Confusing Plot, Charismatic Visuals

Rating: 8/10 (19 March 2009)

'Ying Xiong' is quite confusing. Jet Li's character Nameless tells so many stories to the King of Qin (played by Chen Dao-ming) and I couldn't keep up with any of the stories. And because these stories were shot in so many colours matters were even more confusing. I was too busy gawking at the screen, going "Oh! my, that is wonderful" and in the meantime, another story passed me by.
Zhang Yimou's story is grand. Three warriors, each one better than the other, from the different warring provinces the King of Qin wants to unify under his rule, come together to assassinate the King. Since killing the King is no easy task, they hatch a plan. 'Ying Xiong' is the story of their plan and whether they are successful in killing the King and freeing their respective provinces.
The three warriors have been played by three of China's best known actors. Tony Leung Chiu-wai as Broken Sword, Maggie Cheung Man-yuk as Flying Snow, and Donnie Yen as Sky. Jet Li  the most best known star in this film  plays a character called Nameless who is an official in the province of Zhao and who has, supposedly, killed all these assassins. Killing these assassins was difficult but now he is faced with the toughest task of all. Convincing the King of Qin that he has, indeed, finished the assassins.
Zhang Yimou's scale is grander. If 'Wo Hu Cang Long' opened up the doors for classy kung-fu movies, 'Ying Xiong' could very well be considered the Mother of all Wo Hu Cang Longs. And that, perhaps, takes 'Ying Xiong' down.
Time magazine, issue dated 21 January 2002, says this about 'Ying Xiong': "Zhang Yimou's martial-arts epic 'Hero' has a boffo cast, a big budget, an award-winning crewand the burden of 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'" This burden sinks 'Ying Xiong'.
'Wo Hu Cang Long' was simple, fluid and feminine. It had a linear plot with no twists and all. The serious Chow Yun-fat, the gorgeous Michelle Yeoh, the good bandit Chang Chen, and the cute little dynamite Zhang Ziyi were like people we know. Though the characters belonged to a different era, each one was like so familiar. Chow Yun-fat was like a father-figure, a man we could always rely upon. Michelle Yeoh was like an aunt or an elder sister, one who does embroidery, makes tea, keeps secrets, gives the best advice. Chang Chen was like this neighbourhood lout who climbs trees, plays games on the street, bullies young children. And Zhang Ziyi, well, she's like that daddy's spoilt daughter who wants to run away, try a bold dress or hairdo, mix with the guys, stuff like that. In 'Ying Xiong', you could hardly identify with a character. There are stars, my god, all of them. But that connection with them is missing. Plus, there are so many sub-plots, a different colour for each one of them  red, blue, green, white, yellow  and these sub-plots (the entire film, actually) has been shot so well, so well, that this beauty just acts as a distraction. The actors put in a great job, a very great job, but somehow it is only the non-action scenes that stand out. The action scenes seem so unconvincing and (after 'The Matrix' and 'Wo Hu Cang Long') so repetitive.
The technical aspect is the real star. Christopher Doyle  Wong Kar-wai's right-hand man  could actually shoot day scenes. I've seen Doyle's work only in Kar-wai's films  'Cheun Gwong Tsa Sit', 'Hua Wang Nian Hua', 'Chung Hing Sam Lam' and '2046'  and I had ended up believing that he specializes in no-lights photography. But his work in 'Ying Xiong' is so superb I had to change my opinion. Doyle could do anything.
The music by Tan Dun sounds like 'Wo Hu Cang Long' but the tunes are different. Sounds good. Very good.
Time magazine has gone ga-ga over the fight scene with Maggie and Ziyi (who has a very small role as Moon, Broken Sword's disciple). I found it quite ordinary. Maggie and Ziyi are just doing acrobatics and there are leaves flying around. Not that appealing. Plus, after seeing Maggie in Wong Kar-wai's films, it is hard to accept her doing action scenes. Ziyi is so lithe, plus, I still remember her as the girl who stole the Green Destiny, so, watching her doing action was more OK. Tony Leung's action scenes are nice. He carries this grave expression throughout and that saves him. Maggie looks good crying. Another Wong Kar-wai hangover. The action scene I particularly liked was the Arrow Deflecting scene featuring Jet Li and Maggie. It's amazing. The Lake fight scene is also good but it looks like an extended 'Wo Hu Cang Long' water-surface fight scene.
I would give this film 9/10 for the technical aspects, which are the real stars; 9/10 for the acting because all actors are very good  Tony Leung, especially; 6/10 for the story because I ended up confused  although the end is nice, the reason that Broken Sword gives. That adds up to 24 out of 30. That is, 80 out of 100. So my rating is 8/10.