Alan Mak and Donnie Yen?! This is a great writer (Infernal Affairs, which became The Departed here in the USA) and a kick ass martial artist in Yen together in an intriguing story... Gonna be great.
¨...and Secretariat was just a horse¨
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Romance of the 3 Kingdom is a work of fiction. Yes, it is based on real historical event and people but its not really historically accurate. Its written in the 14th century during the Ming Dynasty which is a few hundred years after the Han Dynasty. So, nobody really knows how General Guan really looks like and whether the events and people depicted in the novel really happened or are like what is depicted in the novel.
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Actually, it was constructed from real historical records and documents so you're wrong there, its a work of mostly fact and only partly fictional. many of the events are as they actually happened or very close to. General Guan was known to be very tall from history, far taller than average, an intimidating figure with a long flowing beard - unlike donnie. Yes, parts of what happened were changed or added by the author to weave the historical facts into an exciting novel but it still remains 70% fact, 30% fiction.Err, I'd say it's more like 70% fiction, 30% fact-- even changing the "flow" and "specifics" of historical characters and events (like making Zhuge Liang more "important", Guan Yu more "perfect", etc.) counts as fictionalization to me... not that I really mind, cos the title of the novel explicitly claims to be a "romantization" of the Three Kingdom Records.
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Actually, again, most historians and experts on the time agree that the novel is mostly factual and partly fictional (as i said 70% fact, 30% fiction, again as i stated, characters changed to suit events or circumstance etc) so unless you're claiming to know more than all the experts and historians put to together then i'd have to say that sadly you're wrong.Err, I'd suggest you cut your losses here as it is becoming more and more apparent that your knowledge of ROTK and the historical background is almost as generic (wikipedia-based) as a non-fan/generic reader.
As a fan of the novel and the actual history (which i realise differ a fair amount) i find people like Takeshi Kaneshiro and Donnie Yen highly arrogant and offensive taking on such great historical figures so lightly and then completely changing and ruining their image.Err, which "image" are you talking about-- novel, historical, previous dramatic adaptions? You're assuming there is only one, where in fact there are many....
For a more accurate portrayal of the famous novel i suggest you watch the 1995 mainland Chinese TV series 'Romance Of The Three Kingdoms', for a closer account to the actual history (though not perfect either) 'Records of the Three Kingdoms' should be researched as well as the after notes of the actual novel.Err, since when is this movie supppose to be an adaptation of the novel? The "5 passes and 6 generals" (& many other 3-kingdom era) legends-- and variations there of- existed long before the novel adopted and adapted them for its own use.
It may be ok for the general veiwing public and Donnie Yen fanatics but for fans of the novel and followers of the Three Kingdoms historically it's not. Well thats just my opinion anyway, here's to watching that midget Donnie Yen run around tripping over his beard and fighting with a toothpick as a weapon, no doubt i'll laugh as hard as the bumbling oaf Kaneshiro as the master strategist Zhuge Liang.I got no problems with your opinions-- as long as you get off your pedestal and stop trying to speak for all fans of the novel or the history ("fallacy of composition").
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It's a movie, not a documentary..made for mass audience pleasure not history-lovers.
I also don't see how Donnie is ruining his name, acting is his job, his job is to get a good box office, which may or not happen but it's what he does for a living. If people are willing to pay to see this movies, studios (businesses) WILL make them. Movie stars are often slaves to what the audience wants to see, and if they want to remain famous and feed their family, they have to act it.
Guan Yu's name is by no way ruined by this movie. If this movie can alter the masse's perception of historical figures, then they are simply not strong enough to be a historical figure. Even if he makes a parody joke out of Guan Yu in this film, do you really think people are going to stop worshipping his statues??
For some people Wikipedia is all they know. San Guo can get confusing as some peopled do mistake the historical account with the fictional account. Add Wikipedia and we have experts spouting wiki nonsense.
