Plot summary (story synopsis): China, 1914. The Chinese army has withdrawn from Pucheng village to chase after troublesome warlord Cao Ying, leaving the town's sheriff Yang Kenan (Lau Ching Wan) and his men to defend the village. The warlord's murderous sociopathic son Cao Shaolun (Louis Koo) rides alone into town and kills a few people for fun. Sheriff Yang arrests him and after a quick trial, Shaulun is scheduled for execution the next day. However the warlord's colonel, Zhang Yi (Wu Jing), appears and warns that the entire town will be slaughtered if they harm Shaolun. Observing all this and trying to stay neutral, is wandering martial arts expert Ma Feng (Eddie Peng).
***
Call of Heroes is a Chinese cowboy movie. It's a mix of High Noon (principled sheriff betrayed by the cowardly town folk that he protects) and Shane (gun slinging reluctant-hero drifter rides into town).
There is some melodrama, but also some surprisingly effective drama and character development. Performances by the leads are good, with Eddie Peng coming across effectively like a laconic Hugh Jackman. Louis Koo is fun to watch as the manipulative batshit crazy Shaolun. Lau Ching Wan is believable as the brave and honorable sheriff. Most impressive of all is Wu Jing as the confident colonel Zhang Yi. That guy has presence.
Fight choreography by Sammo Hung is good. Stylish but realistic. The only wire work seems to be when people are kicked and go flying. The fight on a small hill of wine casks is spectacular and a good example of acrobatic kung fu.
The village set is lavish and looks real. The $32 million budget is small by Hollywood standards but this is no small movie. It's no blockbuster but it's no budget indie either.
There are some false notes. The subplot about the mercenaries seems superfluous, and some plot points aren't believable. Why don't the villagers just run away?
Ultimately, it's an entertaining but forgettable movie. We've seen it before. It doesn't break any new ground or have any original ideas. It should do good box office but I doubt anyone will remember it in twenty years. It's no Chinese Ghost Story (1987) or Swordsman (1990).
Showing posts with label martial arts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label martial arts. Show all posts
2016-08-23
2015-09-14
The Assassin (2015)
Plot summary (story synopsis): It is China during the Tang Dynasty. Young assassin Yinniang (Shu Qi) doesn't have the heart to kill a target in front of his son. To teach her a lesson, she is sent back to her home province of Weibo to assassinate her cousin Tian Ji'an (Chen Chang) who is now the Lord of Weibo.
Tian Ji-an's court is already in turmoil. There is disagreement over how to handle their relationship with the distant Tang Dynasty. There is also some political intrigue within the court.
***
The Assassin is an arthouse movie. Don't expect anything like Hero or House of Flying Daggers. It won the Best Director prize at Cannes for director Hsiao-hsien Hou.
There's lots of show-don't-tell, so the pace will be slow for some audiences. Fights are few, fast, short, and realistic. Shu Qi isn't made into some kind of superhero, just a skilled fighter.
There are long takes and few close-ups. Many scenes are shot with a single wide-angle take. This is Kurosawa style.
Standard editing advice is to enter the scene late and get out early. Keep scenes short, don't bore the audience. The Assassin does the opposite. Combined with the wide-angle long takes, this gives an effective voyeuristic feel to the movie. You feel like an observer watching from a distance, not some omniscient god floating everywhere like in conventional movies with their close-ups, quick cuts and dolly moves.
The director's voyeuristic intention is confirmed in some indoor scenes. The camera is positioned behind thin veil-like curtains, so the audience feels like they are hiding from the people in the scene.
So this movie is not for everyone. There are reports of some audience members walking out during the screenings at Cannes and at the Toronto International Film Festival.
While the unconventional camerawork is effective to a certain extent, it's also distracting. We are used to today's camerawork and done well, it is invisible to the audience. The Assassin's minimalist camerawork calls attention to itself, throwing the audience out of the movie.
There is high contrast in some scenes - bits of sunlight in a dim interior. This would be considered a mistake in an amateur movie.
Another quirk: the movie is shot in 4:3 aspect ratio, the old PAL and NTSC analog TV format. The decision to not use 16:9, 2.4:1 or some other widescreen format is especially perverse considering the gorgeous scenery in some of the shots.
Perennially youthful Shu Qi plays the twenty-something Yinniang well. But we don't see much of Shu Qi. She's on screen maybe 25% to 50% of the time, and usually not in close-up.
The plot is interesting enough but there are too many characters and the various subplots are difficult to follow (who is the lady who tried to hide her pregnancy? I had to look her up after I watched the movie). The thing with the lady in the gold mask? Very Pink Pantherish - Clouseau versus Cato.
The Assassin gets an A for effort but overall it could have been better.
Tian Ji-an's court is already in turmoil. There is disagreement over how to handle their relationship with the distant Tang Dynasty. There is also some political intrigue within the court.
***
The Assassin is an arthouse movie. Don't expect anything like Hero or House of Flying Daggers. It won the Best Director prize at Cannes for director Hsiao-hsien Hou.
There's lots of show-don't-tell, so the pace will be slow for some audiences. Fights are few, fast, short, and realistic. Shu Qi isn't made into some kind of superhero, just a skilled fighter.
There are long takes and few close-ups. Many scenes are shot with a single wide-angle take. This is Kurosawa style.
Standard editing advice is to enter the scene late and get out early. Keep scenes short, don't bore the audience. The Assassin does the opposite. Combined with the wide-angle long takes, this gives an effective voyeuristic feel to the movie. You feel like an observer watching from a distance, not some omniscient god floating everywhere like in conventional movies with their close-ups, quick cuts and dolly moves.
The director's voyeuristic intention is confirmed in some indoor scenes. The camera is positioned behind thin veil-like curtains, so the audience feels like they are hiding from the people in the scene.
So this movie is not for everyone. There are reports of some audience members walking out during the screenings at Cannes and at the Toronto International Film Festival.
While the unconventional camerawork is effective to a certain extent, it's also distracting. We are used to today's camerawork and done well, it is invisible to the audience. The Assassin's minimalist camerawork calls attention to itself, throwing the audience out of the movie.
There is high contrast in some scenes - bits of sunlight in a dim interior. This would be considered a mistake in an amateur movie.
Another quirk: the movie is shot in 4:3 aspect ratio, the old PAL and NTSC analog TV format. The decision to not use 16:9, 2.4:1 or some other widescreen format is especially perverse considering the gorgeous scenery in some of the shots.
Perennially youthful Shu Qi plays the twenty-something Yinniang well. But we don't see much of Shu Qi. She's on screen maybe 25% to 50% of the time, and usually not in close-up.
The plot is interesting enough but there are too many characters and the various subplots are difficult to follow (who is the lady who tried to hide her pregnancy? I had to look her up after I watched the movie). The thing with the lady in the gold mask? Very Pink Pantherish - Clouseau versus Cato.
The Assassin gets an A for effort but overall it could have been better.
2015-07-20
Monk Comes Down the Mountain (2015)
Plot summary (story synopsis): It is early 20th century China. A time when primitive motorcars and guns coexist with kung fu. Apprentice monk He Anxia's (Baoqiang Wang) mountain monastery falls upon hard times and is unable to support so many monks. He is asked to leave and fend for himself in the big city.
Luckily for him, the sheltered and innocent Anxia ends up as assistant to kindly doctor Cui Daoning (Fan Wei). However his happy new life doesn't last long. The doctor's wife Yuzhen (Lin Chiling) is having an affair with his brother Daorong (Vanness Wu). Daorong poisons the doctor and Anxia kills the two illicit lovers to avenge his master.
He then apprentices himself to kung fu master Zhou Xiyu (Aaron Kwok) who is an enemy of the evil father-son team of Peng Qianwu (Yuen Wah) and Qizi (Jaycee Chan, Jackie's son). Qizi shoots and kills Zhou. Anxia now finds himself paired with Zhou's old friend Boss Zha (Chang Chen) against Peng, Qizi and a mobster (Lam Suet).
