Red Cliff Pt. 2

Release Year: 2009
Starring: Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Hu Jun, Zhao Wei, Lin Chi-Ling, Nakamura Shido, You Yong.
Directed by: John Woo
Written by: John Woo, Chen Han, Sheng Heyu, based on the Chronicle of The Three Kingdoms.
IMDB rating: 7.2

Why o' why filmmakers sometimes just could not stick to the original story when adapting it to the big screens? I'm a big fan of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel, and it turned out that watching Red Cliff part 1 & 2 became a huge torment for me. If John Woo wanted to rewrite the novel, just invent a new stories and characters, just don't brutally slaughter the original story.

I've seen the series, I've seen the Three Kingdoms (starred by Andy Lau) and then there was that Legendary Prime Minister Zhuge Liang (starred by Adam Cheng) wuxia series, and then this Red Cliff 2-part flicks, and only one (the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series) that managed to properly portray the novel. The rest of them were craps.

In the novel, Zhou Yu died after the end of the Battle of Red Wall, he tried to 'indirectly' kill Zhuge Liang because he sensed that Zhuge Liang was a dangerous person to be let alive. Several times Zhuge Liang outsmarted him, even after the battle was over, and every time he did that, Zhou Yu's wound (from arrow shot) got worsened. The final one was when Zhuge Liang outsmarted him during territorial dispute after the battle of Red Wall.

Sun Shangxiang's espionage activities were non-existent in the original novel. She was only mentioned briefly in the novel and nothing more. The attempt to exploit the character was rather overblown. Why would she could be spying Cao Cao's army while there was not a single spy sent to the Shu and Wu's armies? Cao Cao surely not that stupid.

Xiao Qiao never set foot at Cao Cao's camp. In the novel her part was small, only mentioned briefly. Sun Quan and Zhou Yu didn't rush to the front line during the battle of Red Wall, they stayed in the distance giving command and watching the battle but not going to the battle fighting directly.

Cao Cao was not cornered in his base, but sent fleeing for his life but repeatedly ambushed by Liu Bei's generals. Zhao Yun made the first interception, then Zhang Fei, and the last one was Guan Yu. Apparently, Zhuge Liang arranged their positions so that Guan Yu would be the third one to ambush so that Guan Yu could repay his past debt to Cao Cao. In the end, as predicted by Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu let Cao Cao go.

Huang Gai's trick of self-torture and Pang Tong's attempt to persuade Cao Cao into linking his ships with chains also absent from the movie. Cai Mao and Zhang Yun were solely executed for being suspected of betraying Cao Cao, not because they fell for Zhuge Liang's trick to obtain arrows. Zhuge Liang didn't explain how he managed to do all his weather predictions in details, too. Liu Bei also didn't pretend to leave the alliance, because his army never camped alongside the Wu's army in the first place. Besides, based on Liu Bei's character, such pretense would surely incite suspicion from Cao Cao. Liu Bei would never abandon any alliances because he was considered as a man of his words. Perhaps there were other discrepancies in the movies, but I think I've mentioned the big ones.

Now, to review this from a rather neutral point of view, the movie was indeed ambitious. The battle scenes were colossal, but there were nothing new (I still think the battle scenes from the Lord of the Rings trilogy to be better ones). Acting, however, was rather too focused on several characters like Zhou Yu, Sun Shangxiang, and Cao Cao. The others were only given smaller portions. Yet the acts from the three were usual, not spectacular. Takeshi Kaneshiro, however, was not suitable to play Zhuge Liang, because I think he lacked that cunning look. Although this movie failed to portray the novel accurately, the cast should be based on the personality of the characters from the novel. For a person who perhaps masterminded the battle of Red Wall, Zhuge Liang should have been portrayed as a calm, harmless, but cunning beyond compare. The actor from the series managed to portray him perfectly (forgot his name). Liu Bei should have been portrayed as charming and merciful character. Unfortunately, You Yong could not do that.

Beautiful landscapes also added a plus to the movie, reminding me of Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon. The plot, when I regard this as 'not based on anything', was adequate. It could have been great if only the Sun Shangxiang sidestories were put off.

For final score, I'd give the ENTIRE movie as a whole (part 1 & 2) a 6.5. Better than the first part only, because of the battle scenes. Yet other than that, nothing spectacular here.

The Mutant Chronicles

Directed by Simon Hunter
Written by Philip Eisner & Stuart Hazeldine
Starring: Thomas Jane, Ron Perlman, Devon Aoki, Benno Fürmann, Sean Pertwee, John Malkovich, Anna Walton, Pras Michel, Curtis Walker, Luis Echegaray, Tom Wu, Steve Toussaint, & Christopher Adamson
Release Year: 2008
IMDB rating: 5.5

Typical save the world film. Based on a role-playing game of the same name, the only good thing about this movie was, alas, the visuals, just like Hellboy II, but a bit better. Bad thing about ‘save the world’ themes is that they tend to follow the same formula. So, the plot was easy to predict. Unfortunately, the dialogues were awful, and tend to look silly if you ask me.

