The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate

Release Year: 2011

Rating: 6.3/10 (523 voted)

Director:
Hark Tsui

Stars: Jet Li, Siu-Wong Fan, Xun Zhou

Cast:

Jet Li
–

Chow Wai On

Siu-Wong Fan
–

Xun Zhou
–

Jade

Lunmei Kwai
–

Tribal Princess

Kun Chen
–

Yu Hua Tian

Yuchun Li
–

Gu Shaotang

Mavis Fan
–

Release Date: 15 December 2011

Filming Locations: Beijing, China

Box Office Details

Budget: $35,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: NZD 18,049
(New Zealand)
(18 December 2011)
(5 Screens)

Gross: HKD 2,368,650
(Hong Kong)
(25 December 2011)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

User Review

Thrilling action and the best use of 3D since 'Avatar'- pity the frenetic overplotting, the underwritten characters and most of all, an underused Jet Li)

Rating: 6/10


Who better to attempt the world's first 3D 'wuxia' movie than Tsui
Hark- the man is behind some of the genre's most iconic representations
like 'The Swordsman', 'Green Snake' and 'Zu Warriors from the Magic
Mountain', and with the latter also a pioneer for introducing
Hollywood- style special effects to Chinese cinema. It seems befitting
therefore that almost thirty years later, Tsui Hark should be the one
to import the latest Hollywood fad for the same genre- and true enough,
the veteran director's maiden effort at the third dimension is nothing
less than impressive.

Like James Cameron, Tsui brings his considerable experience as a
director to bear on the use of 3D to immerse his viewer into his
cinematic vision. Gimmicks aside (yes, you'll still find all kinds of
flying objects- wooden beams, arrows, knives and swords- coming
straight at you), Tsui crafts each shot- static or moving- meticulously
to create depth in every one of them and provide raison d'etre for the
use of 3D. Tsui has of course had some generous help from Hollywood
expert Chuck Comisky (who oversaw the visual effects for 'Avatar'), and
the result is a milestone for the 'wuxia' genre as well as for Chinese
cinema.

Alas for all its technical achievements, this loose remake of his
classic 'New Dragon Gate Inn' unfortunately is let down by more
conventional elements like plot and character. As with his earlier
movie, the setup here is also the gathering of three disparate groups
of individuals at a trading post in the middle of the desert. On one
hand, there is the vigilante Zhao Huai'an (Jet Li), Zhao's female
equivalent Ling Lanqiu (Zhou Xun), as well as a runaway palace maid Su
(Mavis Fan) impregnated by the Emperor and therefore an assassination
target by the Empress to preserve the lineage. On the other, there are
the formidable Western Bureau troops, led by their fearsome commander
Yu Huatian (Chen Kun), who have been sent by the Empress to kill Su and
eliminate those opposed to the reigning monarchy.

The pursuit of the latter for the former leads their paths to cross
with a ragtag group of bandits in search of ancient treasure buried
under the sand near the inn. The advent of a once-in-60-years major
sandstorm is supposed to unearth the treasure, and among those waiting
to get a share of the riches are Gu Shaotang (Li Yuchun), Yu Huatian's
doppelganger White Blade (also Chen Kun) as well as an intimidating
Tartar warrior princess Buludu (Gwai Lun Mei) and her band of loutish
tribesmen. Setting up such a sheer number of characters takes time, and
a good half-hour is spent on exposition detailing these individuals and
their relationships with each other. The effect of this after an
exciting first half-hour watching Zhao assassinate the leader of the
Eastern Front (Gordon Liu) and then finding himself outmatched by Yu is
like adding a lead weight to the proceedings, so much so that what
momentum the film had going for it is almost completely lost.

Perhaps even more significant is that Jet Li is practically absent
during this half-hour, and by the time he does reappear to join in the
action-packed finale, it's too late for any significant
characterisation to allow his crusading warrior Zhao Huai'an to rise
above the fray. There is a past romance hinted at with Zhou Xun's Ling,
but Tsui provides too little elaboration on it- and if Jet Li's Zhao is
thinly drawn, you can pretty much guess that the rest of the characters
also suffer the same fate.

Not only does this first reunion of Tsui Hark and Jet Li outside the
'Once Upon A Time in China' series fail to create a cinematic icon like
Wong Fei-Hung, it also gives Jet Li surprisingly little to do in the
action department. As if hemmed in by the movie's title, Jet Li is
almost always duelling only with his swords while performing some
gravity-defying flight through the air, with ultimately too little of
the lightning-quick hand-to-hand combat we've come to love about the
action star. Not to say that Yuen Bun's action choreography doesn't
thrill (it does, especially with Tsui's ability to direct elaborate
action sequences), but one hopes that Yuen (who was also behind Tsui's
'New Dragon Gate Inn' back in 1992)- and his co-choreographers Lan Ha
Han and Sun Jiankui- had exploited Jet Li's martial arts prowess for
more.

While it fails to capitalise on its key asset (i.e. Jet Li), the film
does deliver some thrilling action sequences that blend old-school
choreography with modern-day CG wizardry- the showdown between Zhao and
Yu right in the middle of a raging sandstorm is an excellent example of
this combination. Amid the wire-ful stunts, the excellently staged
swordplay stands out- and it is Zhou Xun, rather than Jet Li, who
impresses with her elegant moves. Kudos too to Choi Sung-fai's fluid
cinematography and Yau Chi-wan's deft editing in all the elaborately
staged action sequences- especially one which seamlessly intercuts
between the action inside the inn and below the inn when the
triumvirate first converge.

In terms of visual spectacle, Tsui Hark is definitely at the top of his
game, both the action choreography and the initiation of 3D into the
'wuxia' genre easily establishing itself as one of the must-see
classics. Nonetheless, for all its technical achievements, this latest
reworking of the 'Dragon Inn' mythology is let down by its poorly drawn
characters and at times its frenetic over-plotting of deceptions and
double-crosses. And even as Tsui has more than proved his prowess with
new-fangled Hollywood magic, one wishes that he had also not forgotten
his faculty for old-school elements like plot and character- after all,
it was these that made his 1992 'New Dragon Gate Inn' such an enduring
masterpiece.