Cult Movie Challenge 2018 | 32/52 | Jet Li
Two thousand years ago, during the Warring States period, China was divided into seven Kingdoms. For years, they battled for supremacy while the people suffered. The King of Qin was the most ruthless in his effort to conquer the land and unify all under heaven. He was regarded as a common threat by the other six Kingdoms. The annals of Chinese history are abound with tales of the assassins sent to kill the great King. This is one of the legends…
A cavalry of men dressed in black, flying black flags, rides across Qin, transporting a man called Nameless. The King of Qin has summoned Namless, a prefect turned master swordsman, for killing Sky, Snow, and Broken Sword: assassins who made attempts on the King’s life. As proof, Nameless has brought the dead assassin’s weapons. The King’s handlers check and dress Nameless, reminding him never to go within 100 paces of the King.
As the King goes over each dead assassin, he then rewards Nameless with gold and land, as well as allowing Nameless to come closer. As he does so, he unveils how he succeeded in taking the assassins one by one. At the core was a love triangle, and to cause a rift, he would take out Sky. He finds Sky at a chess club in his district and places him under arrest, all while a blind musician plays. Catching Sky offguard, Nameless can slay him.
Snow and Broken Sword always worked together. Nameless, disguised as a citizen of Zhao, goes to a calligraphy school, where Broken Sword practices. As Namless gets to know Broken Sword, the King’s armies descend on the school. While telling the story, the King tells Nameless of his plan to conquer every land under the sky (天下) and unify them with one language.
As Nameless finishes his story, however, the King questions some details. Through the film, we learn that the story is not what either Nameless or the King says.
The film is a visual feast, making beautiful use of color to convey subtext and to establish place and time. The film’s framing narrative uses black. The flashback scenes have bright flashes of green. The film also uses red, blue, and white throughout — red for desire, blue for reason, and white for balance. The stories take on these colors to denote the contradictory nature of their tellings.
The movie has an impressive scope, using lavish settings and a massive cast of extras to convey scale. As a wuxia film, it features extensive fight choreography with flying. The cinematography elegantly complements the storytelling of the fights. Though it uses CGI throughout, it’s utilized in a relatively restrained manner, never dominating the scene.
The standout performances are, no surprise, Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung. Jet Li’s got the fighting chops, no doubt, but he’s never given a nuanced performance — this movie is no exception.
The film’s biggest flaw is its thin storytelling. Though it presents itself as a sort of Rashomon, these stories are little more than threads on which to hang beautiful beads of color and choreography. Of course, it all builds to the movie’s central message, which I won’t spoil. Also, the film never gives itself a chance to build momentum, devoting all its energy to fleshing out the set pieces.
That said, the movie still has plenty of beauty in its visuals and performances.