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II \ --B R O K E N---S W O R D- , -M O O N---&---S N O W
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| Those are not ingredients of a nightmare of a Mississippian farmer. Those are arrows of the Qin Army. In historival records, it is said that the Qin archers always delivered a volley of arrows just as an appetizer before the combat began. |
You might think you've had enough of colossal war movies; but watch Brad Pitt's 2004 Troy or Oliver Stone's 2004 Alexander, and you'd know this Zhang Yimou one is the best of the genre. Stone's supposed epic is, just as a bonus info, starring Colin Farrel and Angelina Jolie, and the cast is such that in my house the movie has been officially known as 'Alexander the Cute' as to differentiate it from the Richard Burton epic Alexander the Great, because both take up the same subject. |
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The Headmaster of the School of Calligraphy in the capital city of the Kingdom of Zhou stays where he's at, regardless of his dying students and the continuous volleys of arrows all around him. The idea that calligraphy equals swordsmanship is ancient -- the Japanese also think the same, that's why samurai legends like Miyamoto Musashi painted a lot (click here for story and pictures). |
The famous swordsman Xanjian ('Broken Sword' or 'Steel') is double-jobbing as a passably great calligrapher. He's a native of Zhou. Actor Tony Leung is playing the role much above his usual standard of excellence (which was already quite high, if you ever watched his previous Hong Kong movies). As Broken Sword, Tony Leung looks handsomely haunted and contemplative -- and it's the only main character here that is geared more towards philosophy than swordsmanship -- Leung himself is not a regular actor for kungfu flix, he is more a drama guy. |
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| Nameless requests an icon that means 'Sword', and Broken Sword has finished making it for him, although the request is so hard -- Nameless wants the 20th way of spelling 'Sword' in Chinese script, while the existing ways are only 19. Broken Sword has to make this one up himself. |
That's Broken Sword's calligraphy being unrolled for the king. King Sheng is impressed -- of another thing altogether. "NINETEEN ways to write ONE word?" he exclaims, to Nameless' astonishment, "When I rule all China, I'll make it ONE way for every word! This will remove all the confusion, won't it!". In real life, the king did just that when he finally united the Chinese kingdoms. |
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| Broken Sword isn't a lone wolf like the typical heroes of action movies. He has not just a girlfriend or wife, but a soulmate: Feixue (literal: 'Falling Snow', the same as 'Koyuki' in Japanese; here it's shortened to 'Snow'). Snow is a mistress of swords, too, and a fellow native of Zhou. In fact her daddy was a Zhou General killed during the war against Qin. |
That's why Snow keeps her spirit for vengeance; all her life, her goal is just to kill King Sheng. She dragged Broken Sword into the Qin Palace once, for that purpose. Asian moviegoers are accustomed to 'impossible missions' like two people storming a palace guarded so tightly that not even a drop of water could get thru. It is a normal thing in kungfu movies since 1970's. And that's what Japanese samurai movies never do. |
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| Just as fast as the arrows of the Qin Army when flying towards the Zhou Kingdom, the Zhous rendered King Sheng's palace guards harmless. | And King Sheng himself had to fight against the intruders -- well, one of them, and the better at swordsplay between the two -- Broken Sword. | |
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| There was no conflict in Broken Sword's soul. He knew exactly what he's doing and why. | King Sheng isn't just any sedentary mammal on the throne. He is a warrior through and through. | |
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| The king was surprised that Broken Sword didn't kill him although he was defeated in the duel. He could never fathom why. | Broken Sword calls it an enlightenment: he has renounced all his vengefulness. He vows to stand in the way against anybody trying to kill King Sheng. | |
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| It costs him Snow. Actress Maggie Cheung is not a kungfu regular, either; but she has been brilliant in kungfu flix before, such as the extreme comedy Dragon Inn. She's perfect for this role. Snow is not an object of affection of a martial hero. She's gracefully mature. | So Cheung doesn't even have to worry about sharing a screen with the (second) most beautiful Chinese actress of 21st century: the absolutely photogenic Zhang Ziyi. All sorts of camera love her. Here she takes up the role as Broken Sword's clueless but faithful assistant, Ruyue ('Moon'). | |
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NEXT PAGE : Broken Sword's reason |
