BEFORE: I could probably spend another week bouncing around in the Chinese/Asian-American action genre, but it's just not my thing, and I'm already running late. I got into this topic and ended up thinking of a couple extra films to drop in, so now I'm a bit desperate to get moving, get on with the rest of my plan for January, even though there's no clear path toward "catching up", and I'm just going to be starting romance films late, I've resigned myself to that now. Maybe that's a metaphor for our times, this year everything feels like it's fallen behind, movies have been delayed, that TV show you like probably didn't start at its regular time, maybe even your Christmas celebration got put on hold, if you're a responsible type of person. I know mine did, I haven't visited my parents since Thanksgiving. So screw it, the romance chain is starting late, and I won't pretend that I meant to do that, but it's a damn metaphor, so deal with it.
Chow Yun-Fat carries over from "The Replacement Killers".
THE PLOT: A young Chinese warrior steals a sword from a famed swordsman and then escapes into a world of romantic adventure with a mysterious man in the frontier of the nation.
AFTER: I will do my best today to make some sense of it all, but the films in foreign languages are tough, they require extra concentration. But, I made it all the way HERE so I just have to tough it out. This one's WAY over the border, out of my comfort zone, stretching into crazytown. I mean no offense against the Asian culture by saying this, I'm just not comfortable watching people run up walls, do impossible flips, and basically FLY when humans can't do that, not even the ones who are masters of the martial arts. The best way through this is just to treat these characters like Chinese superheroes - after all, we have people who can fly and have other powers in American movies, we just call them something different. Right? So it's a fantasy film, reality doesn't enter into the picture, we just want to see what the movie can make people LOOK like they're doing, even though nobody can DO that.
Still, I feel like the whole thing's a bit dishonest, I don't know why I'm holding the martial arts movies to a higher standard, but it just feels like they're telling kids that if they practice their karate moves, attain some form of higher consciousness, then they too can run up walls or balance on a bamboo shoot that couldn't possibly hold their weight. Or break a pile of bricks with their bare hands and look really cool doing it. But no, this is a SWORD movie, there's not a lot of karate chop action going on here, so that's something. What I know about martial arts turns out to be very little, but I guess there are different schools, and this all comes from the "wuxia" genre of Chinese fantasy literature. Here the heroes tend to come from the lower classes of society, so they're not part of the military or aristocratic classes, they just get to some level of success because they train like crazy.
The title of the film comes from a Chinese idiom about a situation that is full of unnoticed masters - so it's all about who's got the talent, the best abilities to fight, and how they're hiding in plain sight. Taken another way, the title also refers to the underlying desires and passions that lie beneath the surface of polite society and civil behavior, and that also factors into the plot, the characters are secretly motivated by their inner emotions, we can go back to that any time I don't understand WHY someone does what they do. And in the sub-plot, the flashback with Jen Yu and Dark Cloud's secret past, I'm told that the last Chinese characters in their names are the ones for "tiger" and "dragon" respectively, so that could be significant.
The main storyline is about the sword, Green Destiny, which is owned by Li Mu Bai, a renowned warrior. He's had a long-term non-relationship with Yu Shu Lien, she runs a private security company, and they've had feelings for each other for a long time, but she was once engaged to his close friend who died, so I guess it's been awkward for them, they both feel loyalty to the dead guy. But Mu Bai wants to retire, so there's hope for these crazy kids, and he wants to give his sword to his benefactor in Beijing, so he needs her help to get the sword there (?).
But, shortly after Shu Lien makes friends with a young woman, the engaged daughter of the Governor, a masked thief breaks into the estate and steals the sword, after fighting with Shu Lien. This thief is apparently a student of Jade Fox, a woman who tried to learn the secret ways of the Wudang, which was forbidden, and coincidentally Jade Fox killed the mentor of Mu Bai, so there, already the story is kind of connecting back to itself. I get the overall feeling that this whole story is about three times more complicated than it needs to be, but I'm willing to roll with it. The police lieutenant traces the theft of the sword back to the Governor's compound, and this leads to a confrontation where we learn that Jade Fox has been masquerading as the governess to young Jen, and apparently teaching her the mysteries of the Wudang, only the student has now overtaken her mentor. Jade Fox is rescued by young Jen and leaves, but not before revealing to all why she killed Mu Bais' mentor.