***
I'll have to admit that I haven't seen many Chen Kaige movies, but Monk seems rather crude story-wise for a director of his reputation.
Monk is an odd kung fu movie that against all odds, ends up working. It seems haphazard at first, Anxia getting a new master every 30 minutes. But the characters and individual stories work, probably thanks to Xu Haofeng’s source novel. At the end of the movie it's all nicely summed up - Anxia needed to experience human follies in order to become a better monk. So it's not about the plot, but the richness and bitterness of human experience.
The beautiful period sets (especially the doctor's house) and generally good acting help to support the movie.
Baoqiang's Anxia is an unrelatable simpleton with an annoying laugh. But Aaron Kwok and Chang Chen are convincing and sympathetic as serious, mature kung fu masters. Aaron Kwok is detached and enlightened, Chang Chen is passionate and vengeful. As a bonus, Lin Chiling looks absolutely stunning as the doctor's wife. Yuen Wah and Jaycee Chan are deliciously hateful.
Cinematography by Geoffrey Simpson is unremarkable. The fights are many, as is the wirework for the flying kung fu. I'm not a fan of wire fu but in certain cases such as in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon it works as a Fantasy element. It kind of works here. The problem with flying kung fu is that it is so removed from real fighting, that it's closer to dancing than martial arts. So it's all fluff, with no meaning or reality behind each move, nothing you can sink your teeth into.
Speaking of Crouching Tiger, Monk seems to be consciously trying to create a similar epic mythology. It fails because come on, Crouching Tiger is a unique one-off masterpiece. Monk succeeds as decent entertainment, and that's not too shabby.
Luckily for him, the sheltered and innocent Anxia ends up as assistant to kindly doctor Cui Daoning (Fan Wei). However his happy new life doesn't last long. The doctor's wife Yuzhen (Lin Chiling) is having an affair with his brother Daorong (Vanness Wu). Daorong poisons the doctor and Anxia kills the two illicit lovers to avenge his master.
He then apprentices himself to kung fu master Zhou Xiyu (Aaron Kwok) who is an enemy of the evil father-son team of Peng Qianwu (Yuen Wah) and Qizi (Jaycee Chan, Jackie's son). Qizi shoots and kills Zhou. Anxia now finds himself paired with Zhou's old friend Boss Zha (Chang Chen) against Peng, Qizi and a mobster (Lam Suet).
***
I'll have to admit that I haven't seen many Chen Kaige movies, but Monk seems rather crude story-wise for a director of his reputation.
Monk is an odd kung fu movie that against all odds, ends up working. It seems haphazard at first, Anxia getting a new master every 30 minutes. But the characters and individual stories work, probably thanks to Xu Haofeng’s source novel. At the end of the movie it's all nicely summed up - Anxia needed to experience human follies in order to become a better monk. So it's not about the plot, but the richness and bitterness of human experience.
The beautiful period sets (especially the doctor's house) and generally good acting help to support the movie.
Baoqiang's Anxia is an unrelatable simpleton with an annoying laugh. But Aaron Kwok and Chang Chen are convincing and sympathetic as serious, mature kung fu masters. Aaron Kwok is detached and enlightened, Chang Chen is passionate and vengeful. As a bonus, Lin Chiling looks absolutely stunning as the doctor's wife. Yuen Wah and Jaycee Chan are deliciously hateful.
Cinematography by Geoffrey Simpson is unremarkable. The fights are many, as is the wirework for the flying kung fu. I'm not a fan of wire fu but in certain cases such as in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon it works as a Fantasy element. It kind of works here. The problem with flying kung fu is that it is so removed from real fighting, that it's closer to dancing than martial arts. So it's all fluff, with no meaning or reality behind each move, nothing you can sink your teeth into.
Speaking of Crouching Tiger, Monk seems to be consciously trying to create a similar epic mythology. It fails because come on, Crouching Tiger is a unique one-off masterpiece. Monk succeeds as decent entertainment, and that's not too shabby.
2015-07-03
SPL 2: A Time for Consequences (2015)
Plot summary (story synopsis): Undercover Hong Kong cop Kit (Jacky Wu Jing) has his cover blown and is illegally held at a Thai prison in retribution.
The prison is run by crooked warden Ko (Max Zhang Jin) who is beholden to bad guy Hung (Louis Koo). Coincidentally, honest prison guard Chai (Tony Jaa) has a sick daughter Sa (Unda Kunteera Thordchanng) whose only hope is a bone marrow transplant from Kit. Chai tries and fails to contact Kit, not realizing that Kit is right under his nose.
Hung has a weak heart and his only possible donor is his own brother Bill (Jun Hung). Hung kidnaps Bill to forcibly get a heart transplant.
Meanwhile, Kit briefly manages to telephone his uncle and fellow cop Wah (Simon Yam). Wah goes alone to Thailand to rescue Kit.
***
SPL 2 is your stereotypical melodramatic Hong Kong kung fu movie. Its plot is more complicated than normal but its melodrama is standard Hong Kong industrial strength.
Thankfully, the fight choreography by Li Chung-Chi is excellent and saves the movie. The fights are in classic Hong Kong style - way drawn out. But this is one of the rare movies where the long action sequences don't become boring. The fights are also never repetitive. There's speed and skill to the moves, not just simple punches and blocks. Tony Jaa fans will be pleased to see him fight more in SPL 2 than he did in Dolph Lundgren's Skin Trade.
And it's not just hand-to-hand. There's also a thrilling shootout at Hong Kong's cruise terminal. It takes some imagination to work out an exciting shootout scene and Li Chung-Chi manages to do it. Movie gunfights are as common as car chases so you can't just have some perfunctory bang bang action and expect to impress the audience. Another standout action scene is a large-scale prison riot, where it's not just the stars but also the dozens of extras that are fighting their hearts out.
However my favorite is a smaller scale duel between Kit and a nameless assassin (Zhang Chi) who is a knife expert. (An earlier scene where nameless assassin takes out a staircase full of cops is also excellent). Kit uses a tonfa (one of my favorite weapons, and one that is too rarely seen on screen) against the nameless assassin, but unfortunately only in reverse grip and like a club. Okay, maybe reverse grip makes sense against a knife because you want to increase your reach, but at least use the handle fork for some blocks or hooks.
Less forgivably, after dispatching the nameless assassin, he leaves his tonfa on the floor and goes on to fight the other bad guys. Not only are we deprived of more tonfa action, why would he leave such an effective weapon behind and proceed bare-handed? This is a symptom of the pervasive lack of smoothness in the storytelling.
The coincidence of Kit landing in a jail where the guard's daughter just happens to need his bone marrow transplant, is laughable. And not just the coincidence. Why would Kit even have himself tested to be a donor, especially when he is a drug-addict undercover cop?
And of course, the biggest kung fu movie trope of all - why so many skilled kung fu fighters? Especially Chai. He's just a prison guard. The movie doesn't even try to justify this.
So it's another wasted opportunity. With a more believable plot, SPL 2 could have been a great action movie. Instead, what we have is a bunch of cool fight scenes that are emotionally empty, because we don't really care for the characters, because we know that we are being manipulated by the movie and therefore refuse to suspend our disbelief. You want to do melodrama? Do it like John Wick. Keep it simple.
PS Another plus is the Thailand locations, which look beautifully gritty and authentic, especially the prison.
The prison is run by crooked warden Ko (Max Zhang Jin) who is beholden to bad guy Hung (Louis Koo). Coincidentally, honest prison guard Chai (Tony Jaa) has a sick daughter Sa (Unda Kunteera Thordchanng) whose only hope is a bone marrow transplant from Kit. Chai tries and fails to contact Kit, not realizing that Kit is right under his nose.
Hung has a weak heart and his only possible donor is his own brother Bill (Jun Hung). Hung kidnaps Bill to forcibly get a heart transplant.
Meanwhile, Kit briefly manages to telephone his uncle and fellow cop Wah (Simon Yam). Wah goes alone to Thailand to rescue Kit.
