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Review
by Kozo: |
After
too long Tsui Hark makes a return to the director's
chair for Seven Swords, an ambitious martial
arts epic based on "The Seven Swordsmen from
Mountain Tian", a wuxia novel by Liang Yu-Sheng.
Tsui's absence from Hong Kong Cinema has been felt,
though the feeling has been a mixed one. After all,
Tsui's last two features were the special effects-assisted
Black Mask II and The Legend of Zu.
One was an egregious comic book movie, the other an
ambitious fantasy that was more sensory overload than
success. This reviewer even referred to the once-annointed
cinema master as "George Lucas on crack."
Does Seven Swords further that designation?
Or does it mark the return of arguably Hong Kong's
best filmmaker of the late eighties and early nineties?
Thankfully, the answer skews
towards the latter. Seven Swords - while not
reinventing martial arts cinema or reaching the heights
of many of Tsui's masterpieces - still manages to
entertain and even enthrall, though in uneven and
sometimes underwhelming fashion. Tsui's epic is set
in Ancient China after the establishment of the Ching
Dynasty. The government, fearing retribution from
nationalist martial arts types, decide to impose a
Martial Arts Ban. More specifically, the practice
of martial arts is punishable by decapitation. Aside
from putting the fear of headlessness into the local
populace, this ban induces evil-looking mercenary
types to carry out the ban for the government, thus
lining their pockets with blood money AND ridding
the land of "good" martial artists.
Chief among these bad guys
are a band of bastards led by Fire-Wind (Sun Hong-Lei,
clearly enjoying playing the bad guy), who are set
to take out Martial Village, home to the Heaven and
Earth Society and a major head collection for Fire-Wind's
greedy minions. Most of the village is partial to
martial arts, but the general understanding is that
the villagers don't stand a chance. Luckily, they
get help. Former executioner Fu (Lau Kar-Leung) takes
two of the villagers, Yuanyin (Charlie Young) and
Han (Lu Yi) with him to Mt. Heaven to receive the
counsel of Master Shadow-Glow, a legendary swordsmith
who just so happens to hang with a passel of supreme
sword disciples, among them happy-go-lucky Mulong
(Duncan Chow), acrobatic Xin Longzi (Tai Li-Wu), stoic
Yang Yunchong (Leon Lai), and glowering badass Chu
Zhaonan (Donnie Yen). Shadow-Glow bestows magnificent
swords upon Fu, Yuanyin, and Han, and sends the three
with his four disciples to kick some major Fire-Wind
tail. Bingo: the Seven Swords are born, and bad guys
must beware. Or something.
Seven Swords is remarkably simple in both construction and setup.
Basically, this is a story about seven supreme swordsmen
(or five, since Han and Yuanyin need to get the hang
of their new weapons) who band together to right wrongs.
That's it. Within the first hour they're already charging
back towards Martial Village on their horses, and
within 90 minutes they've already dispensed major
pain to Fire-Wind's army. The martial arts set pieces
that mark this first 90 minutes are fun, engaging
stuff, though they're a step below the visceral dazzle
of Tsui's The Blade, and nowhere near as balletic
as the stuff that the Hero/Crouching Tiger crowd expects. This is rough-and-tumble, grounded
martial arts, and it's refreshing in its gritty, dirty
excess. It's also a mite confusing, as the editing
seems more concerned with energy and movement than
fluidity. Sometimes fights start and then stall, and
the audience never sees a concrete outcome. Kenji
Kawaii's score compensates somewhat, though the martial
arts sequences frequently become more of a thundering
montage than an actual start-to-finish battle. Still,
it's all good. Fight fans who love their choreography
uninterrupted could be annoyed, but the sheer furious
energy of the action sequences entertains.
Matching the grounded feel
of the martial arts is the costume and set design,
which eschews pretty costumes and gorgeous colors
for more neutral-colored rags and dusty landscapes.
Tsui Hark and company go for practical realism rather
than pretty pictures for Seven Swords, and
again the effect is refreshing. The realistic trappings
help overcome the film's essential simplicity; fantasy
is put aside, and the trials and mortal danger experienced
by the characters (well, the characters who aren't
supreme swordsmen) takes on greater edge. Granted,
this is just padding to a standard wuxia plotline,
but the realistic settings and grounded action help
make the world of Seven Swords into something
more accessible.
There's other stuff
that pads out the storyline of Seven Swords.
The Heaven and Earth Society holds secrets, supreme
swordsman Yang Yunchong is pained at returning from
isolation, Yuanyin likes Yunchong, Han's girlfriend
Yiufang (Zhang Jingchu) may like someone else besides
Han, and there's even a Korean connection. Bad guy
Fire-Wind has a thing for Korean beauty Green Pearl
(Kim So-Yeon), an obsession that Tsui Hark lingers
on with lurid fascination. Also having a thing for
Green Pearl is swordsman Chu, which is weird because
it means Donnie Yen gets to play the smoldering romantic
hero. Oddly, the veteran martial artist succeeds at
being a charismatic hunk, an accomplishment which
should be added to Tsui Hark's list of laudable cinematic
achievements. Right below "He directed Peking
Opera Blues," it could say, "He made
Donnie Yen into a romantic hero." Will wonders
never cease.
The problem with all
of this: it's just padding on a very thick, but ultimately
disconnected storyline. There's backstory and hidden
agendas in Seven Swords, but the details are
handed out in a manner that's almost separate from
the actual nuts-and-bolts butt-kicking that people
paid to see. After the first 90 minutes, the town
of Martial Village goes on a caravan through the desert,
and stories involving unrequited love, hidden traitors,
possible secret agendas, and Michael Wong as a mustachioed
government official appear. Much of it is engaging,
e.g. some themes involving the necessity and paralyzing
horror of violence, but much of the film's drama is
handed out in exposition or after-the-fact flashbacks.
The effect ultimately lessens the drama, and further
disconnects the story from the action. Plus, there
are so many characters and storylines in Seven
Swords that most simply do not get enough coverage
to matter to the audience. As a result, the film is
more underwhelming than compelling, and doesn't satisfy
on the level of the popular crossover wuxias of the
last five years.
However, these are high
level quibbles. Tsui Hark has never been the most
coherent storyteller, but his films have possessed
an energetic imagination and cinematic vibe that have
usually made them infectiously entertaining, if not
all-out good. Seven Swords does not succeed
as Tsui Hark's best works have, but the action, iconic
characters, and the world that it creates are more
than enough to make the film worth recommending. If
one is expecting too much of Seven Swords,
then the film is bound to disappoint. Still, your
expectations shouldn't be that high. After all, look
at Tsui Hark's last two films; after Black Mask
II and The Legend of Zu, expectations should
be pretty damn low.
Besides, saying that Seven
Swords does not match Once Upon a Time in China, The Blade, or Peking Opera Blues is
asking way too much. Those are great movies, and while Seven Swords may not be great, it's good enough.
True, it has too many characters, is sometimes underdeveloped,
sometimes overstuffed, and probably could even have
been trimmed for theatrical release, but Seven
Swords does something that a worthy film should:
it leaves you wanting more. Whether that means more
character backstory, more romance, or simply more
action, Tsui Hark's latest film represents an oasis
in a very dry desert. Hong Kong Cinema needs movies
like Seven Swords, and it succeeds at its genre
well enough that the supposed four-hour cut of the
film - or Tsui Hark's threatened sequels - sound like
things worth looking out for. Plus, Seven Swords shows us that somewhere, somehow, Tsui Hark might
still have it. The Master may not completely be back,
but hopefully he's on his way. (Kozo 2005) |
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