Even Time and tide or Black mask 2 didn't reach the subjectivity of the martial scenes. It's not the typical hongkong ballet but the eye ballet!
Tsui HArk creates the actioncam movements here !
There's a documental of Fabio Segatori in which Hark explain his action theory!
In his fights there's no more space or time, there's movements only!
Is Hark the first to capture action this way?
P.S. And there's no Ang Lee's special effects (they don't fly but jump with ropes)
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To me, THE BLADE has always been the beginning of the end of good action choreography. To my knowloedge, Tsui Hark was the first person, as you already stated above, to employ this technique that cripples every second action film theses days: all closeups (oftentimes out of focus, full of motion blur) and quick cuts, no wide shots, which results in total disorientation and thus the viewers absolute desinterest in the action after the first two action sequences. a total turn-off, and a new way for lazy action directors to come up with pseudo-realistic action scenarios that, in their opinion, "draw" the viewer right into the action itself. They couldn't be more wrong. this is a sad development. Thank God, there are some newer films around (like ONG-BAK) that try to make a retun to the old school way of doing it, which is the right way.
shareWhile I agree that the claustrophobic shaky hand-held action camera that has become the norm for Hollywood is getting really tired, I think one has to draw a line between effective subjective hand-held camera... the stuff that is the product of very precisely calculated movements to convey an illusion of immediacy and tension... and the random application of these techniques.
While the sloppy, lazy use of this kind of cinematography is a stain on the work of otherwise competent genre directors like Christopher Nolan and Peter Jackson, Tsui Hark is really a whole other thing. When Hark puts together action shots like those seen in THE BLADE or TIME & TIDE, it is truly with a cameraman and editor's eye. Every shot contains new information, each shot plays a surprisingly complex game of hide and seek, creating a narrative of action that happens around the periphery of the frame.
If your only interest is in physical martial arts displays, admittedly this might not be to your liking... but if you like CINEMA, it's pretty impressive stuff. In some of his later films, Tsui Hark has impressed me with his ability to make what you are NOT seeing in the frame surprisingly exciting. It's an effect he achieves not only with the choreography of the performers, but the choreography of the camera itself.
And that's a long way from just filming a fight scene while randomly jiggling the camera... which I confess is what it feels like watching some movies.
Very articulate post and I couldn't agree with you more! I just watched this film for the first time tonight, even though I am a massive Tsui Hark fan. The ending fight sequence absolutely blew me away. One of the most visceral, exciting, and well-composed fight scenes I've ever witnessed! I'm not a fan of shakycam fan whatsoever but I think here Tsui Hark truly displayed a mastery of 'chaos cinema.'
shareI do agree in some pint that most of director are lazy using this technique because they do not know what they are doing. I nick-241, I suggest you take a close look at the end fight scene of DAO again, because noting of what you say is true. Most of the shots are very clear there are only a few which are out of focus and wanted so. Ther is not shaky cam at all. One thing is making it fast paced, and panning the camera into one direction while the actors fight like mad dogs is hardly to be seen as shaky cam documentary style.
Now I did love the word disorientation you used because this is exactly what Hark was aiming for. It was never his intention to make it visually appealing but visceral, violent, chaotic and disorienting. I clearly notice you don't know much about Hark because he is the one with Yuen Wo Ping who saved the martial industry from failure. It's because of him everybody does martial arts now.
And in this movie he was just trying to do something new and different. So you must love cinema to appreciate this or just stick to all time jackie chans, which are great yes but always the same.
Of course Hark introduced this "tricks" in wuxia and this was reprised thereafter by all the world of cinema. as nick-241 states, he had the idea and put it first in this movie. this is innovation and has to be appreciated for what it is. of course this led to said lazyness and cheap tricks still today (and maybe forever) plague many action movies. Avenges comes to my mind: the totally inept Scarlett Johannson is turned into a formidable fighter thanks to absurd close ups, fast camera movement and, of course, a good body double.
'What has been affirmed without proof can also be denied without proof.' (Euclid)
Well said! I agree.
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