Full length film review of " Feng Yun", written by Zhiyuan, typed out by Peiling(poor thing, got the hardest job), converted to html by me. You need a Chinese GB viewer to view certain words here, but it's not essential.

ENJOY!

START:

     It has taken more than two years for the Hong Kong filmmakers to make this movie, and it is really difficult for me to criticize it, but the director should review his performance, or he'd just continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.

     The special effects of " Feng Yun" has basically been the main focus of media attention (if you overlook the alleged Aaron Kwok- Ekin Cheng rivalry), and rightly so. Be it the fight between Xiong Ba and Nie Ren Wang in the bamboo forest, the astounding " Liquid Cloud Palm ÅÅ ÔÆ ÕÆ " skill and the " Leg of Wind ·ç Éñ ÍÈ " , " Frost Fists", " Èý ·Ö ¹é Ôª Æø " and of course, the magnificent Fire Kirin »ð ÷è ÷ë etc, every computer- generated effects and action sequence was breath-taking. Unfortunately, they were all rather short - it seemed as though the action stopped just as the audience were getting all hyped up and excited, which was very disappointing, especially the fight between Nie Feng and the Fire Kirin. The effects used in the scenes where Xiong Ba and Nie Ren Wang fought on location at the Giant Buddha, Sichuan were so tacky they fell one step short of being cheesy. This very word is also used by a newspaper critic to describe the pastiness of Xiong Ba's complexion.

     Such flaws manifested during the course of the movie. In the comic series, Nie Feng, who was made demonic due to unfortunate circumstances killed his friend , the Fire Kirin with an impressive show of raw skill and power in an adrenaline-driven fight, whereas in the movie, this intricate, unusual relationship is not explained. Nie Feng was made to seem as if he had to rely partially on foreign element - water to battle against the beast. And of course, the Fire Kirin was reduced to a one-dimensional, evil, man-eating creature.

     Character designs of the characters in the movie were kept in utmost secrecy, but as usual, the HK paparazzi managed to obtain photographs of Aaron Kwok, Kristy Yeung and Hsu Chi in their costumes, splashing spreads of Aaron Kwok across magazine covers. This may help to increase magazine sales, but it is not ethical to do so, IMHO.

     Noodle ( a.k.a Ekin) got away with it, but in the movie, he untimely suffered an acute case of " concealer- deficiency" , not to mention a head of coarse, dry hair and a fringe always flat and covering at least half of his face, hence it was always a relief when the production crew finally worked the fans and blew his hair off his face. That aside, one would have to give credit for managing to carry off the terribly bland characterization of Nie Feng in the movie and looked pretty suave at times too.

     Michael Tse was highly likable as Qin Shuang, and though he had a costume similar to Noodle, his hair had much more lustre and looked much better than Noodle's. I hope that the release of Fung Wan would enable him to scale greater heights in his career. Both Kristy Yeung ( as Kong Ci ) and Hsu Chi ( Chu Chu) had beautiful costumes and their hair was tastefully done up too. Hsu Chi's plaits gave me the urge to forcefully make my hair grow faster. Their performances in the movie were passable.

     Sonny Chiba was spectacular as Xiong Ba, however he seemed to lack a sense of total dominance as expected of Xiong Ba. Mud Buddha, portrayed by Hong Kong comedian Lai Yao Xiang, was disappointing as the actor couldn't shake off his comedic background.

     Special mention should go to Zheng Danrui ( aka Wen Chou Chou) and Aaron Kwok. I was totally wowed over as Zheng Danrui seemed to have stepped right out of the comic. And Aaron Kwok was the epitome of suaveness, his portrayal of Bu Jingyun all dangerous, intense and sullen, yet passionate at the same time. His eyes captivated and spoke of all unspoken. Nest to a haggard " put-some-makeup-on-me" Noodle, his good looks were striking and his charisma, overwhelming. A pity about his hair though; it was as if it hadn't seen a comb for a decade-but the blue was a nice touch. Noodle and Aaron went through a lot of pain as the hair stylists grafted the hairs strand by strand into their scalps, which resulted in painful boils and blisters, but sadly, nothing spectacular came out of it.

     Anthony Wong as Sword Saint ½£ Ê¥ was a scream. No one failed to laugh upon his appearance on screen the three times I watched the movie. Not looking a least bit like a pugilist, he sported, as a friend had put it, a cotton-wool like Santa Claus beard, and a pot belly. Luckily he got much better when he battled with Xiong Ba.