***
SPL 2 is your stereotypical melodramatic Hong Kong kung fu movie. Its plot is more complicated than normal but its melodrama is standard Hong Kong industrial strength.
Thankfully, the fight choreography by Li Chung-Chi is excellent and saves the movie. The fights are in classic Hong Kong style - way drawn out. But this is one of the rare movies where the long action sequences don't become boring. The fights are also never repetitive. There's speed and skill to the moves, not just simple punches and blocks. Tony Jaa fans will be pleased to see him fight more in SPL 2 than he did in Dolph Lundgren's Skin Trade.
And it's not just hand-to-hand. There's also a thrilling shootout at Hong Kong's cruise terminal. It takes some imagination to work out an exciting shootout scene and Li Chung-Chi manages to do it. Movie gunfights are as common as car chases so you can't just have some perfunctory bang bang action and expect to impress the audience. Another standout action scene is a large-scale prison riot, where it's not just the stars but also the dozens of extras that are fighting their hearts out.
However my favorite is a smaller scale duel between Kit and a nameless assassin (Zhang Chi) who is a knife expert. (An earlier scene where nameless assassin takes out a staircase full of cops is also excellent). Kit uses a tonfa (one of my favorite weapons, and one that is too rarely seen on screen) against the nameless assassin, but unfortunately only in reverse grip and like a club. Okay, maybe reverse grip makes sense against a knife because you want to increase your reach, but at least use the handle fork for some blocks or hooks.
Less forgivably, after dispatching the nameless assassin, he leaves his tonfa on the floor and goes on to fight the other bad guys. Not only are we deprived of more tonfa action, why would he leave such an effective weapon behind and proceed bare-handed? This is a symptom of the pervasive lack of smoothness in the storytelling.
The coincidence of Kit landing in a jail where the guard's daughter just happens to need his bone marrow transplant, is laughable. And not just the coincidence. Why would Kit even have himself tested to be a donor, especially when he is a drug-addict undercover cop?
And of course, the biggest kung fu movie trope of all - why so many skilled kung fu fighters? Especially Chai. He's just a prison guard. The movie doesn't even try to justify this.
So it's another wasted opportunity. With a more believable plot, SPL 2 could have been a great action movie. Instead, what we have is a bunch of cool fight scenes that are emotionally empty, because we don't really care for the characters, because we know that we are being manipulated by the movie and therefore refuse to suspend our disbelief. You want to do melodrama? Do it like John Wick. Keep it simple.
PS Another plus is the Thailand locations, which look beautifully gritty and authentic, especially the prison.
2015-04-28
Skin Trade (2015)
With the police on his trail, Nick follows Viktor to Thailand but is framed for killing a Thai policeman by crooked American cop Reed (Michael Jai White). Thai policeman Tony Vitayakul (Tony Jaa) is now after Viktor, even as Viktor tracks down Viktor and singe-handedly dismantles his human-smuggling business.
***
Skin Trade is a decent but unremarkable revenge B-movie. It's better than your average B-movie but with Dolph Lundgren starring in it, I was hoping for more. Fans of Tony Jaa who expect to see a lot of their hero will be disappointed. He has more of a supporting role here.
I'm a fan of Dolph Lundgren, who deserves more success than he has achieved. Like Jason Patric, he chooses good scripts that unfortunately don't become successful movies. I thought Joshua Tree/Army of One was good. I totally loved Silent Trigger (directed by Russell Mulcahy), a criminally-underrated action thriller.
Unfortunately, like Jason Patric, he also has his duds. Jason Patric has The Prince, Lundgren has The Minion.
Skin Trade isn't a dud, but I won't be buying the DVD. There is an interesting angle which makes it different from your normal buddy-buddy cop movie - Nick and Tony are on opposite sides for most of the movie. But there's nothing new here, nothing surprising (the motorcycle chase seems tired, cliched, obligatory), and quite a few leaps in logic.
The framing of Nick by Reed seems unnecessary. And how did Nick even know that the Thai police thought that he had killed the Thai cop? The police couldn't count the number of dead bodies in the fire? If the ship's captain knew that the container on his ship carried sex slaves, why didn't he do anything to make sure that they were kept alive? You keep people locked up in containers when the captain doesn't know what is going on. And you can't hear a conversation through a door, when your side of the door happens to be a noisy night club.
All of this chips at your voluntary suspension of disbelief, and soon you just want to see Tony Jaa and Lundgren fight each other. They do, and guess what? Tony Jaa doesn't whip Lundgren's ass. It's more of an equal fight. That's right. In this movie, Tony Jaa is not some martial arts superhero, just a cop with above-average fighting skills.
He does have some spectacular moves but most of the time he keeps things simple and believable. It's a good choice. I'm not a fan of too-fancy martial arts but I'm thinking that his fans will be disappointed.
2015-01-09
Vengeance of an Assassin (2014)
One day, Thee's uncle catches him looking through confidential documents that had been locked away. Thee had disobeyed his uncle and was looking for clues as to how his parents had died. His uncle throws him out and Thee heads to the big city to continue his investigations.
Thee hooks up with one of his father's old colleagues and becomes a freelance assassin. One day, he is hired to kill Ploy (Nisachon Tuamsungnoen), the daughter of a powerful man.
He decides to not kill her, which is fortunate because he was being set up for her murder. Ploy and Thee go on the run, pursued by various hired killers including femme fatale Nui (Kessarin Ektawatkul).
Nui seriously injures Thee in a fight. Ploy takes him to her family doctor (Ooi Teik Huat) and then back to his uncle to recuperate. The bad guys track them down and Thee's brother and uncle are now drawn into the fight.
***
Like too many martial arts movies, Vengeance of an Assassin is all fight and no sense. I'm not going to give a movie a pass just because it's Asian (Thai, in this case). If it stinks, it stinks.
Sure, there are lots of fights, most of them pretty good. And sure, I'm not expecting much of a story, even though one would be good. What pisses me off about Vengeance is the stupid, cliched, melodramatic story.
If you want to make a fight movie, go ahead. Lay on some simple, stupid story as an excuse to string fights together. I won't complain too much. But make me suffer through some melodramatic nonsense? I didn't sign up for a Korean drama.
The brothers' arguments with their uncle are overwrought. We don't really know who they are - the characters don't get much introduction - and are forced to watch virtual strangers squabble. It makes you uncomfortable. And for no reason - there's no message, no moral. It's just an excuse to set up some fights.
I know a guy who writes scripts for short films. When he needs some drama, his immediate reaction is to throw in some hard luck story - the character is dying of cancer or something. For martial arts movies, the cliched trope is vengeance for a murdered family member. That's lazy and boring. We've seen it before.
Then Thee suddenly becomes a cold-blooded killer-for-hire? And skilled too? Where did he learn to fight and shoot? His brother learns from watching his uncle's VHS videotapes (which look like terrorist training videos). Maybe Thee did too. Only you can't learn how to fight and shoot just from watching TV.
Okay, enough about the story. The fights are good. A nice blend of realism and too-fancy-to-be-true athleticism and no obvious wire work. The Shaolin Soccer fantasy football match at the start is especially fun.
But keep it short, guys. Look at Kick-Ass. Heck, look at Jurassic Park. There are only 14 minutes of dinosaur special effects in Jurassic Park, but look at their impact. Less is more. Trust me, don't trust the Hong Kong guys.
There's a fancy long-take (no cuts) fight sequence that is shot entirely from knee level, I kid you not. Why knee level? It's just the director showing off how creative he is (my apologies to the late Panna Rittikrai). The problem with this is that it distracts the audience, throws them out of the movie. You don't want the audience to think, Wow isn't the director good? You want them to think, Wow isn't the hero awesome? Of course I was thinking, What a showoff asshole the director is.
The Thai martial artists and stuntmen are good. They deserve better scripts than this.
Bonus gripes:
- You do not survive a metal pipe through your stomach without immediate hospital care, let alone recover enough to fight within a day or two.
- Twisted train tracks will not launch a speeding train into the air. The train fill flatten the tracks.
