Mulan - 花木蘭

Mulan (花木蘭) is a 2009 film out of China. The movie stars Vicky Zhao, Aloys Chen, and Jaychee Chan.

The story follows Mulan, who's spent her childhood learning martial arts from her fathers' soldier friends. Also from Mulan's village is Shiao Hu or Xiao Hu (translated to "little tiger"). When Rouran starts their descent into the middle kingdom, Mulan's villages' men are called to service, including her father, who's in bad health. Mulan instead goes in his place. Once there, Mulan befriends a high ranking offical, Wentai. Wentai eventually becomes Mulan's most trusted ally in both battle and out of battle. Both Wentai and Mulan rise through the ranks and become generals. However, Mulan quickly grows tired of the violence and starts to withdrawl and abandon her responsibilities. Wentai and Mulan have now developed feelings for each other, but it has caused tragedy to befall the rest of the army. Wentai fakes his death to get Mulan out of this situation. Eventually Mulan wakes up and starts being a strong General again. During their twelfth year of service, Mulan gets to go home. But there's a twist with Wentai. Of course.

The movie was extremely boring and I had a tough time watching it. Mulan in a nervous breakdown? Wentai and Mulan, a forbidden love? Man, I got through it though I am not better for it.

Heralded as a blockbuster, it was a major disappointment to me. Vicki Zhao continues to get work. It's about time to let some new blood into the mix and I don't mean Zhou Xun either. Wentai and Mulan was just the same couple from Painted Skin.

I picked up a rather crappy copy from my local renter. I should have asked him if the quality was any good. It wasn't and the subtitles were not removable. You know what that means...:)

One of the major differences between this installment and the Disney one is time. Rouran are from the 6th century. Mogols in the Disney film are from the 14th century. Also, there's no talking dragon. I was waiting and waiting, but none appeared.

Red Cliff - 赤壁 - US Release

Red Cliff (赤壁) is getting a one film US Release on November 18, 2009. It has also been available via VOD for the the past month or so in the US. The film was broken up into 2 parts for the Asian market. I wrote reviews for Part I and Part II in the past.



Red Cliff has a star studded cast of veteran Chinese actors including Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Hu Jun, and Zhao Wei.



The US version will have some additional "explanation" scenes and voice overs. Some of the secondary stories from the Asian version will be out right deleted.



I am not sure I'll be catching this anytime soon. I am not sure I can watch a "English" dub. That just sounds wrong.

The Duel - 決戰紫禁之巔

The Duel - 決戰紫禁之巔 is a 2000 film out of Hong Kong starring Andy Lau and Ekin Cheng. It also stars a bunch of others, look at the cast credits for more. This is considered the third film of the martial arts trilogy from Andrew Lau. The film is based on a novel by Gu Long.



The story follows Nicky Cheung as a super detective for the imperial court. A governor played by Andy Lau of a region shows up to issue a duel challenge to the reigning number 1 swordsman, played by Ekin Cheng. The special thing about this duel is that it'll take place on the rooftop of the imperial palace. But before the duel happens, there are mysterious deaths and the disappearance of Ekin. But, in the end, the duel happens and its a CGI event to behold.

There are lots of fighting, cheezy interactions. But its a little bit of HK movie madness at work and I loved it. Watch it for the great cast, CGI, and modern martial mythos.

Shaolin Soccer - 少林足球

Shaolin Soccer (少林足球) is a 2001 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Stephen Chow and Zhao Wei and plenty of other supporting characters.

The movie is about Sing played by Stephen Chow. Sing is trained in Shaolin Kung Fu and has made it his goal to tell the world about it. However, the world doesn't want to hear it. As a result, Sing is dirt poor and wanders the streets of Hong Kong. Fung is a down and out soccer legend. Fung and Sing hook up to form a team to play soccer.

That is all you need to know that this movie is going to kick ass and make you smile, laugh, and LOL! It's hard to remember the days before Shaolin Soccer. Stephen Chow was no international star and the classic Kung Fu genre in HK was bleek. But not after this film. HK cinema was back on the international map again after this film.

The movie still stands as a classic and will forever be one of those that you watch again every few years.

Painted Skin - 畫皮

Painted Skin (畫皮) is a 2008 film out of Hong Kong. The film stars Donnie Yen, Zhou Xun, Aloys Chen, and Zhao Wei. The story is based on a ghost story from Strange Tales of Liaozhai.

The story is based on a several love triangles. With the center wrapped around Wang and Pei, a married couple. Wei, a fox demon spirit, needs human hearts to stay in her painted skin. Without the painted skin, humans will see her true form.

Wei is rescued by Wang one day and brought back to his house to be a servant. Pei immediately feels something is strange about Wei. Pei tells Wang, but without proof, Pei feels unheard. Pei seeks out Pang, a friend and former suitor for help.

The fun begins when Pang starts investigating Wei.

There is a certain level of Chinese mythos that need to be understood for the movie to be fully realized. If you're not familiar with Chinese mythos, some things are not spelled out for you.

