Art and Martial Art Blend on the canvas of the film screen.

Rating: 10/10 (14 June 2003)

I love Zhang Yimou's stunning use of color in all his films(Red Sorghum, Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern, To live, Farewell My Concubine). I also appreciate the deep sense of tragedy he captures in all his stories as well as their deep poetic impact on the scene he is painting.
As for martial arts movies and realism, if you'd rather watch two guys sloppily wrestle each other for 2 hours be my guest. Superman can burn you with his eyes and keanu can manipulate the matrix so sit back relax and enjoy some Chinese supermen flying around and shut the heck up. You still can't look as good as Jet Li and Donnie Yen even with special effects so quit hating. Anyway I saw vintage Zhang Yimou with Yuen Woo Ping style wuxia and I got my kung fu fix and then some. Next John Woo should step up to bat and add his vicious camera skills to the level achieved so far. Imagine Face Off with Jet Li vs Donnie Yen. Throw in Chow yun Fat and Tony Leung for the gunplay and that would make my vision of movie bliss a reality.