- If you shoot someone with a rifle at close range (maybe 20 meters), the bullet will go through him and kill the pretty girl behind him.
2014-11-28
Rise of the Legend (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): China, the closing decades of the 19th century. Wong Fei Hung (Eddie Peng) infiltrates the Black Tiger gang, which is led by the villainous Lei Gong (Sammo Hung). Wong Fei Hung's plan is to destroy the gang from within, by stealing their silver and killing not just Lei Gong, but his lieutenants - his three adopted sons - as well.
He earns his place as Lei Gong's fourth adopted son by killing the leader of the rival Northern Sea gang. From this privileged insider position, he learns the location of the keys to Lei Gong's silver vault.
With the help of childhood friend Fiery (Jing Boran), love-interest Chun (Wang Luodan) and courtesan Orchid (Angelababy), he schemes to steal the silver, as well as free 300 slave laborers that Lei Gong has kidnapped and kept hidden.
***
Rise of the Legend is an entertaining kung fu movie, combining the visuals of Wong Kar Wai's the Grandmaster, with above-average fight choreography (not quite up to the standard of Donnie Yen's Ip Man, but close). All wrapped up in an engaging Robin Hood tale.
Comparisons will be made with Jet Li's Once Upon a Time in China, which also tells the story of the legendary Wong Fei Hung, but that's not what I'm going to do. I'll be honest and admit that I don't remember much about Once Upon a Time in China except that it had some goofball humor and that Wong Fei Hung's plucky mother stole the show. (I'm also not a big Jet Li fan - his smugness gets on my nerves.)
Eddie Peng? He does fine, despite not having Jet Li's martial arts background. He fights convincingly and plays off well against Sammo Hung. There's also some chemistry between him and the elegant Wang Luodan.
The visuals are gorgeous. From the authentic-looking wooden buildings and interiors, to the beautiful lighting by cinematographer Ng Man Ching, Rise of the Legend looks good. Especially outstanding is the high-contrast lighting in the one-man-against-hundreds fight in the first act of the movie, when Wong Fei Hung has to fight his way through a Northern Sea horde after killing their leader.
The plot from scriptwriter To Chi Long is surprisingly complex for a kung fu movie, and manages to hold your interest throughout the movie. So this isn't your standard kung fu movie, with a thin story serving mainly as an excuse to serve up some fight scenes.
The fight choreography is a mixed bag, but mainly good. You do see some Hung Gar moves at the start (the Southern kung fu style used by the real life Wong Fei Hung) - which is not something you often see in kung fu movies. Look out for the claw hand (instead of clenched fist) - used for grabbing wrists, open-palm strikes and take-downs. Stances are wide (compared to say, Wing Chun, which shares some moves with Hung Gar), trading off mobility for stability.
There's also the famous double punch, probably Hung Gar's signature move - one high, one low, delivered to the side (the far arm arches over the fighter's head and he bends over sideways, making this look like an ornamental move, but it's a legitimate combat technique).
Unfortunately, most of this is seen at the start of the movie. Hung Gar techniques are slowly bled from the fight choreography until the final showdown between Wong Fei Hong and Lei Gong, regresses to the bland punch/block/kick of your standard kung fu movie. No combination moves, blocks from the outside of a punch, off-axis attacks, arm locks, wrist grabs.
So, points for having some real Hung Gar, but not top marks because this is not consistently applied. (Donnie Yen's first Ip Man movie was more purely Wing Chun but faltered a bit too. It's still the best kung fu movie in years, however the second movie stinks.)
The movie's title implies that the filmmakers intend to make a sequel. I hope they do.
He earns his place as Lei Gong's fourth adopted son by killing the leader of the rival Northern Sea gang. From this privileged insider position, he learns the location of the keys to Lei Gong's silver vault.
With the help of childhood friend Fiery (Jing Boran), love-interest Chun (Wang Luodan) and courtesan Orchid (Angelababy), he schemes to steal the silver, as well as free 300 slave laborers that Lei Gong has kidnapped and kept hidden.
***
Rise of the Legend is an entertaining kung fu movie, combining the visuals of Wong Kar Wai's the Grandmaster, with above-average fight choreography (not quite up to the standard of Donnie Yen's Ip Man, but close). All wrapped up in an engaging Robin Hood tale.
Comparisons will be made with Jet Li's Once Upon a Time in China, which also tells the story of the legendary Wong Fei Hung, but that's not what I'm going to do. I'll be honest and admit that I don't remember much about Once Upon a Time in China except that it had some goofball humor and that Wong Fei Hung's plucky mother stole the show. (I'm also not a big Jet Li fan - his smugness gets on my nerves.)
Eddie Peng? He does fine, despite not having Jet Li's martial arts background. He fights convincingly and plays off well against Sammo Hung. There's also some chemistry between him and the elegant Wang Luodan.
The visuals are gorgeous. From the authentic-looking wooden buildings and interiors, to the beautiful lighting by cinematographer Ng Man Ching, Rise of the Legend looks good. Especially outstanding is the high-contrast lighting in the one-man-against-hundreds fight in the first act of the movie, when Wong Fei Hung has to fight his way through a Northern Sea horde after killing their leader.
The plot from scriptwriter To Chi Long is surprisingly complex for a kung fu movie, and manages to hold your interest throughout the movie. So this isn't your standard kung fu movie, with a thin story serving mainly as an excuse to serve up some fight scenes.
The fight choreography is a mixed bag, but mainly good. You do see some Hung Gar moves at the start (the Southern kung fu style used by the real life Wong Fei Hung) - which is not something you often see in kung fu movies. Look out for the claw hand (instead of clenched fist) - used for grabbing wrists, open-palm strikes and take-downs. Stances are wide (compared to say, Wing Chun, which shares some moves with Hung Gar), trading off mobility for stability.
There's also the famous double punch, probably Hung Gar's signature move - one high, one low, delivered to the side (the far arm arches over the fighter's head and he bends over sideways, making this look like an ornamental move, but it's a legitimate combat technique).
Unfortunately, most of this is seen at the start of the movie. Hung Gar techniques are slowly bled from the fight choreography until the final showdown between Wong Fei Hong and Lei Gong, regresses to the bland punch/block/kick of your standard kung fu movie. No combination moves, blocks from the outside of a punch, off-axis attacks, arm locks, wrist grabs.
So, points for having some real Hung Gar, but not top marks because this is not consistently applied. (Donnie Yen's first Ip Man movie was more purely Wing Chun but faltered a bit too. It's still the best kung fu movie in years, however the second movie stinks.)
The movie's title implies that the filmmakers intend to make a sequel. I hope they do.
2014-11-11
Kung Fu Jungle (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): Hahou Mo (Donnie Yen) is in jail for manslaughter, with 2 years of a 5 year sentence left to serve. He had accidentally killed another kung fu expert in a duel, while trying to find out who was the better fighter.
Fung Yu-Sau (Baoqiang Wang) now seems to be following in his footsteps, fighting kung fu masters, but deliberately killing them. Hahou Mo knows that he can stop Fung Yu-Sau and makes a deal with lead detective Luk Yuen-Sum (Charlie Yeung, who is a woman despite her name). Luk Yuen-Sum reluctantly agrees to release Hahou Mo from prison into her custody.
Hahou Mo has figured out Fung Yu-Sau's plan. He is following a kung fu poem and targeting kung fu masters in boxing, kicking, grappling (Chin Na), weapons, and internal styles - in that order.
Hahou Mo leads detective Luk Yuen-Sum to Fung Yu-Sau's next target, but then runs away to Foshan to protect his sweetheart Sinn Ying (Bing Bai) from Fung Yu-Sau.
***
Kung Fu Jungle is an above-average kung fu movie. The fights are decent and not too long. The story and characters are engaging. Locations are interesting - old-world Foshan, a river village.
The idea of Fung Yu-Sau as a master of different styles of kung fu, fighting different masters in their own style, is a good one. It allows the movie to showcase different styles without resorting to the old cliche of a martial arts tournament.