I've just seen this movie in China, very good movie, especially if you can understand the subtle nuances of the period language.
The actor who played Cao Cao is bloody brilliant.
I liked the movie a lot - but I'm not familiar with the real characters, so I saw it without any bias... The cinematography was excellent and that's one thing HK is really good at doing. The acting was great. I love Donnie Yen and the other actors were great too.
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can't outrun your own shadow
Where are you going to find a 6ft 8in Chinese actor, who will bring an audience to the movie, and do a decent job? After seeing him (Donnie Yen) in Ip Man, I believe he can pull it off.
As for the height thing... I wouldn't regard anything in, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," as historically accurate, but the Romance of the Three Kingdoms place him at 9 chi in height (9 forearm-lengths). I'm 6' 1" and my forearm is approximately one foot in length. The average height of a Chinese man in the 3rd century was well below 6' and most likely closer to 5'. I'm quite sure it wasn't anywhere near 6 feet tall. So hopefully an agreeable length of a forearm would be something like 8-9 inches. So that would place Guan Yu anywhere between 6' to 6'9".
Given that with most civilizations, humans were much shorter on average in the past, there is enough ambiguity about Guan Yu's actual proportions that Donnie Yen could pass for taller if they were clever with the cinematography, if it would even matter.
It was written more than 1000 years after his death. Before the 14th century, the legend was just told orally. Which leaves the factual history subjected to fragmentation, distortion, and in the case of a beloved and fierce general of legend; inflation. So any suggestion of Guan Yu's actual height in modern units can only be described as speculative.
Chow Yun Fat would probably draw a larger Western audience, but Donnie Yen is also a great pick for the role in my personal opinion.
"Chow Yun Fat would probably draw a larger Western audience, but Donnie Yen is also a great pick for the role in my personal opinion."
The main market for this movie is mainland China, and currently, it is Donnie Yen who is King.
Besides, Chow Yun Fat, for all that I love him, cannot fight diddly squat.
Griffin
Evolution takes no prisoners.
ohhhhhh ..thats what dude was referring to in the reviews, "As for 5ft 8 Donnie as 6ft 8 giant Guan Yu, i dont think so"???? Holy mexican jumping beans! That is really TaLL for a Chinese! My 3 great aunts on the chinese side of my family were tall for chinese woman too, 5'11 & 5'10. All 3 were really beautiful in their hey days but the last sister died last yr :( But I bet they used Yen for his box office appeal along w/ the lack of good actors over 6ft
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When I read the description for this movie my jaw dropped. I've always wondered when a movie like this would be made.
shareDude, i shat myself when i saw the cast and the characters they were playing :D.
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So what happened after the ending? (I can't read Chinese yet) {Did he go somewhere? did he die? Did she die?}
sharethe film is based on only part of the book,theres still a lot more left of his story
when are they going to start on films about Song Jiang i would like to know
there seems to be loads made from "romance of the three kingdoms"
and theres a new series planned on "journey to the west"
so why no love for "the water margin"
Despite having no clue what this film was about I still enjoyed it. I am a big fan of Donnie Yen and I always base his movies on entertainment value...and I was entertained by the action and the story. Films like this are always going to dramatise the history it is based on so I never get worked up even if its completely farcical (although it would have been epic if Ip Man really did beat 10 people!). Having said that, I guess it does make you want to learn more about the history when you start noticing the inconsistencies with the movie!
shareI watched it last night and it was very good. The Ip man series were great, 14 blades was ok, but this one was realy good. And yes I have to agree that I saw some really unique and awesome fight sequences that have never done before which I also felt a nice fresh from the same-o boring Yuen Woo Ping stuff.
The cinematography was also excellent, almost as nice as Hero or HOFD. Donnie is really making a mark and to me making better marital arts film than Jet li who is just making hollywood paycheck movies that are just crap. Im glad donnie can pick up the slack and fill jet's shoes.
fkin awesome film
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