Acting was generally poor. Maybe due to poorly written dialogues. Also, to me, Thomas Jane was rather confusing. I wonder if he was playing a British or American. His accent was somewhat mixed up, unlike Sean Pertwee’s consistent accent.

Fighting scenes were moderately good, but I’ve seen better at Hellboy II. By the way, curiously enough, Ron Perlman and Anna Walton from the Hellboy II also played in this movie. Too bad, they were hardly impressive. Perhaps, poor script cost their performances dearly.

With just unique visuals similar to 300, only with more emphasis on the blood, this movie only deserves a 5.0. Poor dialogues and too predictable plot seem to be ruining the movie that could have been a lot better given a strong cast.

Hellboy II : The Golden Army

Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Written by Guillermo del Toro & Mike Mignola
Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Jeffrey Tambor, Luke Goss, Anna Walton & John Hurt
Release Year: 2008
IMDB rating: 7.5

Hellboy’s back and he’s bound for fighting the Golden Army controlled by Prince Nuada. Apparently, the prince was kinda fed up with what the humans did to environment, such as continuously building malls and all while cutting down forests. His sister, Princess Nuala somehow wanted to keep the treaty between humans and magical creatures intact even if it will risk the demise of the magical creatures.

Simple plot, and predictable one, too. But then I wonder which one’s the bad one? If the urge to fight for existence is justified, then Prince Nuada should be on the ‘right’ side. Alas, that would not be a ‘good’ Hellboy’s movie, right? So, unfortunately the Prince should settle for the ‘wrong’ side.

I am not a hard-core fan of Hellboy, so I hope I can evaluate this movie from a rather neutral perspective. The visuals were good, along with the attractive action-sequence. The story, not that entirely great. I felt that for a Hellboy movie, it failed to dig into the main character and rather it was tilted to Abe Sapien and Prince Nuada, thus the acting highlights were mostly taken by these two. Also, there were instances where Hellboy was rather too comical and displaying childish behavior. But then again, hence the name, Hell’boy’?

Despite the title: Golden Army, Hellboy only spent a small time to kick the asses of those mechanical constructs. I actually imagined the horde would be running amok on the streets of New York. Too bad, though. It could have been a fantastic sight.

Overall, it was a somewhat entertaining movie, but nothing serious to make this a truly memorable one. With a plus only at visuals, I give Hellboy II a 6.5. Let’s hope Hellboy III would do much, much better.

Tropic Thunder

Directed by Ben Stiller
Written by Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux, and Etan Cohen
Starring: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey, Jr., Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, Brandon T. Jackson, Steve Coogan, Nick Nolte, Danny McBride, Matthew McConaughey and Tom Cruise
Release Year: 2008
IMDB rating: 7.4

A star-studded comedy from Ben Stiller. Usually it would be hard to share the screen time among the stars. But that wasn’t the case with this movie. I think the story managed to distribute enough screen time for each star without explicitly seen as ‘enforcing’ it.

Interestingly enough, the movie was about a movie in a production hell because of too many stars involved in it. Tugg Speedman, Kirk Lazarus, Alpa Chino, Jeff Portnoy, and Kevin Sandusky then dropped at the jungle somewhere around the Golden Triangle where a heroin-producing gang Flaming Dragons operate. Initially the director Damien Cockburn wanted to film the actors guerrilla-style, with hidden cameras, but he ended up blown up by a mine. After some time, the actors realized that things were real and not part of the scenario. Together they must find their way out of the jungle.

Some spoofs were there in the movie, but the comedy sometimes got overdone. Like when Speedman suddenly having identity crisis and Portnoy’s addiction to drugs. I don’t think they need to be over-emphasized. Les Grossman (played by Tom Cruise) was also a bit exaggerated. But I read somewhere that he was based on Stiller’s producer partner Stuart Cornfeld. So I guess some people just got that weird attitudes. Also, Rick’s (Matthew McConaughey) sudden appearance in the jungle baffled me. How could he found out the location that easily? But then again, sometimes comedies must be excused from the logical perspective.

Acting was great. Robert Downey, Jr.’s play as an Australian playing an African-American was convincing enough, although Stiller remained standard with his acting as well as Jack Black. I guess other than Downey, Cruise got himself an equally great performance.

Overall, though, the movie was enjoyable and it was a pretty unique movie. I guess worthy enough to break the Dark Knight’s weekly winning streak at the box office. For the rating, I’d give it a 7.0.

Taken

Directed by Pierre Morel
Written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
Starring: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace, Xander Berkeley, Holly Valance, Katie Cassidy
Release Year: 2008
IMDB rating: 7.9

Typical of Luc Besson’s movies, despite not directing it, Taken was set as a fast-paced movie. It started rather slow, but as soon as the action started, it consistently moving in a steady, fast pace.

In terms of acting, typical of action movies, it was pretty standard. During that brief drama segment up front, it was pretty standard too. The action sequences were somewhat great, yet there were nothing original in it. For better action sequences I would consider Banlieu 13 as more superior than Taken.

