storm riders 2: of the new movie and leaked designs
a decade ago, seeing Ekin Cheng and Aaron Kwok on the silver-screen as Wind and Cloud left a tinge of geek-pride in my heart, for an enjoyable adaptation of a *manhua (*chinese comicbook) unto celluloid, as directed Andrew Lau ... as cheesy as it may look now, 10 years ago = it be rawking (the sight of a beefed-up Aaron Kwok "acting" instead of singing cheese was too a sight to behold LOL) ... 10 years on, the Pang Brothers take on the directorial-reins for STORM RIDERS 2! featuring the return of Ekin ("Whispering Wind") and Aaron ("Striding Cloud"), as well as starring Nicholas Tse ("Juet Sum / Jue Xin"), Charlene Choi ("Second Dream"), newcomer Tiffany T. Ma (taking over Shu Qi's role of "Muse / Chor Chor" / "Chu Chu") and Simon Yam ("Juet Mou San / Jue Wu Shen") as father of Juet Sum, and the villain of the movie - which wikipedia mentions "will follow the Japanese Invasion story of the manhua" SPOILER ALERT (highlight to read possible plot - via Monkeypeaches): START-[ An evil force invades (led by Simon Yam and Nicholas Tse) and defeats Whispering Wind (Ekin Cheng) and Striding Cloud (Aaron Kowk). To stop the evil force’s plan of conquering all clans, Whispering Wind starts learning a powerful but dangerous new skill, which eventually led him to the dark side. To turn the tide, Striding Cloud is forced to fight against Whispering Wind. ]-END
the Pang Brothers have mentioned that "Storm Riders 2" (working title) is not a remake nor a direct sequel to the 1998 film. principle-shoot has begun, with a release in either October of 2008, or in 2009. the budget is reportedly between US$12-$14 million and filming will be done all on blue screen, reminiscent of the Hollywood film 300." [wiki] ... meanwhile, these character images (in the post) have been "leaked" online just, via Sina.com.cn /// READ MORE HERE
based on popular Hong Kong comic series Wind Cloud. (Fen1 Yun2 / Fung Wan / 風雲) the costumes are designed by Yee Chung-Man (Curse of the Golden Flower) with CG effects by FatFace Productions (The Warlords, Forest of Death, Confession of Pain, Re-Cycle) and is produced by Hong Kong's Universe and Beijing's Chengtian Entertainment. listed on IMDB is original manhua-creator Wing-Shing Ma as writer of the movie. The Storm Rider II will be shot in Thailand. and a little sidenote - Danny Pang (half of the Pang Bros) was actually credited as an Editor on the first movie :)
this two gentlemen above has been focused on here - becoz primarily i reckon they would make pretty darn cool 1/6th-action figures, innit? who can resist the intricate warrior armor details, or even a demon-face/masked assassin? i sure as heck can't! LOL ... no doubt if ever figure were to be made, Wind and Cloud would be the natural choices, and perhaps even Juet Sum, with proper headsculpt-likeness given to the celebs (i know i may be hard-pressed to hope for a Second Dream, Muse or any femme 1/6-adaptation, yeh?). Dragon Models did both Wind and Cloud for the first movie (based more on their manhua-designs actually / figure pics via) altho i wonder who would pick up this movie's license? no doubt DID would be in contention (which could guarantee hyper-detailed armor - ala their Samurai figures = yumz) or maybe it'll be Hot Toys? yet another collabo with How2Work? ala The Warlords? ... regardless, im looking forward it all lah :)
to help jog your collective memories, here are a few youtubed-videos
of the first movie, starting with an International Trailer (in English):
and this is the opening 10-mins of the film-actual, dubbed in English! LOL
round-off with "classic" fight-scenes LOL:
personally, i've always been a Zhong1 Hua2 Ying1 Xiong2-man myself (Man Called Hero / 中華英雄), and less of a "hardcore" Fen1 Yun2-follower (altho i did devour the subsequent Tian1 Xia4 / Tin Ha / 天下), and perhaps that enabled me to enjoy the first big-screen adaptation "more", as my experience wasn't "tainted" nor burdened by a entire backlog of comicbook history and lore, IMHO (which seems to plague remakes and adaptations in this day and age - will spout more about this in another post, when thoughts become more tangible and palatable :p) ... so perhaps i will still keep an open mind to the eventual result of this particular movie outing, innit? heh.
