or how well it did at the box office. Why this film isn't better-known is a mystery to me. It was directed by Hong Kong director Dante Lam, who's known for such live-action thrillers as BEAST COPS, JIANG HU: THE TRIAD ZONE, and THE TWINS EFFECT. It has a strong storyline and a host of interesting characters and never flags during its 99-minute running time. It's quite a spectacular swordplay fantasy, with intricately choreographed fight action and expertly detailed backgrounds that evoke an ancient and mythic China. STORM RIDER: CLASH OF EVILS (2008) is an epic animated feature co-produced by Hong Kong and China and is, I believe, the first animated adventure I've seen that was based on a Hong Kong comic book.
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