02-18-2021, 10:52 PM
(01-30-2021, 10:15 AM)Drunk Monk Wrote:
Shao Lin Si (少林寺之得宝传奇)
A reboot of Shaolin Temple from Wang Baoqiang, one of my fav actors right now (search Baoqiang here). Wang was raised at Shaolin Temple and has delivered some actioners, although his reputation is for comedy.
My first Lunar New Year flick for the year of the ox.
And what a disappointment. There's got to be a special slang for films that have all the right ingredients but cook up something flat. I'll think of something.
This is a great production - fantastic panoramic settings accentuated by just enough CGI, opulent costumes that are rich in texture, even for the peasant rags, lavish sets with lovely color schemes and a warm aesthetic sensibility. But the story is a mess. I couldn't make sense of how the characters were progressing. No one seemed to have proper motivations for their actions, which for a Kung Fu flick, should've been simple.
And the fights - they're okay. There's an effort to show Shaolin techniques and several homage shots to Jet Li's Shaolin Temple (this is not a sequel or redux - it's a completely novel story). There's some decent stuff, just not enough of it.
Wang gets to show his range of expressions, from comedic to tragic, from buffoon to Shaolin wise, and he gets to use his kill face, however the scenes feel very disconnected. I still enjoy his work but it felt wasted here.
The version I saw didn't have subtitles. I could slog through most of it with my scant Mandarin (it's not that complicated - or maybe it was and I totally missed it).
There's NG where cast and crew are wearing chin masks.
Sword fights. Not DOOM recommended sadly.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
