ErikW Posted October 8, 2004 Share Posted October 8, 2004 Pretty cool. Crouching Tiger with a better plot. A little klunky at first, but a nice twist and a great message. Stunning cinematography and use of color. Jet Li is a nameless prefect from a small town who dispatches three assassins and earns an audience with the king. The story is told and re-told through flashbacks. I didn't like the ending. It didn't fit the message. I thought the king "got it." Apparently he didn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted October 8, 2004 Share Posted October 8, 2004 Didn't we already discuss this movie? Anyway, I wasn't as impressed with the plot, but the visuals were awesome. He was buried a hero, so I thought the king did get it. The sacrifice-for-what-you-believe-in theme ran right through the whole thing on many levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted October 8, 2004 Author Share Posted October 8, 2004 <spoilers alert> Yeah but the king killed him, then killed a bunch more people to satisfy his apetite as a tyrant. I thought the message was uniting the country wasn't worth all the pain and suffering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRD Posted October 8, 2004 Share Posted October 8, 2004 Dissapointing movie. A couple good scenes: the falling leaves battle was stunning, visually. So was the battle in the palace with the falling green tapestries. But I've really had it with the wire-fighting thing. It drives me nuts. - Gabe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
short_round Posted October 8, 2004 Share Posted October 8, 2004 <spoilers alert>Yeah but the king killed him, then killed a bunch more people to satisfy his apetite as a tyrant. I thought the message was uniting the country wasn't worth all the pain and suffering. They had to kill him since he "attempted" to assassinate the king. It was the law. Uniting the country was the only reason that made the pain and suffering worthwhile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted October 8, 2004 Author Share Posted October 8, 2004 GRD, I'm with ya on the wires. At first I thought it was just the Chinese way of doing slow-mo or Bullet Time, but they also used slow-mo, so it's just annoying and goofy. The only time I liked it was in the Crouching Tiger bamboo trees; there it was useful, and mostly a Y axis thing, IIRC. short round, I understand he had to be executed as an assassin. (But he didn't come to kill the king, just deliver the message.) But his point was the king's goals weren't worth the price in blood. Uniting the kingdoms and unifying the language were mere justification of a tyrant's thirst for power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted October 8, 2004 Share Posted October 8, 2004 Hm.. I thought the final point was that the one-land was worth all the sacrifices. Maybe I was napping. Anyway.. I also thought he converted to don't-kill-the-king during their talk and not before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diehli Posted October 8, 2004 Share Posted October 8, 2004 Hm.. I thought the final point was that the one-land was worth all the sacrifices. Maybe I was napping. Anyway.. I also thought he converted to don't-kill-the-king during their talk and not before. Yep... the conversion happened during their chat... hence the dancing candles and the honcho's reference to "indecision". Furthermore, the point of the unification was to, in the longrun, decrease the number of deaths. The states were always warring, unification under this guy, while it shed a lot of blood, would move the continent into a time of peace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted October 9, 2004 Author Share Posted October 9, 2004 OK, I can live with that. I got kind of lost during the different point-of-view flashbacks. I guess Nameless turned around when Qin related his previous meeting with Broken Sword and Flying Snow. But wait, then... awww, F it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diehli Posted October 9, 2004 Share Posted October 9, 2004 Get out now... while you still can. Oh... wait... you are. Lucky bastard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyn Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 Kind of fascist I thought. Beautiful photography and colors but the end struck me as very dehumanizing. The idea that we must sacrifice someone for no other reason than political expediency and to maintain some sense of ORDER is certainly not very democratic or republican (not refering to the parties of the same name). Unification is all good and nice but not if it is built on a pile of innocent corpses. And I love how after blasting Jet Li with a zillion arrows, he gets a state funeral. Kind of reminded me of Erwin Rommel's fate. Support a terroristic state with your military prowess, get sacrificed (i.e. murdered) by that same state, and then get glorified in death as a HERO. Thank you no. But the colors were pretty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoNsTeR Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 It was a Chinese propaganda film, you guys know that right? It was a cool flick, and I dug the storytelling technique, but the message was bleaaaghgh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted October 23, 2004 Author Share Posted October 23, 2004 That would explain the budget. But kellyn pretty much nailed it and I have nothing to add. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 I saw the original release in Chinese w/ subtitles. I take it the current theatrical release is dubbed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted October 25, 2004 Author Share Posted October 25, 2004 No the one I saw was subtitled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diehli Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 No the one I saw was subtitled. Ditto. It was kinda funny because we were warned it was subtitled by about a half-dozen theatre employees. I realize I look kinda neaderthal-esque, but c'mon... I can read at a third-grade level, goddammit!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raz-0 Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 At my local theater, they actually had a sign out at every ticket counter explaining it was subtitled, that that meant it was not in english, you had to read text at the bottom, and no refunds would be given if you couldn't handle that. I felt bad for the guy who got stuck figuring out how to say that without being outrightly insulting. The same theater also apparantly had to put out signs explaining that bad santa was not a kids movie just because it had santa in the title. As the onion put it, the lowest common denominator is plummeting rapidly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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