Flying Swords at Dragon Gate

[Drunk Monk]

When they say 'flying swords', they mean it. This is the anticipated reunion of Tsui Hark and Jet Li in glorious 3D, if only you can go to China and see it in 3D. It's probably really good in 3D. They got one of the Avatar 3D wizards to work on it and it has no pretensions about the media - a lot of shit flies at you: tea cups, throwing knives, blood, logs, and, of course, swords. It's got spectacle for sure: fabulously ornate costumes and sets, gorgeous panoramic shots and lots of CGI landscapes. There are a lot of characters including a fine sinister gang of villains, too many for me to keep track of without subtitles. It's loosely on a 92 film which is loosely based on a book I read, but I couldn't place the characters at all. The color schemes are overblown, very retro, almost looks hand-tinted at times; at other times, it's reminiscent of classic 70s kung fu flicks, which is obviously what the film was going for. A fair amount of sword fights, although it's all wire work stuff. Jet's martial skills, along with Gordon Liu's, are totally wasted.

Is this a good film? It totally depends on the quality of the 3D. If the 3D is good, this film is awesome. The sword fight while chained together in a tornado may beat my all time fav 3D scene, the spaghetti tornado in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Then again, the 3D might suck and then, this film would be interesting, yet mediocre at best. I'll probably never know as there isn't a 3D release planned for the U.S. ad: