The Bride with White Hair (1993)

Review by All Movie Guide
Among martial arts movies, The Bride With White Hair is a good example of the evolutionary bridge between the old Bruce Lee movies and films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In other words, the filmmakers cobbled together some decent stunts and wire work -- albeit obscured through blurred camerawork, quick edits and smoke machines -- but shooting on a sound stage was still all the budget would allow. Consequently, watching this film has its frustrations at the promise that might have been better fulfilled with greater resources. But what Ronnie Yu does bring to the screen has plenty of merit, and it's clear why this was one of his final films before Hollywood came knocking. While it can be difficult to keep track of all the various characters and clan mythologies, at its core, this is a Romeo and Juliet story, featuring warring "families" and star-crossed lovers. This male-female dichotomy is even explored within the same character, a conjoined evil warlord metaphorically torn apart by his/her differing desires. The fight scenes are decent if not groundbreaking, but where The Bride With White Hair distinguishes itself is in the complexity of the characters. The villains are essentially hissable and the heroes essentially valiant, but each shows moments of human weakness that either temper their evil or qualify their goodness. In fact, at times the story may go too far in this direction, leaving certain characters behaving in ways that run contrary to their prior motivations. But Yu is careful to modulate the emotions of his characters, steering clear of the melodrama that can dominate this historically histrionic genre. The Bride With White Hair was so popular that it spawned a sequel within the same calendar year -- another indication of how relatively inexpensive it was to produce. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide