This movie is way more fun and exciting than expected.
As an American who watched lots of Chinese movies and often laments how modern mainland movies are rarely are stylistically crafted as 90s-2000s hong Kong films, let me say this was extraordinarily fun.
Another reviewer comparing this to Scott Pilgrim is accurate, this takes the pretty basic bones of a story - guy wants to learn secret village kung Fu, village doesn't want to teach him their secret kung fu, external enemies cause them to join up together - and takes it far beyond the humdrum plot into a fascinating, fun and funny movie by incorporating 4th wall breaking, on screen annotations, and meta humor.
If you hate the idea of Chinese people representing their culture and struggle against colonists in a positive light and see this as basically fascist propaganda... Well why are you watching Chinese movies anyway?
But if you've been watching a bunch of cookie cutter 2010s and onward mainland Chinese films, and thinking well that looked good but it's a pretty boring script and tone - then you are gonna love this. It's just a tad worse than Let the Bullets Fly, with a lot of the same feel.
I know 90s HK cinemas will never truly come back, but movies like this make me hopeful that modern Chinese cinema will find its voice. And what a funny and fun voice that is.
As an American who watched lots of Chinese movies and often laments how modern mainland movies are rarely are stylistically crafted as 90s-2000s hong Kong films, let me say this was extraordinarily fun.
Another reviewer comparing this to Scott Pilgrim is accurate, this takes the pretty basic bones of a story - guy wants to learn secret village kung Fu, village doesn't want to teach him their secret kung fu, external enemies cause them to join up together - and takes it far beyond the humdrum plot into a fascinating, fun and funny movie by incorporating 4th wall breaking, on screen annotations, and meta humor.
If you hate the idea of Chinese people representing their culture and struggle against colonists in a positive light and see this as basically fascist propaganda... Well why are you watching Chinese movies anyway?
But if you've been watching a bunch of cookie cutter 2010s and onward mainland Chinese films, and thinking well that looked good but it's a pretty boring script and tone - then you are gonna love this. It's just a tad worse than Let the Bullets Fly, with a lot of the same feel.
I know 90s HK cinemas will never truly come back, but movies like this make me hopeful that modern Chinese cinema will find its voice. And what a funny and fun voice that is.