THE EVIL CULT is a typically over the top effort from director Wong Jing. What this guy's films lack in precision and technical merit they certainly make up for in endless madcap action sequences which are invariably heavy on the wirework. The plots tend to make little sense and yet it's all so bizarre and hilarious that you can't help but be caught up in the journey.

Apparently this is based on a historical novel of some kind which may account for the complex and confusing nature of the storyline. There are various warring cults in search of a mystical sword, but Jet Li is the central character, searching for the villains who killed his parents and orphaned him as a child thanks to some mystic palm technique. He joins forces with fellow questers and must strive to put an end to the endless treachery and war around him.

Li isn't bad here but his presence is overshadowed by the supporting actors. Chingmy Yau is a particular pleasure as the beautiful young warrior woman who accompanies him on his journey, while Sammo Hung bookends the production as a fatherly monk. Francis Ng and Collin Chou have supporting roles, there are cameos from Ekin Cheng and Lam Ching-ying, but most apparent of the bunch is Richard Ng who to my delight is playing a vampire master. As usual, goofy comedy ensues.

With Wong Jing at the helm there are the usual scenes of questionable taste, such as the sub-plot involving the two rapists whose perverted desires are played for laughs. But for the most part this is about the action, which is loud, mad, and scenery-destroying. Watch out for the other bizarre moments sprinkled throughout the production, like the guy with the broken spine who's strapped himself to a massive boulder as a way of getting around. Novel, to say the least.

I've seen a lot of films in my time that don't make an awful lot of sense, but very few have left me quite as confused as The Evil Cult, a crazy wuxia martial arts flick starring Jet Li (plus a host of other genre stars). Part of the problem would undoubtedly be down to the awful subtitles on my DVD (it said they were English on the box, but I'm not so sure),but even if they had been perfect, I have no doubts that I still wouldn't have had a clue what was going on.

Jet plays Mo Kei, a young man out to get revenge on those responsible for his parents' deaths. And that's about all I can tell you regarding the plot: there's so much waffle about different warring factions and powerful sects that it all becomes extremely difficult to follow, and even harder to try and recount. So I'm not going to bother.

What I can tell you, however, is that this film features some pretty mad scenes that should please those who enjoy crazy Asian martial arts cinema: Mo Kei's father commits suicide by making his own heart explode from his chest; Mo Kei learns magical kung fu from a monk who is embedded in a huge, rotating, flying boulder; horses are skewered by drills that emerge from under the ground; there is a subterranean battle that results in severed body parts being strewn everywhere; and some of the characters battle with what looks like fire-extinguishers hidden up their sleeves!! And these are only the bits that I can remember.

Also, there is the usual quota of flying kung fu (loads of wire work: some good, some lousy); lots of characters with silly hairstyles and huge eyebrows, and some cute women (including HK hotties Chingamy Yau and Gigi Lai).

If incomprehensible wire-fu wuxia is your thing and you love films such as 'New Dragon Inn' and 'Swordsman', then you'll probably love this film, but as much as I appreciated the silliness of the whole thing, I just didn't find it that enjoyable overall.

I had heard that this movie was bad, but I foolishly thought "well, it has Jet Li and Chingmy Yau, how bad can it be?". Answer: so bad that it makes you want to turn it off after only the first 5 minutes. Jet Li's fighting - everyone's fighting, actually - is ridiculously overdone and overedited; Yau's charming presence and smile is the only thing this awful, unwatchable movie has going for it. The plot doesn't make a lick of sense (as even those who liked the film have admitted) and the dubbing (of the "Evil Cult" version) is incomprehensible.

0 out of 4 stars.