Let me start off my review with the good part: the wushu and action is brilliantly choreographed. It's not particularly over-the-top or flashy, but a more classic take on martial arts, and one of the best i've seen in a while.
However, the whole of the movie has no idea what the hell it is doing. There are, essentially, three arcs in this movie. 1) Short, builds up the character 2) The vast majority of the movie and with the real plot 3) What the hell?
In fact, let me qualify. The first and second arc together would be quite good alone if the third was not a part of the movie. Su, respected soldier, declines an offer to become governor and instead settles down with his pretty wife and has a kid. He recommends his foster brother (Yuan) - also his wife's brother - to the post, and leaves hoping his foster brother will be happy (Yuan has always seen himself living in Su's shadow). A few years later, unfortunately, Yuan is a bitter man and comes to kill Su and his foster father after perfecting the evil Five Venom Fists, and kidnaps Su's kid. Su ends up on a mountain with his wife, training to right the wrongs. Nothing brilliant, but oftentimes wushu movies are not the most plot driven, so it's OK. And i'll admit that the plot actually had me interested, even though it was fairly corny; i was under the impression that it was kind of a feel good movie with lots of ass kicking.
The problem arises with the ending of the second arc and the beginning of the third into the end. You would think the second arc would end in a certain way (to avoid spoilers), given the way the whole movie works. But it ends unfittingly dissatisfying for no particular reason. And i This was absolutely not a movie that should have had the ending it did (for the second arc).
In fact, excepting the very ending and the third arc, the fighting and the acting were good enough that i considered giving this movie an 8, because it was simply very solid for what it tried to be (until it started to be idiotic). There were even elements of plot that could have been more interesting and explored further, i thought, but ultimately were cast aside lazily. Primarily, i refer to Su meeting one "God of Wushu" as he trains on the mountain. His encounter not only appears entirely ridiculous - it's made apparent that actually, Su is going insane, and instead of having found a master of martial arts, is instead getting extremely drunk and rolls around injuring himself. At the same time, however, you know that Su will eventually go to fight his brother to reclaim his son, so there's actually a bit of potential - the movie has definitive elements of the fantastical already, so i was willing to accept some sort of Wushu god plot line, or perhaps some sort of revelation/epic training thing - but no, apparently Su IS insane, yet apparently his drunken rolling has actually turned him into the master of kung-fu he was deluded about? It would work if there was some sort of element of the God of Wushu being NOT a total delusion, but in fact he was, and we are even shown Su rolling around like a drunk - so it really makes no sense.
And that is really the crux of the problem with the movie - again, it has no idea what it wants to be. It's as if the screenwriter had a brilliant idea, but decided he didn't really give a damn about it making sense 4/5 the way through. I'll try and make an analogy: say you are skiing down a slope. It's a double black diamond - steep, mogul covered, all that jazz - and you have wrecked the slope, looking great the whole way down. At the end, as you enter the flat part of the mountain, just coasting to a stop, you suddenly fall down and break your leg - and then, deciding that you might as well, beat yourself to death. Really, it's an achievement in the sense that i have rarely seen a movie fall so hard on its face so quickly.
Anyways, this indecision leads into the absurd third act. Aside from the fact that the movie should have ended prior, it has nothing to do with the first or second arc, plot-wise or thematically, and offers nothing worthwhile. It also indulges into stupid stereotypes, clichés, and just is all around terrible, as well as having this sort of strange "funny or serious or what the hell is this?" atmosphere. I wrote this review with the hopes that i could describe how bad the movie becomes, but I sincerely believe i could write a legitimate college thesis on it and am unable to do so in this review. This review probably sounds very harsh but again, it's really the last fifteen-twenty minutes that ruin the movie, and it's still boggling my mind.
If you wanted to see the film already, don't let this deter you - see it - what's good is quite good, but simply be prepared for the awful conclusion. In fact, you may want to consider turning it off after the second arc and pretending the second arc ended the way it should have, because it doesn't.
