深海之战

故事发生在明朝年间。少镖主王振威（周群达饰）这日接到陈震南（安瑞云饰）将军的镖书，要他将爱女盈盈（徐自贤饰）和聘礼护送至远在边关的北齐王处，那边的世子将迎娶性格孤傲的盈盈，不明就里的盈盈跟着护镖的一干人马踏上了征程。出发不久，遇上了劫色的一伙叛军，他们想挟盈盈做人质，逼迫其父陈震南退兵，在王振威、副将李峰（任天野饰）、沈飞燕（吴晓敏饰）的保护下，总算杀出重围。行进中盈盈无意间发现了箱子里的凤冠霞帔，这才明白此行是父亲要把她嫁给一个自已不爱的人，她声泪俱下地质问和她早就相爱的李峰，并提出要与其私奔。李峰有苦难言，而王振威则看出了盈盈有要逃走的迹象......

清朝末年，一代宗师太极拳高手杨崇武（于海 饰）一家隐居杭州西子湖畔。杨崇武与妻子慧娘（胡慧中 饰）晚年喜得贵子杨学文（吴京 饰）。学文自幼天资聪慧，生性好武，而杨父怕他惹事闯祸，每日督促儿子苦读诗书，不准他外出。学文暗中偷学父亲的太极拳，并自创了一套辫子神功，平日勤加苦练，习得一身好武功。
　　适逢钱塘江边举行祈雨祭祀，学文和表弟偷偷前去参加龙王祭。在祭典上，学文遇见了留洋归来的千金小姐曹央云（钟丽缇 饰），学文一见钟情。为了追求央云，学文参加了革命党。他的辫子神功在禁鸦片运动中大显神威，学文与央云感情日益加深。然而向中国走私鸦片的帝国主义分子却并不善罢甘休，暗中设下阴谋诡计，一场殊死搏斗旋即展开。

　　六年前，拥有绝世本领的焰众忍者虎影（斋藤工 饰）与月影（芳贺优里亚 饰）坠入爱河，后者更怀上了虎影的孩子。然而焰众首领东云幻斋（椎名英姬 饰）绝不允许手下有这种叛逆之举，于是对二人进行严刑拷打。在遭受了残酷的折磨后，虎影夫妇一路逃亡，最终在某个偏远山村落脚，和他们的儿子孤月过着与世无争的平凡生活。这一日，东云派出忍者前往耶严藩偷窃金银秘卷，谁知却遭遇对方殊死抵抗，最终只拿到了银卷。为了得到金卷，东云找到虎影夫妇，并且绑架了二人的儿子来要挟他们潜入耶严城。
　　为了营救最爱的孩子，夫妇俩只得再入血雨腥风的江湖，投身于连绵不断的忍者大战之中……

　　Having witnessed his junkie father killed Russell Stevens grows up to become a policeman and make a difference. When he is offered an undercover job by Gerald Carver he accepts and begins to build a relationship with David Jason in order to get to the main dealers. However as he is forced to deal drugs and kill to keep his cover he finds the lines between cop and criminal being lost – is he a cop pretending to be a dealer or a dealer pretending to be a cop?
　　Larry (as he was then) Fishburne's first lead role was a typically dark vehicle. The story is the usual one of cop losing himself when undercover, however it manages to be more than that for most of the time. Co-written by Tolkin, who wrote The Player, this naturally has a nice cynical edge to it when it looks at the US's hypocritical approach to drug control and the political links between the street hustlers and the political high rollers who court respectability. The story does eventually settle into a traditional setting but even then it works well as a thriller.
　　The multi-talented Bill Duke directs well with a gritty feel and a few nice touches. However several things are a bit iffy. For most of the film Fishburne's narration/voice over is a bit like a cross between Apocalypse Now and Blade Runner – it comes across as a little too dark and heavy and also explains things like we can't figure it out ourselves. However once you get into the film it's not as big a deal. My main problem lies with the characters.
　　Fishburne is excellent, a real model of underlying anger and violence, Goldblum is good but perhaps a little OTT on the yuppie/violence thing, but there's good support from Smith and Spin City's beautiful (and often underused – but not here) Victoria Dillard. However the two main white characters (Goldblum and Smith) are both smeared with racist insinuations – Smith appears to insult his black officers and doesn't care about the junkies, while Goldblum is fascinated about all things black and talks about them as wild beautiful beasts and loves having sex with "black'. These things aren't a major problem, but with basically only two white characters in it, it's a little worrying that both are given that edge.
　　However these are minor complaints that get lost with a good thriller. Fishburne excels and Duke delivers a story that is a good thriller but also has a jaded, subversive edge.