From Qin to China: Film Reviews
Having just written and run quite successfully a new scenario for Qin: The Warring States and currently editing a forthcoming supplement for it, I found myself suddenly purchasing (really cheaply) a whole bunch of Chinese films, so I figured I'd do something of a quick review of each of them. Ironically, it started with me watching (not yet owning) Warlords because it was set in the 1860s and I was just finishing editing a Victoriana supplement at the time. Anyway, though I don't own it yet, I'll include the Warlords review as well.
I list the films not in the order I watched them, but in chronological order to the periods of Chinese history they are set in.
Battle of Wits (2006)
This film, starring Andy Lau, is apparently based on a Japanese novel, based on the Warring States Period, which has also been made into a manga series. Neither of which I have read. Battle of Wits is a historic (as opposed to wu xia) film set very early in the Warring States Period in which the fictitious city-state of Liang is under attack from the Zhao army. A Mohist, Ge Li (Andy Lau), comes to defend the city despite the king's willingness to risk surrendering, which the Mohist advises against. What follows is a fairly detailed account of a city under siege during this period in history, coupled with a story of love, paranoia and betrayal. Ultimately, the pointlessness and needlessness of death and war is foremost in the film, exploring the Mohist philosophy through the eyes of Ge Li's own crisis of faith and conscience. While I enjoyed this film, I'd probably recommend it mostly to people with an interest in seeing how a city under siege worked in this period.
The Emperor and the Assassin (1998)
The film Hero (2002) is a film about a nameless assassin (Jet Li) who sets off on a mission to assassinate the King of Qin (Ying Zheng). The film, however, has its inspiration from a real assassination attempt on Ying Zheng, which is what this film is about.
Right from the start, it has the feel of a Hollywood epic, with the music to match (it was watching this that you realise just how much of an effect the music of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) had on the world of Chinese historic cinema. This film, like Battle of Wits is also a historic film, but as with the Hollywood epics it makes a few fundamental changes. While ultimately another film reflecting the maddness of warfare, the changes to history attempt to give some form of justification (not validation) for the brutal acts of King Zheng on his campaign. The film begins with the fall of Han before the Qin armies, and Zheng already a little unstable, risks losing his intended bride, wishing to return to Zhao. However, when he shows her his great plan to unite the seven kingdoms to herald an era of peace, she concocts a plan to stage a faked assassination attempt to justify his attack on the kingdom of Yan. This premise, in itself, is a departure from history, as are the exact reasons for Lao Ai's attempted coup, the paternity of the two young children and Lü Buwei's own role in this film.
However, these changes all work to give Ying Zheng a more human reason for the attrocities he commits at Zhao. Such dramatic license to history is not uncommon amongst epics, and this doesn't make it any less of a great film to watch. My only qualm with it probably has nothing to do with the original film makers. I noticed during watching it a fair few really bizarre jump-cuts, like, for instance, Lady Zhao is kneeling with King Zheng standing a few feet away and then in the very next show he is holding her shoulders. The shot then reveals that they are now both standing. When the hell did that happen? Both Wikipedia and IMDB state the film's length at 162 minutes, but the box states an approximate 155 minutes. Now, "approximate" usually refers to only up to a couple of minutes difference, not a whole seven minutes. It really feels as though some mook has just aribtrarily cut random parts out to shave time for some reason, giving it the feeling of a poorly trimmed TV edit rather than the $20 million film that won the Technical prize at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. Despite this, I still heartily recommend The Emperor and the Assassin to anyone who likes historic epics. If you've seen Red Cliff (and if not, why the hell not), you'll recognise the would-be assassin, Jing Ke, as the future Cao Cao.
Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon (2008)
Two films were released in 2008 relating to the Three Kingdoms Period (the basis for the Dynasty Warriors console games). The other was John Woo's spectacular Red Cliff ( my review here) about the Battle of Chi Bi (208). However, unlike Red Cliff which details just one battle, Resurrection of the Dragon details the life of Zhao Zilong (a.k.a. Zhao Yun), one of the Five Tiger Generals, starting from his early career through to his death at the age of 71 in a final confrontation with the forces of Wei. Strictly speaking, as with The Emperor and the Assassin dramatic license has been taken to change details of history and the film is classed as an "alternate history". While not quite on par with Red Cliff I consider this a great companion to the film, showing another aspect of the era.
