House of Flying Daggers review

 Number 748 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Wuxia romance film 'House of Flying Daggers.'

At the end of China's Tang Dynasty, there is a power vacuum. Within that vacuum, multiple groups are vying for power. One of these is the House of Flying Daggers who are battling against the corrupt Fengtian government. Leo (Andy Lau) and Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) are tasked with finding and killing the mysterious leader of this group. To aid him, Jin pretends to befriend Mei (Zhang Ziyi,) the blind daughter of the leader, to gain her trust, all while being pursued by government forces. But then the two fall in love and everything changes.

There is no denying that House of Flying Daggers is a technically beautiful film. From the cinematography to the choreography to the colour palate to the gorgeous original score, it was a sensory feast. Yes, the martial art sequences do push your suspension of disbelief, but that's all part of the fun. Considering it was directed by Zhang Yimou who also directed Hero, this should come as no surprise. Hero was also a visually stunning film. 

Of course it helped when you have an actress as talented as Zhang Ziyi. As well as acting she is an accomplished singer and dancer which helped her execute a brilliant dance sequence at the film's beginning.

It's just a shame that the actual storyline couldn't match the technical heights. House of Flying Daggers was intended to be more of a romance than a wuxia film, but it failed in both regards. It doesn't count as a romance and it shouldn't have been marketed as such. By convention, romances should end with the love interests having a happy ever after or a happy for now. *Spoiler alert* That doesn't happen at all. 

And as it was a romance, you would expect it to be interesting, but the love story was so dull. Rather than solely being between Mei and Jin, Leo is also involved. He was previously engaged with Leo and has loved her for years. But when she falls in love with Jin after only three days, Leo becomes dangerously jealous. Cue a rather tepid love-triangle that culminates in a cheesy, unsatisfying conclusion. 

*More spoilers* 

It is later revealed that Mei was only pretending to be blind. But this also subplot confused me, as it was frustratingly inconsistent. At times Mei seemed to have perfect eyesight, but at others she was stumbling and fumbling around. It's implied that she has extra-sharp, super-human senses, hence why she can survive elaborate fight scenes without drawing blood. Having said that, most of the characters had some very strong plot-armour. And that added to the dullness. There was no tension or stakes as these characters seemed virtually indestructible. 

I would have much preferred to have watched a film about the different factions warring for power in the Tsang dynasty. Hell, I would have enjoyed watching the House of Flying Daggers battling against the corrupt government. Instead, I got a boring, tepid love story set against a visually stunning backdrop.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon review

 Number 401 on the top 1000 films of all time is Ang Lee's 2000 wuxia film 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.'

Set in Qing Dynasty China, Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) is a renowned swordsman who owns the legendary 'Green Destiny' sword. One of his closest friends Yu Shu Lien(Michelle Yeoh) is a similarly talented warrior who is tasked with delivering the sword to Li's benefactor Sir Te. But the sword is stolen in the night by a masked thief. Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu work to recover the sword while working through their previously unrealised feelings for each other.

I found 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' to be a confused film uncertain of its own identity. At times, it seemed like it wanted to be a classic wuxia film with physics-breaking, brilliantly-choregraphed martial art sequences. But at others it tried to be a Western love story focussing on Mu-Bai and Shu-Lien. Shu-Lien was previously engaged to Mu-Bai's friend Meng Sizhao before his untimely death. Out of respect, the two hide their feelings for one another.

This film was made specifically for a Western audience, so perhaps that was the reason for the cloying love story that was never ever fully realised. If it had been made with an Eastern audience in mind, then I think this love story could have been better portrayed. Instead, we were left with great martial art sequences punctuated with verbose, hammy dialogue. I watched this film with subtitles, so I can't even say this was a bad translations, as Ang Lee oversaw the subtitling himself, as he wanted to get the most accurate interpretation possible.

Also, the identity of the masked thief was obvious from the start. If you didn't figure it out in the first five minutes, I won't spoil it here, but that definitely hurt the dramatic tension.

Reportedly, Ang Lee described the film as Sense & Sensibility with martial arts. He also directed this film, which may explain why I wasn't a fan of either.

Kung Fu Panda 2 review

 Number 962 on the top 1000 films of all time is John Stevenson's sequel to the original 2008 animated wuxia film Kung Fu Panda.

Po (Jack Black) now a respected Kung Fu master is called upon to defeat the peacock Lord Shen (Gary Oldman.) Lord Shen aims to dominate ancient China by using the newly-discovered gunpowder as a weapon. This could spell the end of Kung Fu. Meanwhile, Po starts to learn more about this mysterious past.

