| Overall Grade: |
B+ |
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| Story: |
B+ |
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| Acting: |
B+ |
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| Direction: |
B+ |
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| Visuals: |
B+ |
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A point of view from a Chinese
by AnpingG (movies profile)
Aug 10, 2007
71
of
113 people found this review helpful
The first martial arts TV drama series broadcasted in mainland China is "Hou Yuanjia", which was made in Hongkong in 1980s. It is one of the classics for Chinese who started to have their first TV set at that time. It is the time when the economy reform started and the moral power of Hou is the key to convey.
If you are a fan of Bruce Lee, you should know the name of Hou Yuanjia, since in one of Bruce Lee's film, he acted as Chen Zhen, a student of Hou and took revenge to kill Japanese who ploted to poison his master. Jet Li also acted as Chen Zhen before in a movie which has the same story as Bruce Lee's.
Most of Hou's stories are made, not real, including this movie. The truth is Hou is a martial arts master, he created Jingwu Sports, he was famous in Wushu Society of Tianjin and Beijing. The events which need to be proved are he was weak when he was young, he defeated foreign fighters, and he was poisioned by Japanese. Any other stories are made by writers.
From my point of view, Hou is Bruce Lee in 1860s. Both of them have lengend stories. Both of them defeated foreign fighters, in stories or in movies. Both of them convey one topic: Chinese can be stronger than western people, China can be more powerful than western countries.
Don't get me wrong, most Chinese today go to theatres to watch this movie, would not like to accept this old theme. Instead, they are intested to see how this old story was told in the movie, and I think the movie writer did understand that.
So, in this movie, other than the old theme, the movie writer added a life lesson in the story. Hou turned into a bad boy when he was young. Although it made the movie more enjoyable, I think most Chinese feel uncomfortable to accept this change.
The actions in this movie are Wushu style. Jet Li was a national Wushu champion in 1980s. He is the right one in this role. Wushu is not just a fight, it is an art full of Chinese philosophy. The pose and the move are precisely developed to convey the body power and beauty. From my point of view, it is not as practical as Bruce Lee's bloody style.
The success of this film is Jet Li use it to draw a line between him and Bruce Lee and Jackie Chen. His style is not as bloody as Bruce Lee. He is not as humorous as Jackie Chen. His style is beautiful, full of Chinese and asian like. I didn't see Hou in this movie, I saw Jet Li. I like Jet Li to play action role in ancient China because he is the only right one. He tried to mimic Bruce Lee's style, intentionly or unintentionly, in "Kiss of Dragon". He is not bad in Bruce Lee's style, but I think his talents are in Wushu, the beautiful fighting art.
Hope my review will help you enjoy more. |
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