The Great Wall 長城

Released Year: 2016

Directed by 张艺谋 Zhang Yi Mou 

Casted by:

Matt Damon as William Garin

景甜 Jing Tian as 林梅 Commander Lin Mae

Pedro Pascal as Pero Tovar

刘德华 Andy Lau as 王军师 Strategist Wang

Willem Dafoe as Ballard

鹿晗 Lu Han as 彭勇 Peng Yong

张涵予 Zhang Hanyu as 邵殿帅 Commander Shao

彭于晏 Eddie Peng as 吴将军 Commander Wu

林更新 Lin Gengxin as 陈将军 Commander Chen

黄轩 Huang Xuan as 邓将军 Commander Teng

 Story:

During the Song dynasty, a few miles north of the Great Wall, William, Tovar, and three other survivors from a European mercenary group searching for black powder are pursued by Khitan bandits. Upon escaping they seek refuge in a cave, but are attacked by a shadowy monster, leaving only William and Tovar alive, the former having slashed off the monster's hand. The next day, they stumble upon the Great Wall and are taken prisoner by Chinese soldiers, who are led by General Shao, General Lin, and Strategist Wang. The officers have been preparing for a monster invasion which happens once every sixty years. However, they are frightened upon seeing the monster's hand, identified as a member of the Taotie species, as they believed the invasion was still weeks away. Suddenly, a wave of monsters attack the Great Wall, and the soldiers respond with archery, ballistas, and catapaults which throw burning rocks. Lin leads a company of female soldiers who jump off the Wall and are pulled back with elastic cords. The monsters are more intelligent and numerous than the soldiers' expectations, but are repelled with William and Tovar's assistance, which earns the soldiers' respect. Later, William and Tovar meet Sir Ballard, a European who, like them, had ventured east twenty-two years ago in search of black powder, which might be sold for a fortune back in Europe. However, Ballard was also taken prisoner, and has been serving as an English and Latin teacher. The three men discuss plans to steal black powder from the store-room and flee while the soldiers are occupied by battle.

During the night, two monsters manage to climb the Great Wall and kill a guard. Shao and Lin lead a platoon to investigate, but they are ambushed and Shao is killed, leaving Lin in charge. Around this time, an envoy from the capital, Bianliang, arrives with an ancient scroll, which suggests that the monsters are pacified by magnets. To test this theory, William suggests that Lin should capture a monster alive using harpoons laced with sedatives, and delays his escape plans to help. At the next battle, several monsters are ensnared, and William bravely slides down a chain to ensure that an ensnared monster is not freed by other monsters. Tovar delays his escape to assist William, to Ballard's disappointment. The soldiers resist the monsters by fighting vertically along the Wall while tied to a chain, and by using spinning mechanical blades. As the monsters are too numerous, Lin resorts to using black powder rockets, whose existence had been a secret. After the battle, the captured monster is taken to the capital by the envoy. A short while later, a hole is discovered in the base of the Great Wall, which the monsters have used as a bypass, a reflection of their cleverness. While Lin investigates, Tovar and Ballard try to escape, and knock William unconscious for resisting. Some distance away, Ballard abandons Tovar, stealing his horse, but is captured by the Khitans, who accidentally ignite a bomb killing themselves and Ballard. Tovar reclaims the horses, but is captured by Chinese riders.

Knowing that the monsters are nearing the capital, Lin orders the use of an unstable technology, namely hot-air balloons, to reach the capital more quickly. Most of the balloons catch fire and the soldiers fall to their deaths. William boards the last balloon with Wang, following Lin to the capital, where they find most of the city already ruined. However, they think of a plan to kill the queen monster by tying explosives to the captured monster from earlier, and giving the monster meat to deliver to the queen. The three people climb a tower to shoot a black powder rocket to detonate the explosives, during which Wang is killed. Two rockets fail, but the third succeeds, after William throws a magnetic stone at the queen right before the rocket hits. In the aftermath, Lin is promoted to regional marshal, and William forgoes a reward in exchange for freeing Tovar. The two are allowed to return to Europe and a contingent of cavalry are sent to protect them.

