Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Wuxia film review: The Lost Bladesman

The Lost Bladesman Starring Donnie Yen

My novel Hunting The Moon Tribe has several characters straight out of Chinese mythology. One of those characters is considered to be a god of warfare Guan Yu. That character was based on a real life general from the Han and Dynasty era, infact he played a role in that downfall. That is why he is one of the most important characters in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

ROT3K is an amazing novel that has a place in Chinese culture that makes it sorta like a War and Peace and Lord of The Rings at the same time. Probably two hundred Wuxia Kung Fu movies are based on this novel, single chapters or spun off characters. Some of the better of the most recent ones includes Peter Chan’s The Warlords(starring Jet Li), Daniel Lee’s Three Kingdoms and John Woo’s Red Cliff. Now Screenwriter Felix Chong (Known for Infernal Affairs the basis for The departed) writes and directs this powerful epic Starring Donnie Yen. To me there are two kinds of Wuxia movies. Campy and high class I like both but I would put this one in the high class camp. Gritty war epics have been in favor in Hong Kong since CGI made staging massive ware easier.

Well written and directed the story is not sacrificed for the action. Donnie Yen directs the action as well as starring in front of the camera. His fight scenes continue to get better.

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