I am one of the billion fans of the Three Kingdom novels, story as well as hundreds episode long TV shows made about it before. And I was really excited to see a 60 million dollar movie being made on the battle of Chi Bi. But it's not the classic it could've been.
Don't let your previous John Woo experiences like Face Off or MI2 fool you. This movie is deeply in the Asian style of making. Things to look for are slower pace, beautiful scenery/Mis-en-scene, cool Asian music, a lot of metaphors, lots of fighting (everybody loves them!), awful extras...
First off, the pace is so so slow. I am a patient viewer and know when directors have to go slow to make an impact with the story, but I find some problems with pacing with this movie especially with war scenes. For example are the scenes with the shields reflecting sunlight. We got the point! The shields are a clever move, but you don't have to basically repeat 2 shots (soldiers turning their shield, the horses go wild) twenty times.
Cinematography is pretty good in this movie. I said pretty good because while it looks good, it is bad compared to the likes of Fearless or Hero, while it has a lot more to work with than those movies. Computer graphics are not the best but enough for a pass. The flying pigeon scene is a great idea.
The musical score in this movie is interesting. I feel it's a little Western influenced because of the symphony/violin sounds besides the heavy drums and flute. Other than that the music is great. However they could probably utilized the use of musical themes more.
I don't particularly like the casting choices for Guan Yu and Liu Bei. Liu Bei is a royal family member filled with kindness, and I thought the actor has little elegance (or anything royal-like) in his look, and look is important for a character with less chance to be portrayed. You can understand my point when comparing him with the actor playing Sun Quan. Guan Yu is basically a saint-like warrior in the story. His look alone has a lot of characteristics (a large man with a graceful look, spreads fear on the battlefield but is a symbol of safety for his people...) that I think the actor's appearance is not deep enough to portray.
The highlights of this movie are the interaction between Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu. Their first encounter is an awesome sequence. Not many words are said but Zhuge Liang fully understand Zhou Yu's character through his acting toward the farmers and his soldiers. This scene is Asian filmography at its best. It shows soldiers preparing for war yet somehow the slow pace works, not many words are spoken but great music fills in the space, and the character of Zhou Yu's is fully brought out to the audience. The scene of the 2 characters playing music is also great, but I feel the repeated shots of the person's face through the candles get boring.
On a similar note, I like these two actors. Kaneshiro Takeshi did some very good face acting to portray well the wittiness that his look would normally lack, as it is a significant feature of Zhuge Liang's characteristics. He also does well in comedic moments. Definitely upped a level from House of Flying Daggers. Leung Chiu Wai is a veteran and he plays Zhou Yu very well, he can be calm or determined, clever or ass kicking. Also they have good synergy and that's important since they are the two main characters.
"Forced" scenes: - The sex scene- man sexing up his wife before going to a deadly battle...300 anyone? And it's way too long for a sex scene that's not that raunchy. - Tiger hunting scene: too long, some blurry shots and bad editing make it obvious that the tiger is from Discovery Channel. This is a typical lame Asian move when they force a metaphorical scene.
I'm a little annoyed with the final fight sequence. Here's a little info so you can be on my page: Cao Cao has 700,000 soldiers, and the good guys got more than 30,000 heads... There are 2000 cavaliers trapped in your formation, CRUSH THEM. I don't like how they focus too much on the cinematic effect (badass battle at the end of the movie) and make it unrealistic as well as too long. Letting ALL your best generals going SOLO against the enemy may make a heroic scene, but only idiots would do it in real life. And if it takes that long to kill 2000, how will you do against the 680,000 that's left? However I give props to John Wu for a courageous and excellent interpretation of the Ba Qua formation (for your information, nobody really knows how to do it so he's quite brave to try)
If you're looking for amazing fighting or choreography, go to Seven Swords. I like their decision to make the moves in Chi Bi not too fancy because this is war and it comes down to kill or die. Also this is very early in Chinese history (2nd, 3rd century) and realistically martial arts styles are not highly developed yet. There is not a lot of comedy but it is well timed and to the right level as well as effectiveness.
I also find the battle helmets ugly.
Overall I feel like this movie could be 2 hours and more effective than the 2h30min mark it is right now. But it is awesome to finally see a story like the Three Kingdom being put into a production worth its scale. Also the storytelling is great and full of excellent metaphors, the characters got depths and smarts. Of course the brutality of war is brought out well. I believe the second part will be a feast.
