My Kingdom a.k.a Silly men with floppy hair hamming it up.
I did not like this movie. Barring the intricate costumes nearly everything else is wrong with it. The script is sub-par, the leads can’t perform to save their lives and every scene gets into melodrama overload. Neither is it a satisfactory look into the Chinese opera culture nor a compelling saga on revenge and redemption. This is a shame because the eye popping visuals could have elevated even a poor script to something watchable if not enjoyable.
Guan Yi Long and Meng Er Kui are gifted opera performers who must avenge their Master’s humiliation and reclaim the title of “The Mightiest Warrior” from his old adversary. Er Kui is also obsessed with avenging the death of his family at the hands of the former Prince Regent. The lads must fend for themselves as they forge their way through Shanghai. But their desires may lead them on separate ways and ultimately destroy their careers and even their friendship.
The casting is a let down. Chun Wu as Guan Yi Long and Geng Han as Meng Er Kui struggle REALLY hard, but both are completely unsuited to the job. Geng Han seems to continuously channel Tony Leung. It’s an admirable yet poor effort but he is still better than Chun Wu who simply cannot act. He should stick to modeling or whatever his regular job is.
The hair and makeup department appear to have been a free hand in this movie. Both actors are generously caked in greasepaint and that’s not even when they are performing as opera artists. It cannot bode well for a film if you are watching a scene where brothers are warring and you are more concerned about their tears wiping away the thick layers of yellow makeup on their face than the fact that one of them has just broken a leg. Their hair styles are also particularly distracting. I am no expert but I wouldn’t associate the current pop idol flat-ironed styles with Shanghai in the 1920s. The movie attempts to bring in a ‘period’ look but somehow all the sets look very contrived - though extremely beautiful - and more suited to a vintage-themed photo shoot for a decorating magazine than an authentic setting for this movie.
The super-awesome Yuen Biao and Yu Rongguang redeem the movie a little bit. Both veterans have more talent in their pinky fingers than the main leads and it shows. Their presence in the first half promises some hope for the movie. But once Yu Rongguang leaves, the script disintegrates spectacularly and makes for a horrible second half.
Louis Liu is very interesting as General Lu. With his ‘emo’ styling, he appears to have traveled back in time from the 2000s to early 20th century Shanghai. His military-chic clothing, big hair and affected gestures are puzzling and he isn’t physically suited to the role of a police officer either. But he is very intriguing - whether by choice or by chance one really cannot say. It feels like there was something more to the character but the writer/director/editor lost interest and did away with the scenes.
Barbie Hsu is the saving grace of the movie. As the beautiful object of everyone’s desires, she is suitably conflicted, conniving and cool. Yet when she starts shrieking and screeching in her action scenes towards the end of the movie, one has simply had enough.
Mercifully it is a short-ish film and if you can be happy with aesthetics, you shouldn’t suffer too much but you could still avoid it.
