John Woo's latest epic "The Crossing" is being dubbed as the Chinese Titanic and takes the true story of the sinking of the Taiping and brings an epic love story into the midst. Well actually Woo brings three love stories and we see them unfold as they prepare for the epic shipwreck that would perhaps unite them. Like Woo's "Red Cliff" the movie is in two parts which financially makes a lot of sense to do, but whether it was necessary in the narrative sense we can't really judge until part two.
For a movie that focuses mainly of the ship sinking, the first part is pretty much entirely on terra firma. We see the backdrop of the Chinese Revolution, in which the Communists and Nationalists resumed fighting after being temporarily united to fight the Japanese. Much of the film surrounds these battle scenes which are engaging. Woo clearly knows how to direct action. However they lack the intensity of great war films like "Saving Private Ryan" or this year's "Fury". I noticed the blood that is spilled looked very red and there is a lot stylistic flourishes and close ups of guns. The problem is I feel it's a bit too stylized. The horrors of war is still captured through images of wounded but I feel that not enough justice was served.
In the carnage we see a few of the men whose romantic involvements are intersected as we see them talk about their loved ones through letters. I feel that I'm unable to talk in great detail about each love story and characters because that would take up too much review time. Let's just say there's a classic Meet Cute scenario with one of them, and a glossy dance sequence straight out of a Disney cartoon. When I heard John Woo was going to direct a romantic picture, I was sure that they will be a lot of doves and sure enough, there is in fact a sequence with doves. The actors do have chemistry and I look forward to see what would happen to them in Part II although I felt there was some occasionally sappy dialogue. However it never got to be "Pearl Harbor" bad thank goodness.
There is much heart and humor in this film, particularly a scene where a Nationalist and Communist soldier put down their arms to eat a cooked rabbit. John Woo clearly has his heart in the right place. I though much of the scenes did an excellent job of building suspense for the next installment, especially with the historical aspect. However, how he transitions from part one to part two was a pretty big problem.
Take Woo's "Red Cliff", a film I'm proud to say own both parts, not the edited one part version. In that film, the viewers definitely got their money's worth with it's action and characters and it left a cliff hanger that got you excited for part two. The Crossing Part One ends pretty abruptly and feature expository titles cards that tells the audience what to be ready for next installment. It sort of makes sense that Woo would build up characters before the shipwreck on land since the Taiping didn't have a few days before it sank like the Titanic did. However this ending I felt was pretty lazily done and made the audience feel like they just watch a tease for the real thing instead of a good stand alone movie. I like to call this "Deathly Hallow Syndrome".
Nonetheless, the film is always beautiful to look at, and although it certainly has it's problems I am looking forward to part two. I see much potential for it, and if turns out well it might nudge "The Crossing: Part I" up to a more favorable review.
For a movie that focuses mainly of the ship sinking, the first part is pretty much entirely on terra firma. We see the backdrop of the Chinese Revolution, in which the Communists and Nationalists resumed fighting after being temporarily united to fight the Japanese. Much of the film surrounds these battle scenes which are engaging. Woo clearly knows how to direct action. However they lack the intensity of great war films like "Saving Private Ryan" or this year's "Fury". I noticed the blood that is spilled looked very red and there is a lot stylistic flourishes and close ups of guns. The problem is I feel it's a bit too stylized. The horrors of war is still captured through images of wounded but I feel that not enough justice was served.
In the carnage we see a few of the men whose romantic involvements are intersected as we see them talk about their loved ones through letters. I feel that I'm unable to talk in great detail about each love story and characters because that would take up too much review time. Let's just say there's a classic Meet Cute scenario with one of them, and a glossy dance sequence straight out of a Disney cartoon. When I heard John Woo was going to direct a romantic picture, I was sure that they will be a lot of doves and sure enough, there is in fact a sequence with doves. The actors do have chemistry and I look forward to see what would happen to them in Part II although I felt there was some occasionally sappy dialogue. However it never got to be "Pearl Harbor" bad thank goodness.
There is much heart and humor in this film, particularly a scene where a Nationalist and Communist soldier put down their arms to eat a cooked rabbit. John Woo clearly has his heart in the right place. I though much of the scenes did an excellent job of building suspense for the next installment, especially with the historical aspect. However, how he transitions from part one to part two was a pretty big problem.
Take Woo's "Red Cliff", a film I'm proud to say own both parts, not the edited one part version. In that film, the viewers definitely got their money's worth with it's action and characters and it left a cliff hanger that got you excited for part two. The Crossing Part One ends pretty abruptly and feature expository titles cards that tells the audience what to be ready for next installment. It sort of makes sense that Woo would build up characters before the shipwreck on land since the Taiping didn't have a few days before it sank like the Titanic did. However this ending I felt was pretty lazily done and made the audience feel like they just watch a tease for the real thing instead of a good stand alone movie. I like to call this "Deathly Hallow Syndrome".
Nonetheless, the film is always beautiful to look at, and although it certainly has it's problems I am looking forward to part two. I see much potential for it, and if turns out well it might nudge "The Crossing: Part I" up to a more favorable review.