Just say NO to wire work

Rating: 7/10 (13 January 2001)

Damn you, critics. You all hyped this movie up as the ultimate end-all, be-all of Martial Arts adventure films. Well, as someone who has been watching Hong Kong action cinema and Samurai films for years, I must honestly report that this film, while enjoyable and excellent in many respects, does not quite live up to the hype.
But let's discuss the good, first. Casting is excellent. I've loved Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun Fat for years, and it was a genuine pleasure to see them together in this film. Both of them excel in both acting and martial arts abilities here. Also excellent is the beautiful young actress Ziyi Zhang as Jen Yu, and Chen Chang, as the bandit "Lo", brings a much-appreciated dose of humor and charm to contrast the more severe and reserved characters played by Chow Yun and Michelle. Their intermingled stories of unrequited love are funny and heartbreaking and provide some enjoyable "down time" between combat sequences.
The Action scenes are also, for the most part, lighting-paced and exciting. I especially enjoyed the sword styles used in the film. The sword battle between Michelle Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang is amazing, and Chow Yun Fat seems to effortlessly make "Green Destiny" dance like a living thing.
However, the one thing that completely detracted from the film's magic was the overblown use of wire work. Characters seem to fly more than they walk in this film, and the whole thing takes on a ridiculous "Peter Pan" quality after a while. I know everyone thinks that wire work is new, a trend started by "The Matrix". The fact is that it's been used (and overused) in many Martial Arts films for years. I've never been a huge fan of it. However, I enjoyed the wire work in "The Matrix" because it was used relatively sparingly and punctuated the action perfectly. It was also much more believable once we understood that the world of "The Matrix" was a computer-created illusion, unfettered by real physics. However, I fear that the popularity of "The Matrix" has created a disturbing new trend of using wire work as a crutch to boost the action sequences, as seen in "Romeo Must Die", the horrific "Charlie's Angels", and now here. But the thing that bothered me the most about the wire work in this film is that it LOOKED like wire work. It was much more clean-looking and effective when used in short bursts in the "The Matrix". Here, however, characters float from roof to roof as if Peking were one big trampoline, and it is blatantly obvious in their movements that they are suspended from something (although the wires themselves have all been digitally erased, of course). While it didn't completely ruin the film for me, it did keep me from taking it very seriously a lot of the time, and that is too bad because this epic story was meant to be taken seriously. In my (not so) humble opnion, however, the best martial arts films are those that can display amazing physical feats while still observing the basic laws of physics. Perhaps that is why some of the old Japanese Samurai films (for example, the "Lone Wolf and Cub" series) are so incredible, because the strength of the action sequences flowed from the actor's skill and lightning-speed with his blade, rather than his character's supposed ability to jump into the air and run across his enemies' heads like stepping stones.
So, bottom line, this is a film worth seeing, and there is much here to enjoy. Just don't feel guilty about laughing at the excessive wire work, and don't go into the theater expecting it to be the Second Coming of Bruce Lee.