Color, 1983, 82 mins. 45 secs.
Directed by Chor Yuen
Starring Derek Yee, Cherie Chung, Tien-Hsiang Lung, Kuan-Chung Ku
Vinegar Syndrome (Blu-ray) (US RA HD), Intercontinental (DVD) (Hong Kong R3 NTSC) / WS (2.35:1) (16:9)

Perhaps due to its bland title, this mind-melting Hong Kong fantasy from the later, go-for-broke Shaw Brothers period has never gotten the cult reputation it most assuredly deserves. Blatantly pulling story elements from Richard Donner's Superman from 1978 and its very troubled sequel into a very different context, this extravagant special effects showcase flings enough lasers, sassy parrots, opulent costumes and sets, and wire-work wuxia action in your face that you'll quickly stop noticing all the similarities to that famous superhero. An arsenal of martial arts directors and effects wizards had their hands in this one designed to ride the wave of sci-fi and fantasy hits so popular in the early '80s, but like too many of its companion features, this underperformed and was mostly forgotten for decades.

After being discovered as a baby encased in a rock in an icy wasteland, Shek Sang (Yee) grows up to be a super-powerful being sent to Earth to do good and flourish as long as he can draw his power from sunlight. After defending some abused workers and being pursued for his trouble, he ends up hiding out with and, in his human disguise, falling for a Princess (Chung) and incurring the wrath of multiple villains including a baby-slaughtering Prince Regent (Lung) and a nefarious fellow resident from his home world born at the same time, Yo Wing (Ku). Can he preserve the forces of good, even with an eclipse about to hit?

Bearing a 1982 date but not released until the summer of the following year, Descent of the Sun is a crazy quilt in every sense right from its breakneck opening smashing together clips from numerous past Shaw fantasies to create a sort of mythological basis. Unlike many of its studio peers, this one did hit VHS a few times (heavily cropped though) plus a Hong Kong laserdisc, followed by a 2005 DVD from Intercontinental. While most of the studio's output around that time was tampered with in terms of running time and presentation, it was actually at the correct film speed and uncut. In 2025, Vinegar Syndrome released the first Blu-ray of the film featuring an excellent 2K restoration from the negative with the original main titles (yay!) and the unaltered Cantonese DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono mix (with optional English subtitles), whose music is amusingly indebted to... well, you'll see. A new audio commentary by Frank Djeng is entertaining and highly informative as always as he lays out the influence of the Donner film in Hong Kong, the state of Shaw at the time, the director's wuxia background, and high points of the cast including a funny digression about Hong Kong Playboy.

In "The Master of Action" (19m52s), action director Yuen Bun discusses the history of stunt performing in Hong Kong and at Shaw Brothers in particular including his collaborations with Chor Yuen and a lot of wire work, which has now become something of a lost art. "Shaw Brothers Fantasy in the 1980s" (16m31s) is a visual essay by Samm Deighan covering the major films like this that took the ideas of mystical magic and wuxia in truly flamboyant directions with forerunners like The Lady Hermit and The Monkey Goes West evolving into Buddha's Palm, Demon of the Lute, and The Boxer's Omen. The limited edition packaging also comes with a fold-out poster and a booklet featuring John Charles' "It's a Mallard, It's a Crane, It's SB-Man!" covering the Superman parallels, Yuen's career, and more; Tom Cunliffe's "Descendant of the Sun: A Kaleidoscopically Colorful Wuxia Fantasy" covering the genre elements and special effects advances found here; and Keith Allison's "Descendant of the 'Huh?': Hammer, Chor Yuen, and Weird Wuxia," which covers exactly what you would guess.

Reviewed on December 23, 2025