I was rather impressed with this film and thought it to be a drastic departure from recent Donnie Yen films. However, this was a Donnie Yen film per se. Donnie just isn't the almighty fighter in this film that you would expect.

赤壁:決戰天下 - Red Cliff II

赤壁:決戰天下 (Red Cliff II) is 2009 film directed by John Woo. Starring Chen Chang, Lin Chi-Ling, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, and Wei Zhao. I had watched Part I last summer and had a first thoughts and review posts.

Red Cliff is based on the Battle of Red Cliffs. Because the storyline has so many characters and Kingdoms, I'll leave it to you to read up on wikipedia. I'll just be talking about what I thought of the film here.

Red Cliff Part 2 starts as Cao Cao's armies descend on the Red Cliffs. Zhou Yu and Zhugu Liang prepare for the coming onslaught. Some plot points that I thought were interesting. The plague victims from Cao Cao's camp are sent to Zhou Yu's camp. The plague plays a major point in the storyline. Cao Cao is reputed to be a wife stealer. Stealing the wives of his conquered victims. In this case, Cao Cao wants Zhou Yu's wife. There is espionage from both camps but Zhou Yu gets the better end of the deal. Zhuge Liang fortune telling turns the tide. Lin Chi-Ling is still hot in this movie.

The battle of the Red Cliff doesn't actually seem that intense. The graphics are good, but you can tell it is computer generated. The fighting incorporates wuxia elements for the generals. But supporting people do die. There's soccer?

Red Cliff Part 2 was awesome and it's a good sign for the Chinese movie audience and film makers. The sign that these kind of movies can be made and that the audience will support it financially.

赤壁 - Red Cliff Part 1

赤壁 (Red Cliff Part 1) is 2008 film directed by John Woo. Starring Chen Chang, Lin Chi-Ling, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, and Wei Zhao. Initially thought of as one film when filming began. It was split up into 2 movies. Having seen both, the split was logical and its better as two movies versus a long condensed version. I had watched it last summer and had a first thoughts post.

Red Cliff is based on the Battle of Red Cliffs. Because the storyline has so many characters and Kingdoms, I'll leave it to you to read up on wikipedia. I'll just be talking about what I thought of the film here.

Red Cliff Part 1 has the job of introducing the cast and their importance to the story. So, there's a lot of character development here versus Part 2. But there's just as much action, if not more than Part 2. Two major battles are shown. One in the beginning where Zhao Yun saves Liu Bei's son. The other being the initial engagement between the allied forced against Cao Cao.

Through it all, characters are popping up and right. You do need to have a general knowledge of that era to understand the movie better. But pop up they do. This film also introduces Lin Chi-Ling's acting debut. Lin's been a top model and spokeperson for over 10 years now. But finally making the turn to acting now. And a good roll it is.

Takeshi Kaneshiro plays the iconic Zhuge Liang. Zhuge is like the "sherlock" of the Chinese world. Known for being an expert strategist and intelligence beyond all those around. Zhuge Liang is a reference in Chiense pop culture all the time.

Tony Leung's character of Zhou Yu does creep to the top of importance and prominence as Part I ends.

In all, I thought Red Cliff Part I was a great introduction to the characters and the eminent battle of Red Cliffs.

Chinese Odyssey - 天下無雙

Chinese Odyssey (天下無雙) is a 2002 movie that stars Faye Wong, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Chen Chang, and Wei Zhao (張震, 朱茵, 梁朝偉, 王菲).

The movie is about a brother and sister pair that gets together with another brother sister pair. Does that mean that when they have kids, they kids are not cousins but brothers or sisters?

The movie stars the lovely Faye Wong in one of her few acting roles and Chen Cheng hot on the heals of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame. Tony and Zhao Wei had been pretty established by 2002.

The movie is crude and rude and is a comedy all rolled up into one. In HK cinema, the wuxia stuff is thrown liberally into most films. For this movie, that was the case.

In all, I remember this film being well made, but didn't leave a lasting impression.

I was only reminded of this film because it was a recommended movie for me on Netflix.

Assassin Swordsman - 侠女闯天关 (Treasure Venture)

Assassin Swordsman is a DVD packaging of a Chinese Wuxia drama from 2000 called 侠女闯天关 (Treasure Venture). Its pretty bad because the story is condensed that you have no clue what's going on.

Skip it for your health. Mental Health. Watch the series/drama instead. However, its not on my list of wuxia dramas to watch in the future.

Red Cliff Part 1 - 赤壁 - First Thoughts

Originally posted on xanga.



I just finished part 1 of John Woo's Red Cliff (赤壁). It was an intense movie with a lot of stuff going on.

Here are some thoughts:
I need to learn my Chinese history better
Lin Chi-Ling is pretty dang hot
Zhao Wei is looking like she shouldn't play early 20s rolls anymore
The Costumes are amazing
The special effects look real and fake at the same time
I can't wait to see part 2.
Too bad there's no part 3
I would want to play a video game based off this (in english, since my Chinese is useless)

Go see it. It won't blow you away, but its a good film.

Being sold for $3 in my local video rental places. Crazy cheap.