 L² Scored: 10/10

L² Comment:

This is the first english-language movie that is directed by Zhang Yi Mou in his 33 years of being a director. He has won a lot of awards in Asian but can he won one from the Western country by this movie, let's see... Using the same concept of his 2002 movie HERO, he used sharp colors to differentiate the team of army in this movie.I love the storyline of the movie, very exciting and new while the way of defensing The Great Wall are fascinating as well. Matt Damon still look superb, being the few only western actor, he managed to shine together with the Asian actor but not overly outcast-ed his fellow actors in the same film, which i think is quite important as well... Of course this movie also let a lot of the Asian actors & actresses has the chance to show their face in Hollywood, good work Zhang Yi Mou :)

Hero 英雄

 Released Year: 2002

Directed by 张艺谋 Zhang Yi Mou

Casted by:

李连杰 Jet Li as 无名 Nameless

陈道明 Chen Dao Ming as 秦王政 King of Qin

梁朝伟 Tony Leung as 残剑 Broken Sword

张曼玉 Maggie Cheung as 飞雪 Flying Snow

章子怡 Zhang Zi Yi as 如月 Moon

甄子丹 Donnie Yen as 长空 Long Sky

 Story: 

In ancient China during the Warring States period, Nameless, a Qin prefect, arrives at the Qin capital city to meet the king of Qin, who had survived an attempt on his life by the assassins Long Sky, Flying Snow, and Broken Sword. As a result, the king has implemented extreme security measures: no visitors are to approach the king within 100 paces. Nameless claims that he has slain the three assassins and he displays their weapons before the king, who allows the former to approach and tell him his story.

Nameless recounts first killing Long Sky, before traveling to meet Flying Snow and Broken Sword, who had taken refuge at a calligraphy school in the Zhao state. He tells Sword that he is there to commission a calligraphy scroll with the character for "Sword" (劍), secretly seeking to learn Sword's skill through his calligraphy. Nameless also learns that Snow and Sword, who are lovers, had gradually grown distant. Once the scroll is complete, Nameless reveals his identity and challenges both Snow and Sword to a duel the next day. Sword, who knows that the scroll has revealed his weaknesses to Nameless, makes love to his pupil Moon, but is seen by Snow. In revenge, Snow kills Sword, followed by Moon when she attempted to seek revenge for her master. The next day, Nameless kills the emotionally unstable Snow before the Qin army, and claims her sword. As the tale concludes, the king expresses disbelief and accuses Nameless of staging the duels with the assassins, as in the previous assassination attempt he had perceived Sword as an honourable man who would not stoop so low as to cheat on Snow. The king then suggests that what really happened was that the assassins volunteered their lives so that Nameless could gain the king's trust, which would allow Nameless to get close enough to the king to kill him. He then narrates his guess at what really happened.

In the king's version of the story Nameless had sought out Snow and Sword after staging the battle with Sky, telling them that he had acquired a special technique that would allow him to kill any target that is within 10 paces. Nameless explains that he can use this technique to kill the king, but to get close enough he must present Snow's and Sword's weapons to the king. He further explains that he only needs to kill one of them in public to "prove" that he has killed both of them. Snow and Sword argue over who should be the one to die, which results in a short fight in which Snow is quicker and manages to injure Sword. Snow then proceeds to meet Nameless before the Qin army while Sword, still recovering from his wound, watches helplessly as Snow is defeated. Moon then gives Nameless her master's sword, telling him that the swords of Snow and Sword should remain together in death as they had in life.

Nameless admits that he does indeed possess the special technique the king alluded to. However he states that the King had underestimated Sword, and tells the true story. Nameless says that the special technique, while deadly, can also be used to deal a seemingly-fatal blow that nonetheless misses all the victim's vital organs. He had used this technique on Sky, and now asked Snow and Sword to cooperate by faking a duel with him as well. He demonstrates the technique by showing that it is highly accurate as well as deadly. Snow agrees to the plan, but Sword refuses. Snow angrily accuses Sword of ruining the opportunity they had three years ago, when they had broken into the Qin palace yet Sword had refused to kill the king. She then attacks Sword, and manages to wound him with Nameless's help. The next day, Nameless "kills" Snow in front of the Qin army. Sword sends Nameless off to the Qin capital, writing the words Tianxia in the sand before leaving. Sword had not killed the king 3 years ago because he desired a unified, peaceful state, and only the king of Qin could achieve that vision.

The king, touched by the tale and by Sword's understanding of his dream to unify China, ceases to fear Nameless. He tosses his sword to Nameless and examines the scroll drawn by Sword. The king understands that it describes the ideal warrior, who, paradoxically, should have no desire to kill. When Nameless realizes the wisdom of these words, he abandons his mission and spares the king.

When Snow learns that Sword had convinced Nameless to forgo the assassination, she furiously attacks Sword and unintentionally kills him when he chooses not to defend himself so that she would understand his feelings for her. Overwhelmed with sorrow, Snow commits suicide. Urged by his court, the king reluctantly orders Nameless to be executed at the Qin palace. He understands that in order to unify the nation, he must enforce the law and use Nameless as an example. As the film ends, Nameless receives a hero's funeral and a closing text identifies the king as Qin Shi Huang.

