Skip to main content

Ying Xiong (2002)

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Ying Xiong. Feature film. (2002, 93 mins) IMDB

...Visually stunning, but still a movie to hold a series of fight sequences....

H

ERO or YING XIONG is a Chinese martial arts film where instead of hands and feet and whatever gadgets or weapons marital arts experts use, the combatants use swords, fly in the air, slow time and otherwise defy the known laws of physics.

It's a movie filled with a simple narrative designed to hold a series of fight sequences. It's filled with epic battle scenes and wondrous shots filled with colour and majesty. While the film uses CGI, there are scenes with hundreds of real men in ancient Chinese battle gear with swords, bow & arrow, shields, and the images are spectacular, but it's still a film about a bunch of fight sequences. No ordinary fight sequences, but still lots and lots and lots of fighting.

I say a simple narrative because it is. An assassin arrives at what looks like the Forbidden City in Beijing to meet with the current emperor or king or warlord--take your pick. The assassin tells the leader how he killed this assassin and that assassin and so on. With each recounting of what happening, we flashback to the fight. But there's a twist. The assassin is lying and the king tells him so which means we get another version of fights with the other main characters. Why do this? So five characters (three men--Nameless (Jet Li), Broken Sword, Sky and two women--Moon and Flying Snow) can have fights over and over. Fights where one kills the other, but since it didn't happen that way, they can live to fight in the next sequence and the next. A small cast instead of many, many characters who are killed off one by one. Do you see how that works?

A common ploy to create twists in the film is to use deception or misinformation. At the start of the film, the Jet Li character is portrayed as a hero to the king, he killed three assassins, but as the film progresses, we learn it was a ploy. Jet Li is also an assassin. He wants the king dead and concocting this plots gets him in position to do just that--something he couldn't do otherwise.

Some people love this type of movie. I liked the visuals, but I was bored with the fight sequences and bored with the simple narrative. To keep myself interested, I listened to the English overdubbed dialogue and compared it to the English subtitles. There's a big difference. The dubbed version was written to sync with the character's lips who are speaking in Chinese. It meant a lot of rewrites. Whoever was responsible for the dubbing version deserves an award because it's not easy to do. It's a bit like doing a NY Times Sunday crossword a hundred and fifty times.

Posted 2009/02/22 at 18h35ET in Movie Commentary.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If Only We Could Agree

Monday, June 11, 2012 ... have you been accused of misspelling a word you know is correct ... S usanne O’Leary wrote an interesting article on her experience with the variations of the English language in different countries. You know the obvious ones like colour with or without a “u” but less obvious ones like travelled versus traveled. Growing up in Sweden she learnt English in school—the UK variation. In publishing her books, she read reviews where she was criticized for improper spelling. False accusations as it turns out. While I write tire and cozy, it’s not incorrect to write tyre or cosy. Same language. Both accepted. Just different. You can read her write-up here along with the numerous comments posted by readers. I found it interesting, but that’s me. As a Canadian I deal with this issue everyday. I feel her pain when she’s criticized for something based on ignorance. No fun. I was told by a boss that “data are” isn’t correct. It should be “data is.” Read...
2 comments
Read more

Things I’ve Never Done

Friday, November 11, 2011 ... you would think, assume, I had did these things ... I I’ve done a few things most people never get a chance to do. Lived in Africa for one. Have written a few novels and screenplays. Wrote some songs you wouldn’t want me to perform. But for the most part, my life isn’t terribly distinguished. Life like most people except there’s a few things I’ve never experienced. Never been married. Close? Not really. I’ve never even been on a date or had a date on Valentines Day. I think most people, where the day is recognized, have done that. I often wonder what it would be like. Never had a birthday party with cake and friends. I remember the odd the birthday card from this aunt or that uncle. It doesn’t help when your birthday is the same day as a holiday. I don’t know who my father is. That one-half of my genes, my DNA that is me. Don’t know and probably never will. I think most people know who there father is even if the relationship isn’t what ...
1 comment
Read more

A Piece of the Action (1977)

Saturday, March 7, 2009 A Piece of the Action. Feature film. (1977, 135 mins) IMDB ... Who would you have over for dinner? Sidney Poitier or Bill Cosby. ... A PIECE OF THE ACTION is the third film starring Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier. Poitier also directed the films. (And yes, I would be fascinating to have both them sitting around a table for dinner.) We're in Chicago and I love the setup for this film. It's clever, fun and interesting. It starts during the dark of night. Crosby is a cat burglar robbing a vault in a bank. He's by himself, all the tools he needs, and doesn't speak a word of dialogue for at least the first twenty minutes of the film. It must have been killing him. His robbery goes off successfully. (It includes a jump from a six or seven story window. There was a similar scene in their earlier films.) When the cops arrive during the daylight, they haven't a clue and we catch a glimpse of James Earl Jones as a detect...
Post a Comment
Read more