Unfortunately for kung fu fans (who are obviously the movie's target audience) not enough is made of the opportunity. The first few fights come off nicely enough. They aren't generic fights. They actually follow the declared styles - boxing, kicking, grappling, weapons.
But instead of building towards a climax with the showdown between Fung Yu-Sau and Hahou Mo, the fight between the two, degenerates into the generic punch, kick, block fighting seen in too many Hong Kong movies.
According to the poem sequence Fung Yu-Sau was following, Hahou Mo should have been a master of an internal style (Hsing Yi, Ba Gua or Tai Chi). However all the clues point to him being a Wing Chun guy. Foshan was an early center of Wing Chun, and is where Hahou Mo learned his kung fu.
Hahou Mo also fights with a pole, one of the classic Wing Chun weapons (six and a half point pole). Yet, his kung fu style is not Wing Chun (and not an internal style either). Not just his unarmed technique. His pole technique is all wrong. He swings it like a club instead of thrusting it like a spear.
So it's a head-scratcher. Why imply that Hahou Mo is a Wing Chun guy, then not have him use Wing Chun?
Another wasted opportunity is Fung Yu-Sau's belief that "kung fu is for killing". It could have been developed as a comparison between "fighting" kung fu and "tournament" kung fu. Instead, good guy Hahou Mo repudiates the idea entirely. Which doesn't ring true, considering kung fu's main function.
The acting is passable. You don't watch kung fu movies for their acting. Donnie Yen's acting range is limited to one "concerned face" and that's about it. The police-investigation plot is believable and is enough to drive the story from one fight to another, which is all that matters.
Kung Fu Jungle is a good kung fu movie. It could have been great.
Fung Yu-Sau (Baoqiang Wang) now seems to be following in his footsteps, fighting kung fu masters, but deliberately killing them. Hahou Mo knows that he can stop Fung Yu-Sau and makes a deal with lead detective Luk Yuen-Sum (Charlie Yeung, who is a woman despite her name). Luk Yuen-Sum reluctantly agrees to release Hahou Mo from prison into her custody.
Hahou Mo has figured out Fung Yu-Sau's plan. He is following a kung fu poem and targeting kung fu masters in boxing, kicking, grappling (Chin Na), weapons, and internal styles - in that order.
Hahou Mo leads detective Luk Yuen-Sum to Fung Yu-Sau's next target, but then runs away to Foshan to protect his sweetheart Sinn Ying (Bing Bai) from Fung Yu-Sau.
***
Kung Fu Jungle is an above-average kung fu movie. The fights are decent and not too long. The story and characters are engaging. Locations are interesting - old-world Foshan, a river village.
The idea of Fung Yu-Sau as a master of different styles of kung fu, fighting different masters in their own style, is a good one. It allows the movie to showcase different styles without resorting to the old cliche of a martial arts tournament.
Unfortunately for kung fu fans (who are obviously the movie's target audience) not enough is made of the opportunity. The first few fights come off nicely enough. They aren't generic fights. They actually follow the declared styles - boxing, kicking, grappling, weapons.
But instead of building towards a climax with the showdown between Fung Yu-Sau and Hahou Mo, the fight between the two, degenerates into the generic punch, kick, block fighting seen in too many Hong Kong movies.
According to the poem sequence Fung Yu-Sau was following, Hahou Mo should have been a master of an internal style (Hsing Yi, Ba Gua or Tai Chi). However all the clues point to him being a Wing Chun guy. Foshan was an early center of Wing Chun, and is where Hahou Mo learned his kung fu.
Hahou Mo also fights with a pole, one of the classic Wing Chun weapons (six and a half point pole). Yet, his kung fu style is not Wing Chun (and not an internal style either). Not just his unarmed technique. His pole technique is all wrong. He swings it like a club instead of thrusting it like a spear.
So it's a head-scratcher. Why imply that Hahou Mo is a Wing Chun guy, then not have him use Wing Chun?
Another wasted opportunity is Fung Yu-Sau's belief that "kung fu is for killing". It could have been developed as a comparison between "fighting" kung fu and "tournament" kung fu. Instead, good guy Hahou Mo repudiates the idea entirely. Which doesn't ring true, considering kung fu's main function.
The acting is passable. You don't watch kung fu movies for their acting. Donnie Yen's acting range is limited to one "concerned face" and that's about it. The police-investigation plot is believable and is enough to drive the story from one fight to another, which is all that matters.
Kung Fu Jungle is a good kung fu movie. It could have been great.
2014-10-21
Black and White: The Dawn of Justice (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): Hotshot police detective Wu Ying-Hsiung (Mark Chao) is on the trail of a mysterious group of terrorists who are blowing up bridges and trains in Harbour City. He "meets cute" with Chen Zhen (Lin Gengxin), a suave detective from another police precinct. Despite their constant bickering, the two are thrown together by circumstances and race to prevent further bombings.
The terrorists turn out to be a doomsday cult. They plan to isolate Harbour City by bombing its transportation links to the rest of the country, then zap it back to the stone age with stolen EMP (electro magnetic pulse) missiles, and a virus bio-weapon. The plan is to start a renaissance from the ashes of the ruined city.
***
This is a sequel to 2012's Black and White Episode 1: The Dawn of Assault, as well as a prequel to the 2009 TV series Black and White. I haven't watched the earlier movie or the TV series, so I won't be making any comparisons with them.
Dawn of Justice starts of quite well. It's slam-bang action from the start, with a humorous "meet cute" between the two male leads, worthy of 48 Hours or Lethal Weapon. Yes, this is a buddy-buddy cop movie, or at least it tries to be.
Unfortunately the humor and fast pacing doesn't last long and we are soon left with a rather generic terrorist plot, generic bad guys, generic cops and melodramatic hostage situations. I watched the movie a week ago and I seriously cannot remember much about the plot.
There is a lot of fighting - with guns, fists and feet. But it's the standard Hong Kong overkill and you start feeling numb to all the action after a while. The wall-to-wall fighting is especially thick towards the end.
It's nowhere close to the quality of something like Heat, Collateral or Miami Vice. Look at the gunfights in those three Michael Mann movies. There's a sense of drama and realism. Even if you don't know exactly what is going on, you get the feeling that at least one side knows what they are doing and are shooting purposefully.
Say what you will about Hollywood. At least there are many Hollywood movies that try for a new angle on the cops/terrorist genre. They don't always work out, but some do.
In contrast, the Chinese writers and directors are too often going through the motions. Thinking that they can get away with weak plots and unimaginative fights. That audiences will be dazzled and entertained by shallow flash and action.
Chinese moviemakers are simply not trying hard enough. I'm not a John Woo fan, I think he's overrated. But at least he cared about what he was doing.
So yeah, I have lots of gripes. But this one stands out: GPS doesn't work in tunnels. Okay one more - the bomb vest that blew up the police station is too small to have caused that much damage. That's car bomb territory - thousands of pounds of high explosives. And don't get me started on the EMP.
The terrorists turn out to be a doomsday cult. They plan to isolate Harbour City by bombing its transportation links to the rest of the country, then zap it back to the stone age with stolen EMP (electro magnetic pulse) missiles, and a virus bio-weapon. The plan is to start a renaissance from the ashes of the ruined city.
***
This is a sequel to 2012's Black and White Episode 1: The Dawn of Assault, as well as a prequel to the 2009 TV series Black and White. I haven't watched the earlier movie or the TV series, so I won't be making any comparisons with them.
Dawn of Justice starts of quite well. It's slam-bang action from the start, with a humorous "meet cute" between the two male leads, worthy of 48 Hours or Lethal Weapon. Yes, this is a buddy-buddy cop movie, or at least it tries to be.
Unfortunately the humor and fast pacing doesn't last long and we are soon left with a rather generic terrorist plot, generic bad guys, generic cops and melodramatic hostage situations. I watched the movie a week ago and I seriously cannot remember much about the plot.