(For anyone wondering, the wu xia film House of Flying Daggers (2004) comes here, chronologically, set in the 9th Century.)
Seven Swords (2005)
Now, this film I actually saw in the cinema, so buying this was just a long overdue formality. This wu xia film is based on a novel which is clearly inspired by Kurosawa's masterpiece, The Seven Samurai. However, it remains different enough in the story to happily stand alone. Set in the 1600s, during the Qing Dynasty's Martial Arts Ban, a ruthless mercenary, Fire-Wind, decimates villages to collect a bounty. The next village in his sights is the aptly named Martial Village, where the villagers have taught themselves martial arts to protect themselves from bandits. Now, from Mount Heaven seven warriors bearing seven legendary swords, must fight to protect the village. One criticism of the film that I've come across talks of how it can sometimes be difficult to follow who's who and the story seems to jump around quite a bit. This is partly due to the fact that the European version was heavily cut and the uncut version simply doesn't appear to be available, which is a shame. That said, I had no problem following the story and the fight scenes are spectacular. If you're watching this film expecting another Crouching Tiger..., Hero or House of Flying Daggers then you'd be disappointed as it doesn't quite stand up aside them. However, if you're looking for a pretty cool adventure, then this is a worthy film. It was intended to be the first part of a trilogy, but so far the fate of the sequel to Seven Swords is still uncertain.
(For anyone wondering, the wu xia film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) comes here, chronologically, set in the 18th Century.)
The Warlords (2007)
Ironically, the film that started this little exploration, is the last, chronologically, so the last to be reviewed. The Warlords is set in the 1860s during the Taiping Rebellion, the film revolves around three blood-brothers (Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro) drawn together in battle and torn apart in by war's harsh realities. This is a brutal story of good intentions gone astray and a possible solution to a still unsolved crime in 1870. I enjoyed this film, but it really made me realise just how behind the rest of the world China really was in the 19th Century.
I list the films not in the order I watched them, but in chronological order to the periods of Chinese history they are set in.
Battle of Wits (2006)
This film, starring Andy Lau, is apparently based on a Japanese novel, based on the Warring States Period, which has also been made into a manga series. Neither of which I have read. Battle of Wits is a historic (as opposed to wu xia) film set very early in the Warring States Period in which the fictitious city-state of Liang is under attack from the Zhao army. A Mohist, Ge Li (Andy Lau), comes to defend the city despite the king's willingness to risk surrendering, which the Mohist advises against. What follows is a fairly detailed account of a city under siege during this period in history, coupled with a story of love, paranoia and betrayal. Ultimately, the pointlessness and needlessness of death and war is foremost in the film, exploring the Mohist philosophy through the eyes of Ge Li's own crisis of faith and conscience. While I enjoyed this film, I'd probably recommend it mostly to people with an interest in seeing how a city under siege worked in this period.
The Emperor and the Assassin (1998)
The film Hero (2002) is a film about a nameless assassin (Jet Li) who sets off on a mission to assassinate the King of Qin (Ying Zheng). The film, however, has its inspiration from a real assassination attempt on Ying Zheng, which is what this film is about.
Right from the start, it has the feel of a Hollywood epic, with the music to match (it was watching this that you realise just how much of an effect the music of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) had on the world of Chinese historic cinema. This film, like Battle of Wits is also a historic film, but as with the Hollywood epics it makes a few fundamental changes. While ultimately another film reflecting the maddness of warfare, the changes to history attempt to give some form of justification (not validation) for the brutal acts of King Zheng on his campaign. The film begins with the fall of Han before the Qin armies, and Zheng already a little unstable, risks losing his intended bride, wishing to return to Zhao. However, when he shows her his great plan to unite the seven kingdoms to herald an era of peace, she concocts a plan to stage a faked assassination attempt to justify his attack on the kingdom of Yan. This premise, in itself, is a departure from history, as are the exact reasons for Lao Ai's attempted coup, the paternity of the two young children and Lü Buwei's own role in this film.