I'm sorry if this review is all spoiler-y today, there's simply no way to talk about this film without getting into the details of it all. I realize I'm twenty years late for this party, maybe you are too, I don't know. All I know is even when I set my sights on this film, thanks to my system it still took me a couple years to GET to it, but now it's in the rear-view, so that's another load off of my mind. Anyway, there's a big flashback scene next, revealing how young Jen was once in a caravan crossing the desert which was attacked by bandits who stole her comb. Jen was one of the only survivors, she somehow fought back and pursued the leader of the bandits, because she really, REALLY liked that comb for some reason. Lo, the lead bandit, sort of held her hostage, but thanks to Stockholm syndrome or something they fell in love, only they had to keep their feelings secret because they came from different classes - but he vowed to improve himself and I guess she vowed to join the Wudang clan, and they agreed to meet again, somewhere down the road. This all becomes important again when Lo shows up again, right before Jen's wedding. Remember, she's the tiger and he's the dragon, or something like that.
So, Jen runs away from the wedding - I can't really tell if she GOT married, or left right before that, or maybe she got married but skipped out on the honeymoon, but either way, she chooses instead to dress like a man, go to a tavern where a lot of warriors hang out, and start picking fights, because this IS a fighting movie, after all. She takes down all the challengers and pretty much destroys the whole tavern, and this is how you get the attention of the Wudang and work yourself back into the main plot, I guess. Shu Lien shows up again, and reveals that she and Mu Bai found Lo, and he's waiting for Jen back at Mount Wudang. But then they fight again, of course. Jen's got that stolen Green Destiny sword, which breaks every weapon that Shu Lien uses, but Shu Lien is the better fighter, so she wins, even with a broken sword. Jen's a badass, though, because she doesn't accept mercy gracefully.
This leads to ANOTHER fight, Mu Bai shows up and tries to teach Jen how to lose gracefully, and this is the fight where everybody balances on tiny bamboo trees, harnesses the power of wind somehow, and they manage to change direction mid-flight. Mu Bai takes back his sword, which should mean that Jen would surrender and become his student, only she doesn't do that - is this just because she's a whiny bitch? Why can't she train with Mu Bai and live honestly and just be with Lo and be happy? I guess she just doesn't have it in her, go figure. So Mu Bai throws the sword off a waterfall and she goes diving in after it - just like the comb, I guess she REALLY wants it, you know girls like the shiny things (?)
Jade Fox shows up again to rescue Jen, and it leads to the final battle in a cave somewhere. Mu Bai fights Jade Fox, who's using poisoned needles now, and let's just say this battle doesn't really end well for anybody. The aftermath is a giant downer, too, I don't think Chinese characters know how to be happy, as everybody seems to know who they want to be with, just nobody seems williing to make it happen. I'm kind of scratching my head over this ending, can't quite wrap my brain around it, but it is very anti-Hollywood, in that nobody gets their "happily ever after", which is disappointing to a large degree, but maybe it's trying to be more realistic in some sense. People do often act in ways that are not in their own best interests, some people don't seem to be able to work toward a better future, and isn't the will of society and the government more important in the long run? I guess that's one theory, anyway.
Still, there's so much to unpack here, I need to read some more perhaps about everything that happened here, and what it all MEANS.
Also starring Michelle Yeoh (last seen in "Memoirs of a Geisha"), Zhang Ziyi (ditto), Chang Chen, Cheng Pei-Pei (last seen in "Mulan" (2020)), Sihung Lung, Li Fazeng, Wang Deming, Li Li, Hai Yan, Gao Xi'an, Huang SuYing, Zhang Jinting, Du ZhenXi, Li Kai, Feng Jianhua, Ma Zhongxuan, Li Bao-Cheng, Yang Yongde.
RATING: 6 out of 10 bite-size meatballs
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