Flying Swords of Dragon Gate

Set in Ming-era China, the film follows a wandering fighter, Chow Wai-on, who opposes a powerful eunuch and his faction. Their conflict leads to a remote desert inn, the Dragon Gate, which stands above a lost city whose riches are said to surface only when a massive sandstorm strikes once every sixty years. As that storm approaches, several groups with their own agendas gather at the inn, among them treasure hunters, assassins and figures with old grudges, and their competing interests move toward open confrontation.

Tsui Hark directed and co-wrote the film, which he also produced. It is the twenty-third of the thirty-one features he has directed in chronological order, arriving between Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame in 2010 and Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon in 2013. Jet Li leads as Chow Wai-on, with Zhou Xun, Chen Kun, Gwei Lun-mei, Chris Lee and Louis Fan Siu-Wong in supporting roles. The production had a budget of 35 million US dollars and was made by companies in Hong Kong, mainland China and the United States.

Audience responses were mixed. On IMDb, the film holds a rating of 5.9 from around 8,900 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.2 from 252 votes. A critics' rating of 5.8 from 28 reviews places it close to the audience scores, indicating a similar overall assessment rather than a strong divide.