The Art Director Killed the Director!

Rating: Null/10 (17 January 2003)

Catching the movie on the first day of its release, I really had high hopes for this movie, cos there was tony leung and maggie cheung, one of my fav onscreen partners. but more importantly, there was zhang yimou, director of "raise the red lantern", one of my fav movies of all time.
But my verdict for this film is pretty mixed. I really loved the cinematography, which comes across as very "wong kar wai", since the dop is wong's long-time collaborator, christopher doyle. the lake scene and the fight between maggie and zhang ziyi was wonderful, and it really brought across some of the meaning behind chinese martial arts. and i also like the way the story was told, in a "rashomon"-like way, like a battle of wits between the emperor and the assasin (Jet Li).
But seriously, for those who understand Chinese, the dialogue was a joke. There were so many times that the audience erupted in mirth at the most "serious" moments, it was just so silly! one reason could be that singaporeans are bemused at the fact that tony leung's voice was dubbed (he speaks cantonese, like maggie, but maggie's voice was dubbed better).
but the point i'm trying to make is: what happened to Zhang Yimou? He who made "Red Lantern" and "Ju Dou"? I don't really want to argue about political ideology and whether he sold out cos the movie seems pro-communist, but I certainly thought he sold out in "cinematic terms". This is just a glossier version of "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" (cheesy dialogue too!) and it really is a movie catered for Weatern audiences, christ! the English subtitles are even better!
I hope I don't sound like I hate Western stuff (I love Western stuff!) but I just feel that all these movies exist because it's a trend in America. So what happens when the trend changes? Overall, I enjoyed the movie, but not because the story was great or it was cinematically ground-breaking, but because i'm watching chinese fighting in a series of mtvs.