MovieChat Forums > Wu xia (2011) Discussion > Good... But cringey? Anyone else get the...

Good... But cringey? Anyone else get the same feeling? (Spoilers)

posted 8 years ago by robertdeaniii-1
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The movie was good. I liked the characters, story etc. I didn't even mind the weird physics of the story's universe. Still, it was hard for to stomach (SPOILER'S) the fact that the hero seemed... Invincible. He could 'defy gravity' and even if his arm got lobbed off he didn't quickly die from bleeding out but fought, like a beast, to the bitter end--where he's just fine. It ended with me realizing whether or not the main character was 'reformed' didn't justify anything he did. It reminded me of Humpbert Humpbert. The dude was a monster and the moral of the story is... cannibals who fight other cannibals deserve a good life... and an investigator will help/trust a madman because... he's a nice guy? I'm not saying it was totally inconceivable but it was unbelievable even in the quasi-fantasy world of the film. Just my opinion. Not saying I'm right.

[–] MindDepth01 8 years ago

Invincible? About the only fight scenes where the hero gets unscratched is against the two criminals in the store while the detective is explaining the event of the crime scene, and against his father's henchmen at the marketplace. The fake version of the store fight scene made him pretty much a punching bag at the hands of two criminals, with one killing himself by accident and the other killed by a "lucky" punch. But when he went up against his mother (stepmother?) and father, the tables are turned. Especially the final fight had him pretty much beaten to a bloody pulp by his father until the detective came to his rescue.

This is a wu xia (fantasy, myth, the supernatural etc) movie, albeit a very down-toned one in comparison to other movies of its' type, where gravity-defiance and weird physics are common. You will just have to watch more wu xia movies or do research to better understand the sub-genre.

[–] robertdeaniii-1 8 years ago

Interesting points. I just couldn't get over the whole lobbing off the arm act followed by a fight scene. BUT you make a good point. I haven't seen many wu xia movies and if this is common then I'll just have to check out some more :D

[–] MindDepth01 8 years ago

The one arm thing is a homage to Chang Cheh's The One-Armed Swordsman.