MovieChat Forums > Jian yu (2010) Discussion > Good movie that didn't work.

Good movie that didn't work.

posted 13 years ago by ben00rs
3 replies | jump to latest

This was a good movie. It was very entertaining. Was it original...ummm I would call it "beyond derivative" and I don't mind that IF it works out well that way. However, this movie pales in comparison to CTHD in artistic depth, aesthetics, writing, cinematography, and don't even ask me to compare music.

Despite that, the acting was very good, especially Barbie Hsu - but she needed to be developed more. The fight choreography was also right up there with the former great MA period pieces. Then again this movie had no stand-out fight scenes as both HOFD and CTHD had a surplus of. I remember being mesmerized by the fight scenes in the Bamboo Forest in "House" and the fight in the trees in "Crouching" among many others. This movie had no "special scene". John Woo is more straightfoward "modern action" though (his co-director had say too obviously) and he was going atypical with this movie and it should be expected that Woo would not reach the level of aesthetics, story and cinematography that Yimou and Ang Lee are capable of just as we wouldn't expect a breathtaking "Shoot-em-up" scene from those two as Woo has pulled off time and time again.

Spoilers coming!

The biggest issue with the movie was that it doesn't touch the viewer's emotions deeply enough. The bond between Ah-Sheng and Jing is just not made to be believable. There is no passionate scenes between them (physical or emotional) nor is there an aura of romantic tension between the two, mostly because the writing doesn't develop their romance enough. In CTHD the story made you want Yun-Fat's character and Yeoh's character to end up happy together and it made you feel for the two characters as the amount of tension in their scenes was painful and yet beautiful, and when they don't get the happy ending it stirs up sadness in reaction to the feeling of loss. Because the romance isn't developed in this movie well I felt nothing in the end as Jing lay dying on the field or when we see Ah-Sheng carrying Jing home. Overall, the movie wanted to show something about love and change and the message doesn't come across because of poor romantic development. Again, it was a good movie on an entertainment level though

[–] cineastral 12 years ago

To me this is a back-to-basic wuxia movie, in the vein of the old King Hu movies, with adjustments to match the current era's expectations (and of course with bigger budget.) I do agree that it needs to have a few more scenes to flesh out the relationship between the two main characters.

I think this movie was the work of the Chao-Bin Su (who also wrote the screenplay) more than John Woo.

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

I really don't think this film had pretentions to surpass CTHD in terms of quality of production, star power and epic story-telling. I also agree that ...

The bond between Ah-Sheng and Jing

... believable for me, needed to be more accentuated (One or the other always seemed to be either running off somewhere or incapacitated for some reason). But ultimately the film does achieve a good blend of thrills, drama, light romance, mixed with a touch of pathos.🐭

[–] da_hal 9 years ago

You just need to see more movies. By far, this film is as groundbreaking as Wuxia or 5 Deadly Venoms.

The sad part is, since you didn't see those films first, you can't fully appreciate how good this one is.