There is a lot of fighting - with guns, fists and feet. But it's the standard Hong Kong overkill and you start feeling numb to all the action after a while. The wall-to-wall fighting is especially thick towards the end.
It's nowhere close to the quality of something like Heat, Collateral or Miami Vice. Look at the gunfights in those three Michael Mann movies. There's a sense of drama and realism. Even if you don't know exactly what is going on, you get the feeling that at least one side knows what they are doing and are shooting purposefully.
Say what you will about Hollywood. At least there are many Hollywood movies that try for a new angle on the cops/terrorist genre. They don't always work out, but some do.
In contrast, the Chinese writers and directors are too often going through the motions. Thinking that they can get away with weak plots and unimaginative fights. That audiences will be dazzled and entertained by shallow flash and action.
Chinese moviemakers are simply not trying hard enough. I'm not a John Woo fan, I think he's overrated. But at least he cared about what he was doing.
So yeah, I have lots of gripes. But this one stands out: GPS doesn't work in tunnels. Okay one more - the bomb vest that blew up the police station is too small to have caused that much damage. That's car bomb territory - thousands of pounds of high explosives. And don't get me started on the EMP.
2014-10-15
Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): Kenshin ("sword heart") Himura (Takeru Satô) is washed up on shore after his failed attempt to save his girlfriend Kaoru Kamiya (Emi Takei). His old swordfighting sensei Seijuro Hiko finds him on the beach and carries him home.
After waking up, Kenshin convinces his old master to teach him the ultimate fighting technique of their style of swordsmanship, in order to defeat evil bad guy Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara).
Meanwhile, Shishio has been terrorizing villages along the coast, bombarding them with the cannon on his steel warship. Lacking such modern technology of their own, the government is unable to stop him. Shishio knows that he has the upper hand and pressures the government to arrest and execute Kenshin for his past crimes.
Along the way back to Tokyo, Kenshin has to fight off Aoshi Shinomori (Yûsuke Iseya). In Tokyo Kenshin is quickly arrested by government soldiers. The government pretends to execute Kenshin, but instead uses the fake execution as cover to attack Shishio and his warship. The stage is set for an epic confrontation between Kenshin and his sidekicks, and Shishio and his band of killers.
***
The Legend Ends is part two of this Rurouni Kenshin sequel. (Part one of the sequel is Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno. The first movie, Rurouni Kenshin, was released in 2012.)
It's a rather disappointing part two. Part one was almost too busy, introducing new characters left and right. But at least it was interesting. Part two is rather staid in comparison, with too much of the run time being taken up by the extended confrontation on Shishio's warship.
The many new and old characters from part one are sidelined and don't get much screen time - the exception being Aoshi and Kenshin's sensei.
The first part of the movie, with Kenshin and his sensei, isn't too bad. There is the usual mumbo jumbo about the spiritual side of fighting (for the real stuff, read Miyamoto Musashi's A Book of Five Rings), but that's not too annoying. We also get to see Kenshin as a child, how he ended up learning swordfighting from Seijuro Hiko, but that's relatively brief.
However, whatever plot there is, isn't convincing. Kenshin's fake execution doesn't seem necessary. It's the kind of gimmick that you would expect to see in a kiddie cartoon. Actually, the government doesn't need Kenshin at all. In the end, their shore-based cannon manage to sink Shishio's warship, making Kenshin's attack on the warship a wasted effort. (You could argue that the government wasn't sure that their cannon would sink the warship, but then why would they act as if Kenshin was their only hope?)
It is doubly a wasted effort because Shishio was going to die from his burn wounds anyway. Which doesn't make sense. The justification is that Shishio can't sweat because of his burns, causing him to overheat. Ummm, he can't spray water on himself? And Shishio's doctor can predict the time of his death, accurate to the minute? And Shishio jumping around and fighting doesn't dramatically shorten his life?
The whole warship scenario also isn't convincing. How did Shishio manage to get his hands on such rare and expensive technology? Where did he get trained sailors from? How about resupplies - fuel and ammunition?
The moviemakers even manage to get the warship details wrong. The cannon barrel walls are too thin, and the shells are loaded in without any propellant (the powder charge in naval guns is a separate package from the explosive shell). Ooh, you think that's too geeky? Wait till you hear that the warship has the all-big-gun design of a post-dreadnought battleship, decades before HMS Dreadnought.
The warship is like a Bond villain's ridiculous lair - magically existing in the middle of nowhere, without drawing attention to itself despite years of construction, tons of raw materials, and thousands of workers.
It's okay if you want to establish some kind of steam punk alternate history - Wild Wild West and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen succeeded in that. But you need to establish it. The Legend Ends simply plonks down a warship and expects us to believe that the bad guy - with no obvious sources of wealth or naval piracy capability - owns it, while the government doesn't have their own.
This isn't nit-picking. Taking too many liberties with common sense, throws the audience out of the story. Like Fox Mulder, we want to believe, but we don't want moviemakers to treat us like fools.
But more damning is the emphasis on fights over characters. Where is the backstory for the creepily-polite Sojiro? Part one was worth the price of the ticket. Part two is not.
After waking up, Kenshin convinces his old master to teach him the ultimate fighting technique of their style of swordsmanship, in order to defeat evil bad guy Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara).
Meanwhile, Shishio has been terrorizing villages along the coast, bombarding them with the cannon on his steel warship. Lacking such modern technology of their own, the government is unable to stop him. Shishio knows that he has the upper hand and pressures the government to arrest and execute Kenshin for his past crimes.
Along the way back to Tokyo, Kenshin has to fight off Aoshi Shinomori (Yûsuke Iseya). In Tokyo Kenshin is quickly arrested by government soldiers. The government pretends to execute Kenshin, but instead uses the fake execution as cover to attack Shishio and his warship. The stage is set for an epic confrontation between Kenshin and his sidekicks, and Shishio and his band of killers.
***
The Legend Ends is part two of this Rurouni Kenshin sequel. (Part one of the sequel is Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno. The first movie, Rurouni Kenshin, was released in 2012.)
It's a rather disappointing part two. Part one was almost too busy, introducing new characters left and right. But at least it was interesting. Part two is rather staid in comparison, with too much of the run time being taken up by the extended confrontation on Shishio's warship.
The many new and old characters from part one are sidelined and don't get much screen time - the exception being Aoshi and Kenshin's sensei.
The first part of the movie, with Kenshin and his sensei, isn't too bad. There is the usual mumbo jumbo about the spiritual side of fighting (for the real stuff, read Miyamoto Musashi's A Book of Five Rings), but that's not too annoying. We also get to see Kenshin as a child, how he ended up learning swordfighting from Seijuro Hiko, but that's relatively brief.
However, whatever plot there is, isn't convincing. Kenshin's fake execution doesn't seem necessary. It's the kind of gimmick that you would expect to see in a kiddie cartoon. Actually, the government doesn't need Kenshin at all. In the end, their shore-based cannon manage to sink Shishio's warship, making Kenshin's attack on the warship a wasted effort. (You could argue that the government wasn't sure that their cannon would sink the warship, but then why would they act as if Kenshin was their only hope?)
It is doubly a wasted effort because Shishio was going to die from his burn wounds anyway. Which doesn't make sense. The justification is that Shishio can't sweat because of his burns, causing him to overheat. Ummm, he can't spray water on himself? And Shishio's doctor can predict the time of his death, accurate to the minute? And Shishio jumping around and fighting doesn't dramatically shorten his life?
The whole warship scenario also isn't convincing. How did Shishio manage to get his hands on such rare and expensive technology? Where did he get trained sailors from? How about resupplies - fuel and ammunition?
The moviemakers even manage to get the warship details wrong. The cannon barrel walls are too thin, and the shells are loaded in without any propellant (the powder charge in naval guns is a separate package from the explosive shell). Ooh, you think that's too geeky? Wait till you hear that the warship has the all-big-gun design of a post-dreadnought battleship, decades before HMS Dreadnought.
The warship is like a Bond villain's ridiculous lair - magically existing in the middle of nowhere, without drawing attention to itself despite years of construction, tons of raw materials, and thousands of workers.
