Monday, August 30, 2004
A Perfect 10
I saw a perfect movie on Saturday. Not many of them around, I can tell you. The movie was Ying Xiong, a.k.a. Hero. The movie was visual poetry, combined with a stunning score. It's the sort of movie where you'd find your jaw dropping every few minutes as you drink in the beauty of the shots. I'm afraid I just can't find words to do it justice, nor can I point to a "favorite" scene, as they're all amazing.
I went in expecting to find a martial arts movie. One of those "You killed my master. I shall train in anonimity until I challenge you 10 years from now" Shaw Brothers type of movie. But it was more of a drama ... like Crouching Tiger. For some reason I didn't like that movie - I think I shall have to revisit it now.
You know, everyone touts the movie as a Jet Li movie. I wonder if that's cos he's the most recognizable Chinese star in America. I didn't think the movie was so much about Nameless (Jet Li's character) as it was about Falling Snow and Broken Sword. The bulk of the movie is after all the retelling of Nameless' encounters with them, and of their love/hate relationship.
Nonetheless ... the movie's a perfect 10. And that's saying something - the last movie to get the perfect score was LoTR: Fellowship of the Rings back in 2000.
(Spoiler!) I also think the movie's trailer was pretty cleverly spliced together. The bit of the trailer which shows Jet Li facing a cloud of arrows was pulled together from different parts of the movie.
I went in expecting to find a martial arts movie. One of those "You killed my master. I shall train in anonimity until I challenge you 10 years from now" Shaw Brothers type of movie. But it was more of a drama ... like Crouching Tiger. For some reason I didn't like that movie - I think I shall have to revisit it now.
You know, everyone touts the movie as a Jet Li movie. I wonder if that's cos he's the most recognizable Chinese star in America. I didn't think the movie was so much about Nameless (Jet Li's character) as it was about Falling Snow and Broken Sword. The bulk of the movie is after all the retelling of Nameless' encounters with them, and of their love/hate relationship.
Nonetheless ... the movie's a perfect 10. And that's saying something - the last movie to get the perfect score was LoTR: Fellowship of the Rings back in 2000.
(Spoiler!) I also think the movie's trailer was pretty cleverly spliced together. The bit of the trailer which shows Jet Li facing a cloud of arrows was pulled together from different parts of the movie.