This review ended up being a lot more jumbled and unclear than i had thought it would, but i can only hope that my sense of confusion enlightens you as to the confusion that the movie will bestow upon you.
However, the whole of the movie has no idea what the hell it is doing. There are, essentially, three arcs in this movie. 1) Short, builds up the character 2) The vast majority of the movie and with the real plot 3) What the hell?
In fact, let me qualify. The first and second arc together would be quite good alone if the third was not a part of the movie. Su, respected soldier, declines an offer to become governor and instead settles down with his pretty wife and has a kid. He recommends his foster brother (Yuan) - also his wife's brother - to the post, and leaves hoping his foster brother will be happy (Yuan has always seen himself living in Su's shadow). A few years later, unfortunately, Yuan is a bitter man and comes to kill Su and his foster father after perfecting the evil Five Venom Fists, and kidnaps Su's kid. Su ends up on a mountain with his wife, training to right the wrongs. Nothing brilliant, but oftentimes wushu movies are not the most plot driven, so it's OK. And i'll admit that the plot actually had me interested, even though it was fairly corny; i was under the impression that it was kind of a feel good movie with lots of ass kicking.
The problem arises with the ending of the second arc and the beginning of the third into the end. You would think the second arc would end in a certain way (to avoid spoilers), given the way the whole movie works. But it ends unfittingly dissatisfying for no particular reason. And i This was absolutely not a movie that should have had the ending it did (for the second arc).
In fact, excepting the very ending and the third arc, the fighting and the acting were good enough that i considered giving this movie an 8, because it was simply very solid for what it tried to be (until it started to be idiotic). There were even elements of plot that could have been more interesting and explored further, i thought, but ultimately were cast aside lazily. Primarily, i refer to Su meeting one "God of Wushu" as he trains on the mountain. His encounter not only appears entirely ridiculous - it's made apparent that actually, Su is going insane, and instead of having found a master of martial arts, is instead getting extremely drunk and rolls around injuring himself. At the same time, however, you know that Su will eventually go to fight his brother to reclaim his son, so there's actually a bit of potential - the movie has definitive elements of the fantastical already, so i was willing to accept some sort of Wushu god plot line, or perhaps some sort of revelation/epic training thing - but no, apparently Su IS insane, yet apparently his drunken rolling has actually turned him into the master of kung-fu he was deluded about? It would work if there was some sort of element of the God of Wushu being NOT a total delusion, but in fact he was, and we are even shown Su rolling around like a drunk - so it really makes no sense.
And that is really the crux of the problem with the movie - again, it has no idea what it wants to be. It's as if the screenwriter had a brilliant idea, but decided he didn't really give a damn about it making sense 4/5 the way through. I'll try and make an analogy: say you are skiing down a slope. It's a double black diamond - steep, mogul covered, all that jazz - and you have wrecked the slope, looking great the whole way down. At the end, as you enter the flat part of the mountain, just coasting to a stop, you suddenly fall down and break your leg - and then, deciding that you might as well, beat yourself to death. Really, it's an achievement in the sense that i have rarely seen a movie fall so hard on its face so quickly.
Anyways, this indecision leads into the absurd third act. Aside from the fact that the movie should have ended prior, it has nothing to do with the first or second arc, plot-wise or thematically, and offers nothing worthwhile. It also indulges into stupid stereotypes, clichés, and just is all around terrible, as well as having this sort of strange "funny or serious or what the hell is this?" atmosphere. I wrote this review with the hopes that i could describe how bad the movie becomes, but I sincerely believe i could write a legitimate college thesis on it and am unable to do so in this review. This review probably sounds very harsh but again, it's really the last fifteen-twenty minutes that ruin the movie, and it's still boggling my mind.
If you wanted to see the film already, don't let this deter you - see it - what's good is quite good, but simply be prepared for the awful conclusion. In fact, you may want to consider turning it off after the second arc and pretending the second arc ended the way it should have, because it doesn't.
This review ended up being a lot more jumbled and unclear than i had thought it would, but i can only hope that my sense of confusion enlightens you as to the confusion that the movie will bestow upon you.