It's okay if you want to establish some kind of steam punk alternate history - Wild Wild West and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen succeeded in that. But you need to establish it. The Legend Ends simply plonks down a warship and expects us to believe that the bad guy - with no obvious sources of wealth or naval piracy capability - owns it, while the government doesn't have their own.
This isn't nit-picking. Taking too many liberties with common sense, throws the audience out of the story. Like Fox Mulder, we want to believe, but we don't want moviemakers to treat us like fools.
But more damning is the emphasis on fights over characters. Where is the backstory for the creepily-polite Sojiro? Part one was worth the price of the ticket. Part two is not.
2014-10-08
Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): Government killer Makoto Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara) is betrayed by the government and left to burn to death. He miraculously survives with hideous burns. He swears revenge and starts killing policemen in Kyoto.
A desperate government reaches out to legendary retired swordsman Kenshin Himura in Tokyo. Kenshin at first refuses but Shishio sends his men to Tokyo to kill too. Sickened by this, Kenshin reluctantly goes to Kyoto to find Shishio. He goes alone but his lovable sidekick Sagara Sanosuke (Munetaka Aoki, playing a violent version of Seinfeld's Kramer) and pretty girlfriend Kaoru Kamiya (Emi Takei) follow not far behind.
Along the way, he picks up strays in the form of girl thief Misao Makimachi (Tao Tsuchiya) and a recently-orphaned boy. He also fights with, and loses to, Shishio's boyish and creepily polite henchman Seta Sojiro (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who manages to break Kenshin's sword.
Kenshin must now get a replacement sword from the master swordmaker who made his original sword. He has to fight another one of Shishio's men - Cho (Ryosuke Miura) a punk with bleached blond hair - before heading to Kyoto to foil Shishio's plan to burn Kyoto to the ground.
***
Sequel Kyoto Inferno is superior to 2012's Rurouni Kenshin. Keishi Ohtomo directed both movies, but Kyoto Inferno has a stronger storyline, and probably a bigger budget too. The first movie grossed $100 million worldwide, so Warner Bros. likely budgeted more money for the sequel - $30 million (I can't find numbers for the first movie's budget). It certainly shows. The fight choreography, sets and lighting look better, more cinematic. The first movie looked like a TV production.
The first movie had a haphazard plot, trying to establish Kenshin Himura's origin story and showing how he settled down in Kaoru Kamiya's kendo dojo. Kyoto Inferno has a tighter focus on bad guy Makoto Shishio, fewer subplots that go nowhere.
Kenshin's diversions along the way to Kyoto are interesting and don't feel like filler. The supporting characters - both the strays he picks up, and the bad guys he fights - are nicely and quickly fleshed out and feel like real people.
Takeru Satô's portrayal of the pacifist Kenshin has improved. His aw-shucks goofy demeanor in the first movie did not fit Kenshin's retired killer character. He looks more serious in Kyoto Inferno, more believable.
Some gripes: the opening scene where the Kyoto policemen try to hunt Shishio is a bit ridiculous. They handle their bolt-action rifles like they were submachine guns. Director Keishi Ohtomo was probably influenced by seeing today's special forces storm buildings with their MP-5s. A bolt-action rifle is big, heavy and clumsy. You're not going to run around with one held up to your cheek in firing position, peering down the iron sights. Especially at night.
Okay, that's a military nut's nit-pick. More seriously, Shishio calmly walks away from a fight between his henchman and Kenshin. Okay, he's confident that Kenshin will lose. But isn't he at least a bit interested in watching Kenshin fight? This artificial nonchalance is obviously a dramatic device. Making the audience aware of this, throws them out of the story.
But overall this is an entertaining movie. It's difficult to find something new to say in a samurai movie - they have been done to death. Working within these limitations, Kyoto Inferno doesn't break any new ground, but doesn't drown in cliches either.
Warning: this sequel is a two-parter and ends with a cliffhanger. Part two is The Legend Ends.
A desperate government reaches out to legendary retired swordsman Kenshin Himura in Tokyo. Kenshin at first refuses but Shishio sends his men to Tokyo to kill too. Sickened by this, Kenshin reluctantly goes to Kyoto to find Shishio. He goes alone but his lovable sidekick Sagara Sanosuke (Munetaka Aoki, playing a violent version of Seinfeld's Kramer) and pretty girlfriend Kaoru Kamiya (Emi Takei) follow not far behind.
Along the way, he picks up strays in the form of girl thief Misao Makimachi (Tao Tsuchiya) and a recently-orphaned boy. He also fights with, and loses to, Shishio's boyish and creepily polite henchman Seta Sojiro (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who manages to break Kenshin's sword.
Kenshin must now get a replacement sword from the master swordmaker who made his original sword. He has to fight another one of Shishio's men - Cho (Ryosuke Miura) a punk with bleached blond hair - before heading to Kyoto to foil Shishio's plan to burn Kyoto to the ground.
***
Sequel Kyoto Inferno is superior to 2012's Rurouni Kenshin. Keishi Ohtomo directed both movies, but Kyoto Inferno has a stronger storyline, and probably a bigger budget too. The first movie grossed $100 million worldwide, so Warner Bros. likely budgeted more money for the sequel - $30 million (I can't find numbers for the first movie's budget). It certainly shows. The fight choreography, sets and lighting look better, more cinematic. The first movie looked like a TV production.
The first movie had a haphazard plot, trying to establish Kenshin Himura's origin story and showing how he settled down in Kaoru Kamiya's kendo dojo. Kyoto Inferno has a tighter focus on bad guy Makoto Shishio, fewer subplots that go nowhere.
Kenshin's diversions along the way to Kyoto are interesting and don't feel like filler. The supporting characters - both the strays he picks up, and the bad guys he fights - are nicely and quickly fleshed out and feel like real people.
Takeru Satô's portrayal of the pacifist Kenshin has improved. His aw-shucks goofy demeanor in the first movie did not fit Kenshin's retired killer character. He looks more serious in Kyoto Inferno, more believable.
Some gripes: the opening scene where the Kyoto policemen try to hunt Shishio is a bit ridiculous. They handle their bolt-action rifles like they were submachine guns. Director Keishi Ohtomo was probably influenced by seeing today's special forces storm buildings with their MP-5s. A bolt-action rifle is big, heavy and clumsy. You're not going to run around with one held up to your cheek in firing position, peering down the iron sights. Especially at night.
Okay, that's a military nut's nit-pick. More seriously, Shishio calmly walks away from a fight between his henchman and Kenshin. Okay, he's confident that Kenshin will lose. But isn't he at least a bit interested in watching Kenshin fight? This artificial nonchalance is obviously a dramatic device. Making the audience aware of this, throws them out of the story.
But overall this is an entertaining movie. It's difficult to find something new to say in a samurai movie - they have been done to death. Working within these limitations, Kyoto Inferno doesn't break any new ground, but doesn't drown in cliches either.
Warning: this sequel is a two-parter and ends with a cliffhanger. Part two is The Legend Ends.
2014-08-29
The Four 3 (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): An attempt to assassinate the Emperor (Alec Su) fails, but he is forced to go into hiding because bad guy Lord An (Yu Cheng Hui) has convinced the palace guards that the emperor is an impostor. Lord An has also gained the support of Ji Yao Hua (Jiang Yi Yan), the head of Department Six - the larger of the Emperor's two police units.
The Emperor knows that he can trust only Zhuge Zheng Wo (Anthony Wong), who heads the Emperor's other police unit called the Divine Constabulary. The Divine Constabulary consists of the eponymous Four who have various supernatural abilities - crippled psychic Emotionless (Crystal Liu Yi Fei), Iron Hands (Collin Chou), Cold Blood (Deng Chao) and Life Stealer (Ronald Cheng).
Emotionless had left the Divine Constabulary after finding out that the Emperor had ordered the death of her father (framed as a traitor). However she is at the Divine Constabulary when the Emperor goes there to hide.
