Shaolin

[Drunk Monk]

I watched this again via netflix as I didn't see a subtitled version. As it happens, the subtitles didn't really add much. It just made me reflect on why this film fails. It's got sword fights, great sets, explosions and 4 of the top martial arts actors - Jackie, Yu Hai, Wu Jing & my ol' Shaolin friend, Shi Yanneng (who I wrote a cover story on centering on this flick.) Part of the issue is Corey Yuan's wire work, which is way too floaty. Another issue is the lighting, or rather, the overall look of the film, which doesn't showcase the fights well. There's some nice color schemes - the grey of the army contrasted by Lau's golden armor and silk clad family in the beginning, and by the blood and fire in the end, the warm glowing faces of the monks, the lush mountain scenery - but the fights are lit very poorly, so it's really hard to see the complexity of Corey's wacky choreography. But the biggest problem is the latest term I am coining - Mandarin melodrama. It's just too damn melodramatic, too much story. In a way, the film is like Ghost Protocol, tackling a myth that's always been there but not really addressed in film. In GP, it was the secretary disavowing any knowledge, the leader of every freakin episode. In Shaolin, it's the legend of warlords taking refuge. Great idea, but in both cases, the filmmakers over thought it. I think Mandarin melodrama is the 'beats' Greg is referring to - the tearful couple confessing regret, the mother crying over a dead child, the Chinapop ballad sung by the star (Lau in this case) with slo-mo flashback images, the villain being saved by the hero to deliver one last stab and then having a repentful epiphany, the pause for the spit-blood-&-die scene. It's the hubris of Chollywood filmmaking, this Mandarin melodrama, and it weighs down this 2+ hour epic. Trim this to an hour and a half and it would be a really tight film. Chollywood is split between the running times of Bollywood and the few 2+ hour Hollywood blockbusters, making the editing too soft.

Looking forward to Yanneng in Wrath of Vajra. WellGo drops that in March and I've already struck a deal with them for a sweepstakes, maybe more...