Kung Fu Cult Master is based on the "Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre Chronicles" novels by Jin Yong. Trying to cram 40 chapters into a ninety-minute film is not at all easy, and the film has taken vast liberties with the story. The beginning narrative tries to explain the rich background history, but those not familiar with this wuxia world of Jin Yong's, will just be confused by all the on-going conflicts of these martial-arts schools.

So, I'll just skip it and get on with the main plot. Cheung Mo-kei (played here by Jet Li) is the hero, and boy does he have a lot to suffer. Mo-kei's father, Cheung Tsui-san, was the fifth disciple of Wudan master Cheung San-fung (Sammo Hung), and had married the daughter of the leader of the evil Ming Sect. Tsui-san (Francis Ng) and his wife Yan So So (Cheung Man) committed suicide when they were forced by the other martial schools to reveal the location of the Dragon Sabre.

Orphaned at a tender age, and being inflicted of the Jinx's Palm illness (which later prevents him from learning martial arts), Mo-kei also has to suffer bullying at the Wudan school while growing up. Cheung San-fung has been keeping young Mo-kei alive and well by infusing his inner-energy into the boy, but still cannot heal him of the illness.

Eight years later: An encounter with a young maid called Siu Chiu (Chingmy Yau), and an incident later leads to the both of them being pursued by the rest of the young Wudan school members (all the seniors were away), which leads to Mo-kei and Siu Chiu falling down a cliff-face. There, they meet with an old monk who was once an adversary of Cheung San-fung, but now stuck down this ravine, strapped to a massive boulder of rock. The monk forces Mo-kei to learn his super duper "Great Solar Stance", which effectively heals Mo-kei of his Jinx's palm, and leaves him with super powers as side-effects.

Meanwhile, the six martial schools are mounting an all-out attack on the Ming Sect; Mo-kei turns up in time to prevent the destruction of the sect, and also save his maternal grandfather from committing suicide. This is after Mo-kei had the fortune to uncover a plot by renegade monk Shing Kwun to destroy both the schools and the Ming Sect, and learn the even more powerful "Magic Stance". By default, Mo-kei becomes the leader of the Ming Sect, whose mission is to fight the Yuan Dynasty who currently rule China.

Mo-kei later meets up with a Mongol princess called Chiu Man (Cheung Man, again), whose own goal is to either convert the schools to serve the government, or to destroy them. Mo-kei inevitably becomes infatuated with the woman, but his duty to protect the schools makes them enemies, until that is, Chiu Man betrays her own government to be with the dashing Mo-kei.

But that last bit was not in the film, as the film was unfinished. The second part was never filmed, so it is understandable that viewers would be put-off by the film's sudden ending. It is a shame because the film is undeniably fun to watch, especially with all the speeded-up kinetic action that fills your screen every five minutes. Some of the fight scenes were greatly exaggerated for comic-effect, and it is obvious the film-makers were influenced by anime and manga in their attempt to envisage a more super-charged fight-fest than of norm.

The production values seem high (they used a lot of extras, and the art direction looked good), but ultimately, the compressed storyline and fast-pacing means that viewers with no knowledge of the novel would be hard-pressed to figure out what's going on at times. Nevertheless, the grand action should be enough compensation for hardcore fantasy wire-fu fans.

For those who wants to know, here is the rest of the story: After the fight at Wudan mountain, Mo-kei and friends set off to save the leaders of the other schools (being held captive by Chiu Man). Mo-kei saves them all, but Master No-mercy perishes. Before her death, she entrusts the leadership of the Omei Clan to her beloved student Chow Chi-yurt (Gigi Lai in the film), but the other students are not pleased, and Chow is cast out. She actually fancies Mo-kei, and asks for his help to recover her leadership, and he agrees to help her.

At this time, Mo-kei meets up with his godfather, the bearer of the Dragon Sabre. We then learn that Siu Chiu is actually a Persian princess of some sort, and leaves Mo-kei to return to her rightful place back in Persia. Chow steals the Dragon Sabre, and after combining it with the Heaven Sword, discovers the secret of the "Nine Scrolls", which gives the person ultimate power. Mo-kei helps his Godfather to destroy Shing Kwun, and to stop the threat posed by a now demented Chow. In the end, Mo-kei steps down as leader of the Ming Sect (the mantle going to Zhu Yuan-cheung, who later founds the Ming Dynasty), and lives happily ever after with a besotted Chiu Man.

Bit of trivia: Gigi Lai - who plays Chow Chi-yurt in the film, plays Mongol princess Chiu Man in the 2000 TV series of Heaven Sword, Dragon Sabre, with Ng kai-wah as Cheung Mo-kei.

Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre is the third part of a trilogy written by Jin Yong.