Spoilers are all in the last-but-one paragraph.
By Siu-Tung Ching, the director of the wonderful Chinese Ghost Story series, this one falls a long way short of CGS2 (an all-time great) but is well-made and a highly entertaining watch. It fails to be more through being too short to properly deal with the themes it raises, and by following too closely in the footsteps of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, whereas it actually had more to say.
Everything is good, especially the direction which never allows the pace to flag despite the disparate story elements. Donnie Chen is wisely restricted to what he does best – fighting. Kelly Chen is fine in her role, convincingly stern and authoritative when needed, softer when the chance arises. And the support cast, led by the excellently understated Leon Lai, do fine. Cinematography is great, the story largely makes sense (despite oddities like the balloon flight, blown by the wind but ending up where it started) and the script, in translation, was snappy and effective.
Some people didn't like this because it's a mix of action and romance, with some more thoughtful scenes thrown in. It seems some are only satisfied by non-stop fighting, others by non-stop goo. This has no goo as such, just a few gentler scenes that allowed the affection of the two characters to be well-shown without it, scenes which didn't interrupt the main theme of a woman in a man's world, dealing with a challenging and improbable destiny.
Spoilers follow. I liked that everything was sensible and realistic, no magic, running up bamboo stems or flying from roof to roof in this one. An example. On inheriting from her father (a king, not an emperor!) Feier is expected not only to rule, indeed not only to lead troops into battle (as Tamara of Georgia and many other historical female rulers have done). For some reason she must also become a great warrior. In so many martial arts films, a few days' training turns some zero into an invincible fighter. In this one she trains hard and becomes competent, but nothing more. I didn't like so much that themes were not followed through on. Examples. The romantic relationship is conveniently removed in what looks like a rather less sentimental homage to CTHD. And the results of Feier's act of mercy in battle are never shown. She is prepared to use violence when needed, both leading her troops and with her own hand against her personal enemy, but warrior-turned-doctor Lan Quan has taught her to seek other ways of resolving problems and the results of that lesson are never shown. At the end of the film she is thoroughly accepted by her own people, but the relationships with the other warring kingdoms are forgotten about.
If you enjoyed either CTHD or CGS2, do not miss this one. You should enjoy it anyway – as long as you don't only like non-stop fighting or non-stop goo.
By Siu-Tung Ching, the director of the wonderful Chinese Ghost Story series, this one falls a long way short of CGS2 (an all-time great) but is well-made and a highly entertaining watch. It fails to be more through being too short to properly deal with the themes it raises, and by following too closely in the footsteps of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, whereas it actually had more to say.
Everything is good, especially the direction which never allows the pace to flag despite the disparate story elements. Donnie Chen is wisely restricted to what he does best – fighting. Kelly Chen is fine in her role, convincingly stern and authoritative when needed, softer when the chance arises. And the support cast, led by the excellently understated Leon Lai, do fine. Cinematography is great, the story largely makes sense (despite oddities like the balloon flight, blown by the wind but ending up where it started) and the script, in translation, was snappy and effective.
Some people didn't like this because it's a mix of action and romance, with some more thoughtful scenes thrown in. It seems some are only satisfied by non-stop fighting, others by non-stop goo. This has no goo as such, just a few gentler scenes that allowed the affection of the two characters to be well-shown without it, scenes which didn't interrupt the main theme of a woman in a man's world, dealing with a challenging and improbable destiny.
Spoilers follow. I liked that everything was sensible and realistic, no magic, running up bamboo stems or flying from roof to roof in this one. An example. On inheriting from her father (a king, not an emperor!) Feier is expected not only to rule, indeed not only to lead troops into battle (as Tamara of Georgia and many other historical female rulers have done). For some reason she must also become a great warrior. In so many martial arts films, a few days' training turns some zero into an invincible fighter. In this one she trains hard and becomes competent, but nothing more. I didn't like so much that themes were not followed through on. Examples. The romantic relationship is conveniently removed in what looks like a rather less sentimental homage to CTHD. And the results of Feier's act of mercy in battle are never shown. She is prepared to use violence when needed, both leading her troops and with her own hand against her personal enemy, but warrior-turned-doctor Lan Quan has taught her to seek other ways of resolving problems and the results of that lesson are never shown. At the end of the film she is thoroughly accepted by her own people, but the relationships with the other warring kingdoms are forgotten about.
If you enjoyed either CTHD or CGS2, do not miss this one. You should enjoy it anyway – as long as you don't only like non-stop fighting or non-stop goo.