The tyranny of plot over character.

Rating: 4/10 (7 October 2006)

This film has no soul. Thats my main problem with the film really. It has no soul. Sure the film looks fantastic, sure it supposedly deals with the often popular and heady subject of revenge in a brash, bold way but it does it in a way that is needlessly gratuitous and wholly sensational. The long, side-scrolling fight scene which is very striking and original is entirely unnecessary and drawn out. A clear cut case of style over substance, which is apparent throughout most of this film. And it suffers heavily from a certain style of writing that seems to be symptomatic of substandard east Asian filmmakers. The idea that drama and powerful film-making are the result of a cumulative effect. That is, if you add enough elements that are recognisably powerful and dramatic, you will end up with a powerful, dramatic film. For example, suicide is very striking and powerful, revenge is dramatic, unrequited love is dramatic, a character unable of feeling human emotions is a powerful statement. The problem is that this film amongst other Asian films (eg. hero, Samaritan girl) tries to imitate truly powerful films, without an understanding of what made those films powerful in the first place, thus creating a dramatic atmosphere by carelessly throwing all these features together without the slightest care for how it effects the characters that it subjects these "dramatic" events to. What you are left with are alien characters, that no human being can possibly relate to or comprehend, that have no soul of their own, but are merely devices, allegories and playthings of the sensational directors that use them. In short what you have here, in this highly praised and touted film is the tyranny of plot over character and ultimately the death of character.