The plot was actually simple, or even too simple. A father desparately seeking his kidnapped daughter in Paris, fighting off the bad guys alone using his skills from his old job as a government agent. Crash, boom, bang, and it’s all over. However, it focused too much on action that from the logic of the story, it was too hard to be true. It’s unimaginable to have one man taking on an organized criminals and survived with minor wounds. Also, don’t forget that Bryan was a middle-aged man, and physical limitations should be at least giving him some disadvantages. This, I considered as the biggest weakness of the movie.

Overall, although not the best of its genre, it was a somewhat entertaining movie. For this, I give it a 6.5.

Comeback

Well, it's been quite some time since I posted. It's not that I'm out of the blog completely. Rather, I've been watching several series lately as well as playing Fallout 3. Unfortunately, Fallout 3 has been consuming most of my spare time lately, so I have only a little to blog about.

Yoshitsune is one of the series that I've completed watching. Another that I'm going to review is Hojo Tokimune. Unfortunately, watching taiga drama means not watching non-series movies. Heck, I even losing interest with American series and other non-series too.

Right now, I've got 2 other series ready to watch: Chushingura and Musashi. Hopefully I'll be finished by the end of the holiday season.

See you later, folks.

Yoshitsune

Probably the most famous military general from the Genji clan, Minamoto Kuro Yoshitsune is the leading character in the 44th NHK taiga drama which was aired between January 9th 2005 and December 11th 2005. Portrayed by Takizawa Hideaki, Yoshitsune is described as the tragic hero that died before he managed to fulfill his dream of establishing the dream capital of his.

The story spanned from 1160 to 1189, from the time when Minamoto Yoshitomo (Yoshitsune’s father) was defeated and died at the hands of the Heike clan led by Taira Kiyomori, to the time when Yoshitsune died after being cornered and then committed seppuku.


From all the taiga drama series that I’ve watched and will watch, Yoshitsune is the one at the earliest historical date (1160). As usual, there are always two things to tell in a taiga drama series: a story about a historical figure and a historical event. This time, the figure is Kuro Yoshitsune, and the historical event is the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate by Minamoto Yoritomo, Yoshitsune’s half-brother.

A tale of two people with different approaches in creating a new era, Yoshitsune tried to build a new country based on purity of heart and great compassion, despite his fame as a brilliant strategist. Yoritomo tried to build his kind of country based more on reason and perhaps harsh approaches, although as described in the series, Yoritomo actually had a part of Yoshitsune’s soft character as well. If Yoshitsune excelled in military strategies, Yoritomo could as well be a brilliant politician. A powerful combination if only both of them managed to work together, though.

Seven vassals served Yoshitsune since his rise to fame: Musashibo Benkei (Matsudaira Ken), Ise Saburo (Nanbara Kiyotaka), Suruga Jiro (Ujiki Tsuyoshi), Kisanta (Ito Atsushi), Sato Tadanobu (Kaito Ken), Sato Tsugunobu (Miyauchi Atsushi), and Saburo Yoshihisa (?). Yoshitsune’s relationship with his vassals is perhaps a true example of unwavering loyalty. For, despite whatever bad things that happened to their master, his vassals remained following him faithfully.

There are plenty of leading female characters in the series: Tokiwa (Inamori Izumi), Shizuka (Ishihara Satomi), Yoshiko (Goto Maki), Utsubo (Ueto Aya), Hojo Masako (Zaizen Naomi), Tokiko (Matsuzaka Keiko) and Tokuko (Nakagoshi Noriko). While all these roles were well portrayed by the actresses, I always enjoyed Matsuzaka Keiko’s talent.

Other well-acted characters were the monk-emperor Go-Shirakawa (Hira Mikijiro), Taira Kiyomori (Watari Tetsuya), Fujiwara Hidehira (Takahashi Hideki), Kiso Yoshinaka (Ozawa Yukiyoshi), and Minamoto Yoritomo (Nakai Kiichi). Despite his minor exposure in the story, the merchant Kichiji (Ichikawa Sadanji) was also well played. Of course I don’t mean to single out these roles/actors/actresses, because I think so far the taiga dramas that I’ve watched have been spectacular, and Yoshitsune was one of them.

Each character became ‘alive’ in the series. The kind and charming Yoshitsune, the cautious Yoritomo, the opportunistic Yukiie, the ambitious yet unfortunate Yoshinaka, the strong Masako, the beautiful and elegant Shizuka, the loving Tokiwa, the majestic Fujiwara Hidehira, the scheming monk-emperor Go-Shirakawa, and the great Taira Kiyomori and his wife Tokiko, and many others, all were brilliantly performed.

Indeed, from the beginning to the end, one would easily love the tragic hero Kuro Yoshitsune and his loyal vassals, and perhaps hate Yoritomo for leading Yoshitsune to his early demise. One could also easily wish that the two brothers should have worked together in building the new country. Yet, as bitter as in the real world, sometimes something too good to happen just won’t happen.

I’d give 10 for this series. Historical drama enthusiasts should go find and watch this.