She captures the Emperor and tries to build up the resolve to kill him to avenge her father's death. Before she can do so, they are attacked by Lord An's ninjas (this is a Chinese movie, but they dress and fight like ninjas). The rest of the Divine Constabulary rescues them and they all are now on the run from Lord An's men.
Some adventures later, they confront Lord An and his co-conspirators in the Emperor's palace and an epic fight breaks out.
***
The Four 3 is the last movie in The Four trilogy. It is an entertaining but unremarkable wu shu action movie. Gordon Chan directed all three movies, lending some continuity to the series.
It's possible to enjoy this third movie without having seen the earlier two movies. In the third movie you'll find some dude who is fused to a tree, and a shape-shifting assassin. Just accept them as part of the story. You don't need to know who they are.
While I did enjoy the first movie, I actually walked out of the second movie after about 20 minutes. It was slow and boring and I was also suffering from lack of sleep. This third movie is better than the second, but perhaps a bit less enjoyable than the first.
The first movie was mainly about the hot/cold romance between Emotionless and Cold Blood, this third movie is more about Emotionless's desire to avenge her father's death. The other 3 members of The Four don't get much character development. Considering how stunning Crystal Liu looks here, I have no complaints.
The plot is sufficient to propel the story forward at a fast pace, which helps to keep you entertained. Aside from the lack of character development, my main complaint is actually about the movie's lighting. I'm probably more interested in lighting than the average movie buff, but I'm not that much of a lighting geek.
The lighting here is distracting because it looks fake. Not just fake, but electric. In the library and dungeon scenes, the light looks like it is coming from recessed ceiling lights (there are no open flames or lanterns in sight) - not something you can do with candles or lanterns. The lighting is also always steady, no sign of flicker from flames, even when the main light is ostensibly a flickering flame right in the center of the room. And there's blue light coming from god-knows where.
Taken together, this makes the movie look like it was filmed on a TV set. Other kung fu movies, including the first The Four movie, might have similar lighting. I can't remember. All I know is that I noticed the incongruity in this movie.
Other gripes - the emperor is not regal at all. He lacks the self confidence to be a believable emperor. Leaving his kidnapper unpunished, peasants talking trash to him - not likely. And his idea of going out into the city to see what his people really think about him? No, no disguise for him. He floats around in the royal barge, his arrival loudly announced by his eunuch.
Superpowers? You see precious little from The Four. The main superpowers come from Zhuge Zheng Wo, who fights with cartoonish colored swirls of magical energy.
Pacing is fast, so all is not lost. The Four 3 is a reasonable way to kill some time, but is in no way unmissable.
The Emperor knows that he can trust only Zhuge Zheng Wo (Anthony Wong), who heads the Emperor's other police unit called the Divine Constabulary. The Divine Constabulary consists of the eponymous Four who have various supernatural abilities - crippled psychic Emotionless (Crystal Liu Yi Fei), Iron Hands (Collin Chou), Cold Blood (Deng Chao) and Life Stealer (Ronald Cheng).
Emotionless had left the Divine Constabulary after finding out that the Emperor had ordered the death of her father (framed as a traitor). However she is at the Divine Constabulary when the Emperor goes there to hide.
She captures the Emperor and tries to build up the resolve to kill him to avenge her father's death. Before she can do so, they are attacked by Lord An's ninjas (this is a Chinese movie, but they dress and fight like ninjas). The rest of the Divine Constabulary rescues them and they all are now on the run from Lord An's men.
Some adventures later, they confront Lord An and his co-conspirators in the Emperor's palace and an epic fight breaks out.
***
The Four 3 is the last movie in The Four trilogy. It is an entertaining but unremarkable wu shu action movie. Gordon Chan directed all three movies, lending some continuity to the series.
It's possible to enjoy this third movie without having seen the earlier two movies. In the third movie you'll find some dude who is fused to a tree, and a shape-shifting assassin. Just accept them as part of the story. You don't need to know who they are.
While I did enjoy the first movie, I actually walked out of the second movie after about 20 minutes. It was slow and boring and I was also suffering from lack of sleep. This third movie is better than the second, but perhaps a bit less enjoyable than the first.
The first movie was mainly about the hot/cold romance between Emotionless and Cold Blood, this third movie is more about Emotionless's desire to avenge her father's death. The other 3 members of The Four don't get much character development. Considering how stunning Crystal Liu looks here, I have no complaints.
The plot is sufficient to propel the story forward at a fast pace, which helps to keep you entertained. Aside from the lack of character development, my main complaint is actually about the movie's lighting. I'm probably more interested in lighting than the average movie buff, but I'm not that much of a lighting geek.
The lighting here is distracting because it looks fake. Not just fake, but electric. In the library and dungeon scenes, the light looks like it is coming from recessed ceiling lights (there are no open flames or lanterns in sight) - not something you can do with candles or lanterns. The lighting is also always steady, no sign of flicker from flames, even when the main light is ostensibly a flickering flame right in the center of the room. And there's blue light coming from god-knows where.
Taken together, this makes the movie look like it was filmed on a TV set. Other kung fu movies, including the first The Four movie, might have similar lighting. I can't remember. All I know is that I noticed the incongruity in this movie.
Other gripes - the emperor is not regal at all. He lacks the self confidence to be a believable emperor. Leaving his kidnapper unpunished, peasants talking trash to him - not likely. And his idea of going out into the city to see what his people really think about him? No, no disguise for him. He floats around in the royal barge, his arrival loudly announced by his eunuch.
Superpowers? You see precious little from The Four. The main superpowers come from Zhuge Zheng Wo, who fights with cartoonish colored swirls of magical energy.
Pacing is fast, so all is not lost. The Four 3 is a reasonable way to kill some time, but is in no way unmissable.
2014-08-03
The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom (2014)
Jade Raksha is part of the gang of irregulars that holds Lunar Fort, a small but strategic border outpost that controls a mountainous trail between the Han (Chinese) and Jin armies.
Traitorous general Jin Duyi (Vincent Zhao) kills the Governor (who is also Zhuo Yihang's grandfather) during a skirmish with Jade Raksha, and frames her for the murder.
Meanwhile, the red pills turn out to be poisonous and Zhuo Yihang is blamed for the emperor's death. He ends up in Lunar Fort, where he uses his medicinal skills to stop a typhoid outbreak, furthering his friendship with Jade Raksha along the way.
Some political intrigues later, Jin Duyi takes over Lunar Fort by treachery and holds Zhuo Yihang prisoner. Jade Raksha comes to his rescue but is captured too. There is a spell she can cast to break free, but only at a terrible personal cost.
***
Chinese movies are like a box of chocolates. With WHWLK, what you get is an odd mix of political intrigue, action-adventure and romance. The first two thirds of the movie is a disjointed mix of events that aren't really interesting, convincing, or integrated well with each other.
It's only in the third act, the fight at Lunar Fort, that the movie finally gets into gear. But it's too little, too late. It doesn't help that Lunar Fort itself, looks like a cheap stage set.
There are some interesting details of imperial Chinese customs - the red pills, "top scholar cookies" from the chief eunuch. But without an engrossing plot, these stand out more as curiosities and don't really make you feel like you are stepping into ancient China.
The wirework flying kung fu and slashing sword fights are okay, I guess. Quite standard, not too shabby, but not particularly outstanding either. There are battle scenes with hundreds of armored infantry, that do help to establish an epic scope, but what we are really interested in is the relationship between Zhuo Yihang and Jade Raksha, and there's precious little of that.
Acting is decent, given the limitations of the script. I'm not a Fan Bing Bing fan but she looks pretty good here.
Most reviewers seem to prefer Ronny Yu's 1993 version, The Bride With White Hair, which starred Brigitte Lin and Leslie Cheung. I haven't seen that movie.
If you want to watch a Chinese kung fu historical romance, I'd suggest 2012's Painted Skin: The Resurrection, instead. (http://pisang-movie-recommendations.blogspot.com/2012/07/painted-skin-resurrection-2012.html)
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