05-11-2008, 12:33 PM
There's two big epics based on Three Kingdoms coming to film. The other is John Woo's Red Cliff. RotD is another medieval battle flick ala Warlords - China has realized that it's cheaper to hire an amry of thousands and film them in the desert than it is to make it all CGI. That's all well and good. Lots of battle scenes - flying about from horse to horse with lances. Great armor. The thing about Three Kingdoms is that anyone who knows anything about Chinese legend knows this story, so we know how it's going to end. It's a lot like Arthurian legend in the West. And this chapter takes place at the end, after everyone is dead. All the cool heroes of the book die before they unify the country - it's a bit like Moses never making it to the promised land. So this film decided to completely forego any character development (read the book for that I guess) and focus on overly melodramatic scenes and battles. It didn't quite work.
Sammo Hung plays a coward, nver even fights, which was a waste of material. Andy Lau, who I still don't really like, is Zhao Zilong, the final Tiger general, and he's ok, although is battle with Guan and Zhagn was thouroughly unconvincing. Maggie Q is great as Cao Ying, one of China's great dragon ladies. I still think she's got something, despite Edison Chan scandals. Yu Rongguang is the same as ever. I've always hoped he would acheive more. Maybe somday.
The highlight for me was Ti Long as Guan Yu. Again, if you know this stuff, that's huge. CF & LCF will know. They gave me a treasured Lord Guan glass painting - the centerpiece to my martial ancestor altar - as a gift for serving as their solemnizer. And Ti Lung was part of the great Shaw Brother's triumvarate (the word of today)alongside Alex Fu Sheng and David Chaing. Ti Lung has over 100 films to his credit, some amazing classics. Unfortunately, like I said, this comes at the end of the story, so Guan's scene is distressingly short.
Sammo Hung plays a coward, nver even fights, which was a waste of material. Andy Lau, who I still don't really like, is Zhao Zilong, the final Tiger general, and he's ok, although is battle with Guan and Zhagn was thouroughly unconvincing. Maggie Q is great as Cao Ying, one of China's great dragon ladies. I still think she's got something, despite Edison Chan scandals. Yu Rongguang is the same as ever. I've always hoped he would acheive more. Maybe somday.
The highlight for me was Ti Long as Guan Yu. Again, if you know this stuff, that's huge. CF & LCF will know. They gave me a treasured Lord Guan glass painting - the centerpiece to my martial ancestor altar - as a gift for serving as their solemnizer. And Ti Lung was part of the great Shaw Brother's triumvarate (the word of today)alongside Alex Fu Sheng and David Chaing. Ti Lung has over 100 films to his credit, some amazing classics. Unfortunately, like I said, this comes at the end of the story, so Guan's scene is distressingly short.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse