The wuxia genre encompasses stories concerning the adventures of martial artists. This story occurs somewhere in the early 1900s. I like my wuxia stories to be a little older since magic and romance seem vividly plausible at least 300 years ago, but I digress.
The movie started off promisingly enough. Bandits attack the general store that Liu Jinxi works in and when he tries to fend off the bad guys, ends up killing both. Detective Xu Baijiu is assigned to the case and through a series of stylishly presented observations, comes to the conclusion that Liu Jinxi is not really the peaceful village simpleton that he seems.
So far so good.
Then it goes downhill when people from Liu Jinxi‘s past start cropping up and creating trouble. Will Xu Baijiu discard his emotional baggage and make amends for the harm he has caused?
This is another of those movies that seem to be too long by about half an hour. I also got the distinct feeling that 2 directors were involved in making this movie. The first half is styled along the lines of Hollywood noir movies and the second half is based on Oriental themes of family and honor. The styles don’t really complement each other, at least here.
I seem to be on a Donnie Yen film extravaganza of late - Ip Man 1 & 2, 14 Blades, Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen, The Lost Bladesman and now Wu Xia. Unless in his comfort zone of affable, gentlemanly martial arts master, Donnie Yen is not a powerful actor. His expressions are limited and he is at his best when he is flying all across the screen and pulping up the bad guys. When he brings on the emotions and soul searching, the movie is a drag.
Takeshi Kaneshiro was dashing and charming in House of Flying Daggers. As the nervous yet super sharp detective, Wu Xia has some edge and bite when he is around – it is literally a different film when he is away.
Tang Wei as Ayu – Liu Jinxi’s wife – has a small role. She is very believable but – and the mater concurs - she looks too young to play Donnie Yen’s wife. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of her work though.
Jimmy Wang plays the master villain and Liu’s psychopathic father. No way do they look even remotely related - much less father and son - but Liu probably took after his mother. He looks like a plump, ol’ Grandpa but when he unleashes the crazy side – as the poor grandson finds out – not even Donnie can bring him down.
It is not really a new story to make an action movie on. The story leans more towards a man seeking to build a new life for himself but being thwarted. One gets the feeling that the presence of a major action star mandated the inclusion of the fight scenes. Personally, I felt they could have been trimmed down and a bit more of the psycho-crazy included.
The movie was a bit hit in China and I totally get why that’s the case. It is a visual treat - stylish and fresh. The indoor action sequences were amazingly shot and with my limited understanding of early 20th century Chinese clothing styles, I though the costumes also added to the general atmosphere.
Also loved the chase sequence over the village rooftops – wasn’t all wirework-technique-abuse. Please Donnie Yen, tell me you didn’t use a stunt-double for some portion of it.
In all, a good way to spend the evening.
