Let me be clear from the start by saying that the action is top notch. Only for that alone this movie deserves credit. The story in itself was a bit over dramatic and didn't flow that well. And if you bothered to get into the story it will depress you a little. It looked like Yuen Woo Ping wanted to created a new hero similar to Wong Fei Hung and partly he succeeded. Vincent Zhao who is terrific plays a skilled General who loves his family. When he gets betrayed and defeated by his adopted brother he seems to have lost his confidence in his abilities. So far nothing new. And it is fun to see him regaining his confidence in the fantasy sequences. However at one point his wife sees him training and is afraid that her husband has gone mad. So she goes to rescue her son all by herself and a big fight occurs between the adopter brother and Zhao. *Mild spoiler* This right here should have been the finale. But for some reason it continues and the whole confidence / motivation problem occurs yet again. (*sigh*). Zhao has become a drunkard and is neglecting his son. The reason for drinking apart from the obvious also has another reason which is explained. He drinks the wine that is made by his wife so that he can feel her. This is actually very sweet and romantic. His attitude towards is son however is very selfish. How many times does this man has to learn the same lesson? Until this tournament comes into play. Need I go on? The tournament sequence while very enjoyable seemed so out of place and story. I get the feeling they were trying to do too much in this movie or that they tried to fill two movies into one. While I appreciate the attempt in telling a touching story it is very flawed and depressing. But do yourself a favor and forget about the story and focus on the action which is superb. (Don't worry about the CGI, there is very little of it and the CGI that is used intensifies some of the action.)
Also read:
No comments:
Post a Comment