What can I say about this film which I haven't said about its predecessor? The animation was gorgeous. And the score was superior. Po remained a goofy yet sympathetic protagonist thanks to Jack Black's performance. James Hong, who plays Po's adoptive father Goose, was also great. As Po's adoptive father, he is very protective of his son. And he is naturally worried when Po goes off on his adventures. This concern was touching to see. One heart-twinging moment was when Po, just about to leave to defeat Lord Shen, reassures Goose that he'll be back before he can say noodles. As Po is leaving, Goose mumbles 'noodles' to himself. I'm not ashamed to say that I nearly cried.

Gar Oldman was also great as Lord Shen. He helped to bring the peacock to life with his borderline over-the-top performance, reminiscent of his villainous role in Leon the Professional. He made Lord Shen a far more memorable villain than Tai Hung.

John Stevenson also changed direction in this film choosing instead to take a darker tone. Nowhere is this more evident than when we learn more about Po's past of which I won't spoil here. Yet he also stayed close to the roots of kung fu films. From the wuxia films that I have seen, I have observed that they always champion the art and prowess behind kung fu. It is a source of national pride. Having this pride threatened with the invention of gunpowder, the tension and stakes went right through the roof.

Unfortunately, Kung Fu Panda 2 shares the same failures as its predecessor in its under-utilisation of its considerable cast. Despite starring in major kung fu films, Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh were majorly neglected.

That notwithstanding, I did enjoy Kung Fu Panda 2. It holds the rare title of being just as good as its predecessor. 

Hero review

 Number 367 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2002 wuxia film 'Hero.'

Jet Li stars as the Nameless warrior who is summoned before the king of Qin - one of the seven kingdoms of Ancient China. Nameless foiled three assassination attempts on the king. And the king wants to hear how he did it.

Stylistically, there is no faulting Hero. It was visually gorgeous; a real treat for the eyes. Different sections of the film are broken into different colour schemes - white, blue and the gorgeous red that is considered so lucky in China. The martial art sequences while far from being the most realistic were still spectacularly choregraphed. The use of slow-motion and occasional monochrome added to the striking visuals.

However beautiful Hero looked it wasn't very interesting to watch. I found it very boring. Part of that was down to how it was structured. Much of the film is told in flashback and we're led to believe these flashbacks are not to be trusted. The prime timeline sees Nameless and the king simply talking to each other. There is no forward momentum and very little else going on. And I did struggle in paying attention.

Perhaps I don't have a very long attention span or I'm impatient, as I'm sure there were plenty of deep-rooted metaphors and symbolism which I missed out on.

Although I didn't find Hero particularly interesting, there ids no denying that it is a visually stunning film.

IP man review

 Number 215 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2008 Hong-Kong biographical martial-arts film "IP Man."

Based on the true story of Ip Man, a former wing-chun master, this film follows his many exploits. Considered the number-one authority of his martial art, he is well-respected and has his own school in the city of Fushon. However, when the Japanese invade and occupy Hong Kong as part of the Sino-Japanese war, Ip Man (Donnie Yen) soon becomes a leader of a resistance movement.

I enjoyed this film a lot more than I thought I would. I thought it might be like Kung-Fu Hustle and be all style over substance. Sure it would be full of well-choregraphed martial art sequences, but there would be little in the way of story. I couldn't have been more wrong. There was a great storyline behind all of the spectacular kung fu sequences. And they were spectacular. Martial artist Sammo Hung and stunt coordinator Tony Leung Siu-hung worked together to create slick and entertaining fight scenes. But Donnie Yen is also to be applauded. In preparation for the role, he spent months training in Wing Chun and it really showed on screen. 

But like  Lust, Caution, I really enjoyed how Ip Man showed a part of the Second World War that people don't talk about as much in the Western world and that's the Sino-Japanese theatre. True, it did start separately from the war in Europe before eventually bleeding into WW2. Obviously, I'm not too clear on the history of it all, but it was so interesting seeing this other aspect of the war. The production element from the costume to the set design was brilliant. And this all was a perfect backdrop to the martial arts. Instead of over-shadowing or under-mining, the two elements came together very well. 

After the Japanese invade and occupy Hong Kong, Ip Man is forced to work in the coal mines to support his family. There he trains the other workers in Wing-Chun to protect against roving bandits. He also comes to the attention of the Japanese General Miura (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi) who is a karate master and has the Chinese martial artists fight against his Japanese cadets in a show of dominance. General Mirua wishes to break Chinese spirit by proving that Japanese martial arts are better than their Chinese equivalents. Ip Man eventually accepts his challenge and the two fight each other in a thrilling conclusion.

I also have to briefly mention Tenma Shibuya who played Colonel Sato, Miura's second-in-command. Despite looking no more threatening than a bank manager, he was a sadistic and psychotic maniac. Shibuya was great in the role.

Beyond this film, I don't really know anything about Ip Man and his exploits, but I think this film did him justice. However, most importantly, what I know now about Ip Man is that he went onto have many famous students: none more famous than Bruce Lee himself.