     Nevertheless, it was the screenplay that takes the cake. Scriptwriter Manfred Wong omitted characterization, intelligent lines and an expansive plot in his attempt to condense volumes of the comic series into a 2- hour screenplay. Kong Ci, originally a servant girl in the comic series, was made to become Xiong Ba's daughter; and while Kong Ci was married off to Qin Shuang in the comic, and later became a pawn of Xiong Ba's to create discord between his three disciples. Her illicit affair with Bu Jingyun was a cleverly crafted ruse of Xiong Ba's, as he knew Bu Jingyun loved her dearly. This turn of events eventually led to a battle between Bu Jingyun and Nie Feng-who wanted to put a stop to Bu Jingyun's liason with Kong Ci. What happened at the end was that Kong Ci ( who had always loved Nie Feng) received the fatal blow Bu Jingyun intended for Nie Feng. As she died, Kong Ci revealed Nie Feng was the only man she ever loved.

     In the screenplay, all of Xiong Ba's three disciples were in love with Kong Ci, Xiong Ba's daughter. But Kong Ci, in her sheltered life, never felt the need to choose between them in her naivete. She is torn betweeen Nie Feng and Bu Jingyun, for both offered her 2 different brands of love - Bu Jingyun's love was passionate and laced with forbidden pleasure, whereas Nie Feng's was that of a tender, sensitive brand. She wanted to continue a liason with Bu Jingyun even after her marriage to Nie Feng ( her signature line in the movie " I can still be with you even if I'm married to Nie Feng"). Though it did cause a stir in the audience, the revelation of Kong Ci's secret love of Nie Feng was lost.

     The complexities of the 3 of them and the intricate love triangle between them were barely touched on in the screenplay. Bu Jingyun was left relatively unscathed - at least his characterization was not diminshed; But sadly, the characters Qin Shuang and Chu Chu seemed to be installed for comic relief, and Nie Feng, who is a caring, gentle, and gentlemanly key character was morphed into a bland idiot who was less interesting than Qin Shuang, a lesser character. Why, he got himself drunk and useless after Kong Ci's death!! The Nie Feng in the comic series would never do that! Mr Manfred Wong had to resort to having the Mud Buddha tell Nie Feng he was a kind-hearted, nice man and Xiong Ba to tell Qin shuang he was a naïve person in order to let the audience understand their personalities.

     When Bu Jingyun told a dying Kong Ci that it didn't matter if she did not love him, the awkwardly- phrased sentence left many in the audience laughing.Aslo, sloppy editing, as evident from the scene where Nie Feng's mother Yan Ying jumped into the raging seas, and also from the scene where Bu Jingyun left with Kong Ci's body after snatching the Ice Soul away from Feng Wu and Long Xiu amused more than astounded.

     Events in the movie were not cohesive, neither were they properly accounted for. Take for example the couple, Feng Wu and Long Xiu, who would be familiar to those who read the comic as Wu Ming's servants. Their appearences in the movie were abrupt and not accounted for, leaving many who are foreign to the comic series uninformed. Sword Saint's Sword 23, which played a crucial part in the development of the plot was slipshodedly executed and not properly explained. Sword Saint's glorious past was also left out of the script . Hence audience were left in the dark as to the power of Sword 23 and why Sword Saint's soul had to leave his physically weakened body. Important characters like Wu Ming, Duan Lang and Jin Xing were eliminated to stretch the story into a 2-hour screenplay. Exciting events in the comic series are also pulled out.

     Though I understand their budget might not be able to pull off something more massive than this movie. But surely it is important to make as excellent a movie as possible. The movie could even be split into 2 parts to be shown separately, like Stephen Chow's " Journey to the West" series.

     No matter the imperfections, the movie does have a wonderful computer-generated animation at the beginning of the movie, a really nice soundtrack ( though Noodle really ought to brush up on his singing skills) and the efforts if the crew, be it the director, producer, actors etc. should be acknowledged and applauded. I sincerely hope that with the continued improvement of Hong Kong film making ( and Director Lam, pls try to use different actors other than the usual ' Young and Dangerous' alumni. And try to change your habit of having a flawed script), Hong Kong films will start making an impact in the international circles again.

Finally, please do not uby pirated VCDs, CDs or even rent or borrow them, because the merciless toil the film makers went through would amount to nothing, and in their shoes, you would be reduced to despair and tears too.

 ***Editor's note:
This article has been left unedited in content, and doesn't represent my stand. (in fact i disagree pretty strongly with quite some of the opinions expressed here)

[MAIN][Wind & Cloud][Wind & Cloud movie]