The Legend of Zu

Synopsis

High in the mystical Zu mountain range, which sits between heaven and earth, peacekeeping immortals make their home. The demon Insomnia, wanting to seize control of Zu and the world beneath it, begins destroying the immortal clans one after another. Dawn, a master of the Kunlun Clan, sends her student King Sky away because she feels their close bond is holding them back. Not long after King Sky departs, Insomnia attacks Dawn and breaks her apart into nothing.

Two centuries later, White Brows, the grandmaster of the Omei Clan, detects Insomnia drawing near and dispatches his student Red to look into it. King Sky joins the Omei forces to fight Insomnia, and after being defeated, the demon retreats into the Blood Cave. Red and King Sky enter the cave to battle Insomnia, nearly dying before White Brows rescues them. While Insomnia feeds on the cave's power, White Brows tells Red to watch the entrance as the Omei get ready for another fight.

White Brows tries to merge the two guardian swords of Omei, which are held by Enigma and Hollow, into a new weapon. The fusion fails and backfires, killing Hollow and wounding Enigma. Before traveling to another dimension to locate a different weapon, White Brows brings Hollow back to life as a new being named Ying and places King Sky in command of Omei. King Sky discovers that Enigma is actually Dawn reborn.

When Ying cannot handle his own sword, King Sky attempts to take his place and accidentally kills himself. Meanwhile, the flower demon Amnesia takes over Red, who then returns to wreck Omei and seize Enigma. At the most urgent moment, Ying suddenly remembers his past existence and recovers his abilities. King Sky also comes back to life and receives the new weapon White Brows found.

Together with the surviving Omei members, they face the possessed Red outside the Blood Cave. Ying rescues Enigma while King Sky tries to drive the demon out of Red, but fails; Red then destroys himself to eliminate Amnesia. Back at Omei, Enigma and Ying successfully combine their weapons and team up with King Sky to fight and weaken Insomnia. To stop the demon from fleeing, Enigma lets Insomnia take over her body, giving King Sky the chance to finish off the demon.

After the battle, Enigma is reborn as a fresh immortal and Omei is rebuilt, while King Sky departs to restore the Kunlun Clan.

Critical reception

Critics were split on The Legend of Zu, with supporters highlighting its thrilling action and elaborate CGI sets. For its American release, the film was trimmed from 104 minutes down to 80, stripping away plot and character development while preserving nearly all the action, which made the story much harder to follow. Director Tsui Hark later described the film as a disaster, blaming post-production troubles and an over-reliance on the effects house, which delivered shots he found unacceptable.