+- Forums (http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomForum)
+-- Forum: Doom Arts (http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomForum/forumdisplay.php?fid=6)
+--- Forum: Doom DVDs (http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomForum/forumdisplay.php?fid=11)
+--- Thread: An Empress and the Warriors (/showthread.php?tid=1388)
An Empress and the Warriors - Drunk Monk - 10-20-2008
Another from Donnie Yen - see http://brotherhoodofdoom.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1411. This was his last before Painted Skin, the new box office smash in Hong Kong and after Flashpoint and Dragon Tiger Gate (which was shown at a DOOM gathering). It's like all of Donnie's flicks - great fights, some interesting moments, and a lot of rather annoying plot in between. Donnie is the third wheel, the loyal bastard servant, which is a shame, a waste of material. The Empress is Kelly Chen, who doesn't have the chops to handle such a complex role. She kills the flick with her mediocrity. Leon Lai is the love interest and there is one of the most insipid love/musical interlude sequences ever put to film. A horrifying cantopop song that goes 'wo ai, wo ai' (I love, I love) for a silly hot air balloon ride with cheesy effects. Give me the two Bollywood lovers dancing around the garden any day. Did I mention it was a period flick? Cool armor. A couple of nice battlefield scenes. I liked when the armies formed ramps with their shields to flip the chariots over (not that it would work, but it was funny to think about). Donnie delivers his one-man-against-an-army scene that's so popular in Chinese cinema now - Jackie did it in the Myth and Jet did it in Hero.
Onward to Painted Skin and Ip Man.