However, these changes all work to give Ying Zheng a more human reason for the attrocities he commits at Zhao. Such dramatic license to history is not uncommon amongst epics, and this doesn't make it any less of a great film to watch. My only qualm with it probably has nothing to do with the original film makers. I noticed during watching it a fair few really bizarre jump-cuts, like, for instance, Lady Zhao is kneeling with King Zheng standing a few feet away and then in the very next show he is holding her shoulders. The shot then reveals that they are now both standing. When the hell did that happen? Both Wikipedia and IMDB state the film's length at 162 minutes, but the box states an approximate 155 minutes. Now, "approximate" usually refers to only up to a couple of minutes difference, not a whole seven minutes. It really feels as though some mook has just aribtrarily cut random parts out to shave time for some reason, giving it the feeling of a poorly trimmed TV edit rather than the $20 million film that won the Technical prize at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. Despite this, I still heartily recommend The Emperor and the Assassin to anyone who likes historic epics. If you've seen Red Cliff (and if not, why the hell not), you'll recognise the would-be assassin, Jing Ke, as the future Cao Cao.
Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon (2008)
Two films were released in 2008 relating to the Three Kingdoms Period (the basis for the Dynasty Warriors console games). The other was John Woo's spectacular Red Cliff ( my review here) about the Battle of Chi Bi (208). However, unlike Red Cliff which details just one battle, Resurrection of the Dragon details the life of Zhao Zilong (a.k.a. Zhao Yun), one of the Five Tiger Generals, starting from his early career through to his death at the age of 71 in a final confrontation with the forces of Wei. Strictly speaking, as with The Emperor and the Assassin dramatic license has been taken to change details of history and the film is classed as an "alternate history". While not quite on par with Red Cliff I consider this a great companion to the film, showing another aspect of the era.
(For anyone wondering, the wu xia film House of Flying Daggers (2004) comes here, chronologically, set in the 9th Century.)
Seven Swords (2005)
Now, this film I actually saw in the cinema, so buying this was just a long overdue formality. This wu xia film is based on a novel which is clearly inspired by Kurosawa's masterpiece, The Seven Samurai. However, it remains different enough in the story to happily stand alone. Set in the 1600s, during the Qing Dynasty's Martial Arts Ban, a ruthless mercenary, Fire-Wind, decimates villages to collect a bounty. The next village in his sights is the aptly named Martial Village, where the villagers have taught themselves martial arts to protect themselves from bandits. Now, from Mount Heaven seven warriors bearing seven legendary swords, must fight to protect the village. One criticism of the film that I've come across talks of how it can sometimes be difficult to follow who's who and the story seems to jump around quite a bit. This is partly due to the fact that the European version was heavily cut and the uncut version simply doesn't appear to be available, which is a shame. That said, I had no problem following the story and the fight scenes are spectacular. If you're watching this film expecting another Crouching Tiger..., Hero or House of Flying Daggers then you'd be disappointed as it doesn't quite stand up aside them. However, if you're looking for a pretty cool adventure, then this is a worthy film. It was intended to be the first part of a trilogy, but so far the fate of the sequel to Seven Swords is still uncertain.
(For anyone wondering, the wu xia film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) comes here, chronologically, set in the 18th Century.)
The Warlords (2007)
Ironically, the film that started this little exploration, is the last, chronologically, so the last to be reviewed. The Warlords is set in the 1860s during the Taiping Rebellion, the film revolves around three blood-brothers (Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro) drawn together in battle and torn apart in by war's harsh realities. This is a brutal story of good intentions gone astray and a possible solution to a still unsolved crime in 1870. I enjoyed this film, but it really made me realise just how behind the rest of the world China really was in the 19th Century.