Don't let your previous John Woo experiences like Face Off or MI2 fool you. This movie is deeply in the Asian style of making. Things to look for are slower pace, beautiful scenery/Mis-en-scene, cool Asian music, a lot of metaphors, lots of fighting (everybody loves them!), awful extras...
First off, the pace is so so slow. I am a patient viewer and know when directors have to go slow to make an impact with the story, but I find some problems with pacing with this movie especially with war scenes. For example are the scenes with the shields reflecting sunlight. We got the point! The shields are a clever move, but you don't have to basically repeat 2 shots (soldiers turning their shield, the horses go wild) twenty times.
Cinematography is pretty good in this movie. I said pretty good because while it looks good, it is bad compared to the likes of Fearless or Hero, while it has a lot more to work with than those movies. Computer graphics are not the best but enough for a pass. The flying pigeon scene is a great idea.
The musical score in this movie is interesting. I feel it's a little Western influenced because of the symphony/violin sounds besides the heavy drums and flute. Other than that the music is great. However they could probably utilized the use of musical themes more.
I don't particularly like the casting choices for Guan Yu and Liu Bei. Liu Bei is a royal family member filled with kindness, and I thought the actor has little elegance (or anything royal-like) in his look, and look is important for a character with less chance to be portrayed. You can understand my point when comparing him with the actor playing Sun Quan. Guan Yu is basically a saint-like warrior in the story. His look alone has a lot of characteristics (a large man with a graceful look, spreads fear on the battlefield but is a symbol of safety for his people...) that I think the actor's appearance is not deep enough to portray.
The highlights of this movie are the interaction between Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu. Their first encounter is an awesome sequence. Not many words are said but Zhuge Liang fully understand Zhou Yu's character through his acting toward the farmers and his soldiers. This scene is Asian filmography at its best. It shows soldiers preparing for war yet somehow the slow pace works, not many words are spoken but great music fills in the space, and the character of Zhou Yu's is fully brought out to the audience. The scene of the 2 characters playing music is also great, but I feel the repeated shots of the person's face through the candles get boring.
On a similar note, I like these two actors. Kaneshiro Takeshi did some very good face acting to portray well the wittiness that his look would normally lack, as it is a significant feature of Zhuge Liang's characteristics. He also does well in comedic moments. Definitely upped a level from House of Flying Daggers. Leung Chiu Wai is a veteran and he plays Zhou Yu very well, he can be calm or determined, clever or ass kicking. Also they have good synergy and that's important since they are the two main characters.
"Forced" scenes: - The sex scene- man sexing up his wife before going to a deadly battle...300 anyone? And it's way too long for a sex scene that's not that raunchy. - Tiger hunting scene: too long, some blurry shots and bad editing make it obvious that the tiger is from Discovery Channel. This is a typical lame Asian move when they force a metaphorical scene.
I'm a little annoyed with the final fight sequence. Here's a little info so you can be on my page: Cao Cao has 700,000 soldiers, and the good guys got more than 30,000 heads... There are 2000 cavaliers trapped in your formation, CRUSH THEM. I don't like how they focus too much on the cinematic effect (badass battle at the end of the movie) and make it unrealistic as well as too long. Letting ALL your best generals going SOLO against the enemy may make a heroic scene, but only idiots would do it in real life. And if it takes that long to kill 2000, how will you do against the 680,000 that's left? However I give props to John Wu for a courageous and excellent interpretation of the Ba Qua formation (for your information, nobody really knows how to do it so he's quite brave to try)
If you're looking for amazing fighting or choreography, go to Seven Swords. I like their decision to make the moves in Chi Bi not too fancy because this is war and it comes down to kill or die. Also this is very early in Chinese history (2nd, 3rd century) and realistically martial arts styles are not highly developed yet. There is not a lot of comedy but it is well timed and to the right level as well as effectiveness.
I also find the battle helmets ugly.
Overall I feel like this movie could be 2 hours and more effective than the 2h30min mark it is right now. But it is awesome to finally see a story like the Three Kingdom being put into a production worth its scale. Also the storytelling is great and full of excellent metaphors, the characters got depths and smarts. Of course the brutality of war is brought out well. I believe the second part will be a feast.