The Legend of Zu (2001)
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By sharonapple (Kiasukid) on Friday, September 28, 2001 - 02:44 am: Edit
Review - "The Legend of Zu" (2001)
Dir: Tsui Hark
Actors: Ekin Cheng, Louis Koo, Cecilia Cheung, Jacky Wu (of Taichi II fame,) Patrick Tam, Zhang Zi-yi, Sammo Hung, Kelly Lin etc.
This is Tsui Hark's remake of his old 1983 classic "Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain." It's based on Huanzhulouzhu's incredibly long and never finished set of novels called "Swordsmen of the Sichuan Mountains" (Shu Shan Jian Xia Zhuan) which were penned early/mid last century. The numerous Zu tv series are also based on ideas from this book.
I've never read "Swordsmen of the Sichuan Mountains" so I don't know how closely his two films follow the novels. I suspect, just like the Swordsmen series, that the storyline is vastly different and Tsui Hark just used the ideas from the novels. Whatever the case, the two Zu films are nothing like each other.
"The Legend of Zu" took Tsui Hark two years to make which is very unsual for Tsui Hark who lives on speed. Most of the time and resources was probably spent on the numerous CGI effects in the film. I'm no CGI expert but the effects look pretty good to me for the most part.
You won't find many people who'll tell you that this remake is good. It was a critical and commercial failure when it was released earlier this year. Today's news said that because the film failed so badly at the box-office, that Columbia is pulling out of the financing for Tsui Hark's next film which is supposed to be based on Jin Yong's "The Book and the Sword" (Shu Jian En Chou Lu.) I find that a pity because in a previous interview, Tsui Hark apparently said that he was tired of CGI heavy projects like "Master Q 2001" and "The Legend of Zu" and he wished to return to good old-fashion wire-fu. Now Chinastar has said that work on "The Book and the Sword" will stop till they manage to find a new backer.
Anyway, back from that aside. I actually find the film rather interesting and I would call it a failed experiment rather than a bad film. I admire Tsui Hark for always trying to do something different. If you look at the very long list of films the man's either directed, produced, scripted, acted in some of them are so vastly different that you'll be left thinking... "that's a Tsui Hark film??"
Anyway, I digress again... Back to the film...
You know what... I have stop right now, there is a thunderstorm fast approaching and I need to shut down now. Later.
By sharonapple (Kiasukid) on Friday, September 28, 2001 - 06:02 am: Edit
The Legend of Zu continued...
Perhaps of all the different versions of Zu that I have seen, the most serious of them is "The Legend of Zu," which makes it rather unsual for a Tsui Hark film. The only tinny bit of humour comes from Jacky Wu's character and that's much later in the film.
"The Legend of Zu" is a difficult film to watch because in many ways it assumes too much. It assumes that the viewer knows the universe which "The Legend of Zu" is set. To understand the film one needs to have some background information.
First you need to know that there are mystical celestial beings that inhabit this fantasy world near the Sichuan (or as Westerners would spell it, Szechuan) Mountains. These beings which look like mere mortals are extremely powerful and they can fly. When I say fly, I don't mean "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" type flying, I mean "Superman" type flying. The key thing to remember, is any film/series set in the Zu universe is of the FANTASY genre. In some of the wuxia fantasy based Chinese novels and in TVB's "The God and Demons of Zu Mountain," these beings fly ON their swords, although there is no real consistency in the TVB series. In this film, the celestial beings can fly but there is no mention of how they fly.
Anyway, as far as I know all the celestial beings have a weapon (in TVB's "TGADOZM" it's sometimes called the "fa-bao") that belongs to them. The weapon recognises them and they, the weapon and this weapon is full of power and has a will of it's own. And what weapon they get is their destiny. In the TVB series, Zhi-Qiong (Pauline Yeung) doesn't find the Purple Sword, the sword actually finds her and chases her down. In "The Legend of Zu," Thunder (Jacky Wu) has to be "reborn" and after that he has to look for the sword that is destined to be his so that he may "kai-qiao" which sort of means that his mind is opened. Without this weapon, Thunder remains as weak as a mere mortal, childlike and unacceptable to be a disciple of the Er-mei Clan.
In the Zu universe, there is the eternal struggle between Good and Evil. There are many good clans that live on the Sichuan mountain range and according to this film they draw some of their power from the mountain itself. The most powerful of the good clans is the Er-mei Clan. Long-Eyebrows (acted by Sammo Hung in both this film and Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain) is the head of the Er-mei Clan. The other clans would include the Huang Shan Clan, the Kun Lun Clan etc.
How or why Evil exist is never clearly explained in any of the Zu films or series. It just exists. The thing to remember is that there is always a cave where the essense of evil dwells. Anyone who enters this cave will be filled with unbelievable power but this cave isn't always open, it only opens every so often depending on when the planets align etc. The cave is often called the Blood Cave. In the Zu universe, there are also bad celestial beings called "yao-guai" or demons for the lack of a better word. In most of the Zu films/series, there is one being who has been into the Blood Cave and he is the most powerful of all the bad guys and he's sometimes known as the Blood Demon. In this film, the English translation for his name is Insomnia.
To be continued, cuz I'm tired. Gosh, I didn't think writing a review of The Legend of Zu would require me to write the entire background of Zu as well.
By sharonapple (Kiasukid) on Saturday, September 29, 2001 - 08:45 am: Edit
The Legend of Zu continued...