The Raid review

 Number 716 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2011 Indonesian martial art, action-thriller 'The Raid.'

Rama (Iko Uwais) is a member of an elite swat team sent into a high-rise building to take down notorious crime-lord Tama Riyadi (Ray Sahetapy) and his top lieutenants Mad Dog (Yayan Ruhian) and Andi (Donny Alamsyah.) Rama is assisted by his sergeant Jaka (Joe Taslin) and lieutenant Wahyu (Pierre Gruno.)

Upon making this film, Gareth Evans said that he wanted to make a pure action film. He certainly achieved that. The Raid is non-stop action with plenty of explosions, hand-to-hand combat, gratuitous violence and non-stop gunshots. Unfortunately, Evans forgot to include any semblance of a storyline. The narrative, as far as it goes, is paper-thin and often gives way to the fight sequences. Don't get me wrong, the martial art sequences are brilliantly choregraphed. The actors are depicting the Indonesian martial art of pencak silat and they never put a foot wrong. 

It's just after one or two fight sequences, it all became very repetitive and monotonous. The fight sequences, as spectacular as they were, very quickly took over the film. And they might have looked great, but they were hardly the most realistic. The characters seem to survive endless knocks to the head that would have killed somebody like me. And this lack of realism certainly stopped me from becoming too immersed. But I guess action films are never supposed to be the most realistic. They're not documentaries.

While Gareth Evans did attempt to have emotional beats or subplots, they always felt half-done. He didn't properly develop these into anything of substance. It's implied that Wahyu is corrupt, but this is never explored in any great detail. It is revealed that Rama and Andi are estranged brothers, but this plotline is never given any chance to breathe, before we're thrust back into the action. Rama also has an expectant wife at home, yet except for a brief scene in the beginning, we hear very little of her ever again.

And the film is ridden with all the cliches we could expect from an action film: guns that never run out of ammo, bad guys who scream before attacking somebody, losing the element of surprise and giving away their position, bad guys who just when it looks like the hero is down-and-out then hesitate or monologue allowing themselves to be overpowered. It's explained that Rama and the rest of the SWAT team are a bunch of rookies so that explains why so many of them are completely useless and die quickly. But why were the bad guys such noobs?

Usually I end reviews like these with a disclaimer of "this wasn't necessarily a bad film, but it just wasn't for me." I can't do that here. Action films and martial-art films can be enjoyable to watch as long as the action is balanced with a strong storyline and the storyline was virtually non-existent. Film critic Roger Ebert panned the film giving it one out of four stars. He received a lot of criticism for his review, but I'm with him all the way here. The Raid was not a good film.

Kung Fu Hustle review

 Number 512 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Chinese martial art, comedy-drama Kung Fu Hustle.

Sing (Stephen Chow) and Bone (Lam Chi-Chung) are two hapless, small-time crooks. To break into the big time, they decide to join the Two-Axe gang which terrorises the local neighbourhood run by Landlord (Yuen Wah) and Landlady (Yuen Qiu.) To gain initiation, Sing and Bone must kill somebody - a task easier said than done when the neighbourhood is populated by no less than five kung fu masters.

Would it be fair to say that Kung-Fu Hustle was more style than substance? I know it's a comedy and it's not meant to be taken seriously, but I've never been a fan of films that are overly-reliant on special effects. I know they're supposed to be integral to the film's humour especially the slapstick nature and they weren't meant to be used gratuitously, but I did find them tedious after a while. From the weird banshee shockwave that the Landlady performed to the Sing's sonic punch that destroyed an entire building, it all became repetitive after a while.

Another reason I didn't get on with this film is that I'm not keen on martial art movies. Similarly to boxing films, while the fights maybe well choregraphed, they drag on too long and don't hold my interest. I'm not invested in the fighting so I naturally don't care about who wins or loses. I am also puzzled as to why the film was marketed as a comedy. It didn't make me laugh very much. But that's not because the jokes fell flat, but rather they didn't seem to be making many jokes at all.

A lot of the film is dedicated to Sing's childhood and a particular flashback of him standing up to some bullies going horrifically wrong. He is trying to stop them from beating up a girl, but is beaten up instead. We see the two re-unite and kindle a romance as adults. This was a cute subplot, but not very funny. In fact, other than bizarre special effects, the only joke I remember is a rather predictable one.

Bone, to gain initiation into the Two axes, decides to kill Landlady by throwing knives at her. But due to his terrible aim and hapless nature, the knives all end up in Sing instead. And Sing is behind him. Yet as we know that these two are hapless, this joke was far too obvious to be funny.

Unfortunately, this film didn't appeal to me. I am not a fan of martial art films, not am I fan of films that prioritise style over substance, but I am sure this film has a dedicated fanbase. I'm just not one of those fans.