 L² Scored: 7/10

L² Comment:

Well, if you are looking for some serious martial arts kinda fighting film, please do not proceed to watch this film or you will only get yourself disappointed. Zhang Yi Mou is not the kind of director who will be shooting action film but this movie does involved a little bit of action especially at Donnie Yen's part, coz his acting skill is sucks. Basically this is about the history of "Jing Ke" who try to kill the King of Qin, the movie has been beautified by the way of Zhang Yi Mou's way of directing which I think is kind of different and cool. But of course, its not a kind of film that you will wanna re-watch after a short while, and p/s: watch it after you have enough sleep~

House of Flying Daggers 十面埋伏

Released Year: 2004
Directed by 张艺谋 Yi-Mou Zhang

Casted by:
劉德華 Andy Lau as 劉捕头 Leo
金城武 Takeshi Kaneshiro as 金捕头 Jin
章子怡 Zi-Yi Zhang as 小妹 Mei
Story:

The film is set in 859 AD. The once great Tang Dynasty is now in decline. Numerous rebel groups have formed, the largest of which is the House of Flying Daggers, based in Feng Tian county. The Flying Daggers steal from the rich and give to the poor, gaining the support of the locals. The local deputies have managed to kill the leader of the Flying Daggers, but the rebel group only becomes stronger, due to a mysterious new leader. Jin and Leo, two police captains, are ordered to kill the new leader within ten days.

In order to accomplish this, they arrest Mei, a blind dancer who is suspected of being the daughter of the old leader of the Flying Daggers. While Mei is incarcerated, Jin and Leo decide to let her go to track the mastermind; Jin will pretend to be a lone warrior called Wind, and break her out of prison. This will gain her trust, and hopefully, Jin will be led to the headquarters of Flying Daggers. The plan works, but Mei and Jin fall in love on the way. They are followed at a distance by Leo; Jin and Leo meet secretly to discuss their plans. Jin jokes about his seduction of the girl; Leo warns him sternly against getting involved.

To add authenticity to the deception, Leo and his men ambush the pair: the fight is, however, a fake. Further on, they are attacked again, but this time their assailants are apparently for real: Jin and Mei battle for their lives, being saved only by the intervention of an unseen knife-thrower. Furious, Jin confronts Leo: Leo explains that he has reported the matter up the chain of command and his general has taken over the pursuit. Jin realizes that he is now expendable.

Once again, Jin and Mei are attacked by the General's men. They are hopelessly outnumbered; at the last minute they are saved when the House of Flying Daggers reveal themselves. Jin and Leo are captured and taken to their headquarters. At this point, a number of surprising revelations are made. Mei is not blind, nor is she the old leader's daughter - she was merely pretending to be. Leo is in fact an undercover agent for the House of Flying Daggers, which has engineered the whole chain of events in order to draw the General into a decisive battle. Furthermore, Leo is in love with Mei: he has waited for three years for her whilst working undercover.

Mei, however, cannot bring herself to love Leo: over the last few days she has fallen for Jin. But as Jin is now a liability, she is ordered by Nia, the leader of the House of Flying Daggers, to kill him. Instead Mei takes him away then frees him from his bonds before they make love in the field. Jin then begs Mei to flee with him, but she is torn between her love and her duty to the House, as well as guilt over Leo; Jin leaves alone. In the final scenes, Mei decides to ride after Jin, but is ambushed by Leo who is embittered by her rejection and consumed by jealousy for Jin. Leo throws a dagger at her. Mei, not realizing that two daggers were stuck together, only managed to ward off one knife, while the other strikes her in the chest. As Mei lies dying, Jin returns to find Leo, and an epic battle of honor begins, in which they fight from autumn to winter.

The last scene sees Mei, regaining consciousness, grabbing the dagger in her chest and threatening to pull it out and to throw it in order to kill Leo if Leo kills Jin with his throwing dagger; this would kill Mei, as it would enable the blood to flow and cause her to bleed to death. Jin begs her not to do it, willing to die rather than let her be killed, but she continues to threaten to sacrifice her own life for Jin. Infuriated, Leo throws his arm out as if to throw a knife at Jin, and Mei rips the dagger out of her own heart to deflect it; she opted to try to deflect Leo's attack and save Jin rather than throw it at Leo and kill him in revenge. However, all her dagger does is deflect a droplet of blood, as Leo never threw his dagger. In the final scene, Leo walks off into the blizzard as Jin holds Mei's lifeless body, singing the song originally sung by Mei at the beginning of the film in the Peony Pavilion.

L² Scored: 8.5/10

L² Comment:

Love this film, no matter how many times i watch it. Love the simplicity of this film of the characters. Not much characters involve like other martial arts film and the kungfu is simply marvelous. The only thing i disagree is, the film shot too "beautiful"~ i mean... its kinda pretty in all the background and its a bit fake on this...

But nevertheless, this is still a good film which you guys can consider to buy its original DVD.