I'm no expert so if some of this information is a little wonky, sorry. Anyway, I believe the basic system of beliefs in all the Zu films/series is Taoism. Hence, when references are made in "The Legend of Zu" to the clans drawing their power from the mountains, that all fits in nicely with Chinese Taoism. Taoism believes that there is a spirit in all things, in the mountains, in stones, animals etc. I think the most powerful of all the mountains in China for the Taoist is Tai Shan (Tai Mountain.)
So because everything has a spirit, any living thing has the ability to become one of the Immortals. Hence, animal spirits (like Madam White Snake and Green Snake,) stone spirits, tree spirits etc can take on human form after many many years of meditation and after many more years of meditation they can become one of the deities. Although not all those who meditate and can take human form are good.
There, I think with that background information anyone should be able to understand any Zu film.
So back to the film proper. "The Legend of Zu" is, IMO, probably the most thoughtful of all the Zu films/series I've seen. The film attempts to explain how the celestial beings or Immortals think. It attempts to explore the meaning of immortality and the difference between the Immortals and the Mortals and the attainment of immortality.
The prologue says that these Immortals live in the mountain ranges of Sichuan meditating on the secrets of the universe, so that Man and Nature can be one. Tsui Hark begins the film proper with a conversation between Kun Lun Clan's Sky King (Ekin Cheng) and his sifu, Dawn (Cecilia Cheung.) Dawn expresses one of the most important ideas of the film. She says it's been 100s of years since her master's death but she's unable to progress in her training because she is unable to forget her master and she is unable to let go of her emotions. So she gives her student her weapon, the Moon Orb (which is a rather cool weapon btw) and sends him away hoping that he would be able to avoid her fate. Unfortunately, Insomnia attacks Kun Lun at that moment and she "dies."
Fast forward to two hundred years later. Insomnia has already destroyed the Wah Shan Clan 500 years ago and the Kun Lun Clan 200 years ago. Now he is preparing to attack the Er-mei Clan. We will meet Er-mei's leader Long Whitebrows (Sammo Hung,) his top disciple Red (Louis Koo,) and three other disciples, Enigma (Cecilia Cheung who was also Dawn, she holds the Heaven Sword,)Hollow (Jacky Wu, he holds the Thunder Sword) and Thunder (Patrick Tam.) Later, we will also meet Zhang Zi-yi's character who is a mortal, a female soldier, daughter of a general. We will also meet a demon-fairy (Kelly Lin.)
to be continued...
By sharonapple (Kiasukid) on Saturday, September 29, 2001 - 08:53 am: Edit
The Legend of Zu... continued
Sky King, Red, Enigma and Hollow will be tested and each of them will fail to let go of their emotions with tragic/disastrous consequences. (NB. 3 post up I said Thunder had to be reborn, sorry, I meant Hollow.) And we are reminded of Dawn's words in the beginning of the film. In their road to Immortality, the Immortals have to be able to let go of desire. This idea is very common in Chinese Taoist mythology. In the TVB series, in order to control the Blood Demon, Zhi-Qiong and Qing-Yun had to combine the powers of the Purple Sword and the Green Sword with the movements of the Wu-Qing Jian Fa (the No-Emotion Sword Movement.)
Long Whitebrows will also introduce the idea of the combination of the Three Elements. They are the Power of the Mind, Power of the Universe and Power of Regeneration. I think Tsui Hark tries to explain the Power of the Mind as the spirit in each person. The Power of the Universe is a weapon from another dimension. And the Power of Regeneration is in Long Whitebrows words "found within each person." In the film, one has to "die" and be re-born again to attain the Power of Regeneration.
As for Zhang Zi-yi's character. She represents the human desire for immortality. In order to attain this, she scales a mountain and seeks out Thunder to be her master/teacher.
The ideas that Tsui Hark is trying to get across are interesting and it's an admirable attempt but unfortunately, the ideas are difficult to understand and certainly too complex to try and get across in a 1 1/2 to 2 hrs film. Also, I'm not sure if Tsui Hark does a good enough job trying to explain the complex idea of the 3 elements.
In order to try and get across the idea that the Immortals must be devoid of desire/emotions, Tsui Hark's Immortals are not as emotional as they might be in another film and certainly are less emotional then the warriors in "Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain" and in the tv series. Most of his actors do a lot of posing and looking heroic and beautiful. It's good thing that they are heroic and beautiful looking. An interesting try but unfortunately, this backfires on Tsui Hark because the lack of emotion also means that the audience has difficulty identifying with his characters.
The use of massive amounts of CGI is rather cool in my opinion because I like it that like "Stormriders" HK filmmakers don't think it's necessary to pretend that the CGI isn't there or that it is merging with the background. However, many people have problems with the film because they feel that the characters are too detached from their surroundings.
The weapons are kind of nice and interesting and I do like the Moon Orb and the colourful Heaven Sword. Unfortunately, Insomnia isn't really a scary looking enough bad guy. Also, the English translations of the names is kind of cheesy.
If you are into traditional swordfighting and are excited by the fact that Yuen Wo-ping is named as action choreographer , don't be. There is only one fight scene of note between Zhang Zi-yi and Jacky Wu. And if you saw the trailer from the French website, don't be duped into thinking that Zhang Zi-yi is the main female lead in this film. She isn't, Cecilia Cheung is.
Basically, I enjoyed "The Legend of Zu" because I found it an admirable attempt at re-defining the Zu legend. However, the film fails on several counts and is likely to be too difficult for audiences who are not familiar with the Chinese-fantasy-mythological universe.
Sorry for the long-winded review but I was having too much fun working out why I enjoyed the film. And it was a fun break from my research on the legend of the "Goddess of the River Luo."
next up "Full Time Killer" ...