Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Movie Recommendation
If you haven't seen the Jet Li movie "Hero" - SEE IT!!! It's not simply a kung fu or action movie. In fact, while the fight scenes are impressive - well except the one that got so much hype in the HK Fan circles between Li and Donnie Yen (this one is OK but not as great as I expected) - they are not the anchor of the Film. Note that I used Film with a capital F - this is fine cinema. The director, Zhang Yimou, is a veteran HK director who specializes in highly stylized dramas. He didn't skimp on his stylized vision with "Hero". WOW! The cinematography is stunning, the sets and action choreography are intertwined with the camera work to produce simple beautiful images. Yimou's use of color and backgrounds is breathtaking. Three examples stand out: 1) the 'red' fight between Maggie Cheung (aka, Flying Snow) and up-and-coming starlet Ziyi Zhang (aka, Moon) in the leaves; 2) the 'green' fight between Tony Leung (aka, Broken Sword) and Daoming Chen (aka, the King) in the palace; and 3) the 'blue' fight between Leung and Li (aka, Nameless) over the mountain lake. If you are an old skool Fu fan (like myself) be aware that this movie is 'wire-fu' all out, but it's done well. I felt the 'wire-fu' in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was a bit too much, but in "Hero" it was more tolerable, and in large part this was due to Yimou's asthetic senses. "Hero" is a great story, told well through both dialog and visuals. This is a movie that both Fu fans and non Fu fans can enjoy. Watch it with or without the English dub (which is quite well done), but watch it - really watch it. You will be impressed. HK cinema kicks Hollywood to the curb!
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1 comment:
While visually leasing and with great martial arts sequences, I found "Hero" to be tedious as the story dragged towards the end. Li is great as always, but the time spent on the "story" was just a bit too much.
For my money, I like "Fearless" which actually has some elements of "The Good Earth" one of my favorite novels on Asian culture. Li's character goes through a redemptive journey that culminates in an amazing fight sequence at the end of the film where story and artistry merge nicely. Instead of the clumsy flashbacks of "Hero", the story uses a very linear approach and takes advantage of Li's shades of gray which are badly missed in the hurried-up Hollywood action films he makes these days.
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