An Empress and the Warriors (Variety, Screen Daily Reviews)

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An Empress and the Warriors
Jiang shan meiren
(Hong Kong-China) A Polybona Film Distribution Co. (China)/United Filmmakers Organization, Big Pictures (Hong Kong) presentation of a United Filmmakers Organization production. (International sales: UFO, Hong Kong.) Produced by Yu Dong, Claudie Chung. Executive producers, Yu, Eric Tsang, Li Kuo-hsing. Directed by Ching Siu-tung. Screenplay, James Yuen.

With: Donnie Yen, Kelly Chen, Leon Lai, Guo Xiaodong, Kou Zhenhai.
(Mandarin dialogue)

Bucking the trend toward grungier, more psychological Chinese costumers -- repped most recently by "The Warlords" -- vet Hong Kong action director Ching Siu-tung evokes an earlier, less complicated production age with the fast-moving crowdpleaser "An Empress and the Warriors." China-shot yarn about a young warrior empress and the two beaux in her life recalls Hong Kong action dramas of the early '90s (plus nods to classic Shaw Bros. pics) in its straight-arrow escapism and disdain for anything deeper. Set for pan-Asian release this spring, star-driven big-budgeter should notch up a comfortable body count and segue smoothly to ancillary in the West.

Set during the Warring States period some two millennia ago, but hardly troubled by any historical exactitude, the story opens as the Kingdom of Yan is battling for survival against its rival, the Zhao (roughly the same setting as in Andy Lau starrer "A Battle of Wits"). Yan general Muyong Xuehu (Donnie Yen) defeats the Zhao, but at the last minute the Yan monarch is murdered by his nasty nephew, Wu Ba (Guo Xiaodong).

Muyong is declared successor, much to the chagrin of Wu Ba and the other generals, especially as Muyong is only a "bastard orphan." To avoid civil war, Muyong nominates as successor the late king's only child, daughter Yan Fei'er (Kelly Chen), with whom he's been secretly in love for some time.

A striking-eyed singer-actress who's mostly known for contempo dramas and romantic comedies ("Infernal Affairs," "Tokyo Raiders"), Chen surprisingly steps up to the plate here as a young woman thrown into a male world. Adopting a severe look, and clad in knockout military duds by production designer Yee Chung-man, she holds her own in the warfare training scenes with vet action star Yen and has a commanding presence that evokes old-time Mandarin actresses such as Ivy Ling Po.

Good, old-fashioned romance enters the picture when Fei'er is wounded by an assassin and saved by the handsome Duan Lanquan (heartthrob Leon Lai), a forest hermit who's invented a hot air-powered flying machine. Love blooms, Fei'er eventually returns to save her kingdom, and Muyong puts his feelings for her on hold to join the fray.

Between the gutsy warfare, political shenanigans and (literal) romantic flights of fancy, pic has no downtime, driven along by tight editing and Mark Lui's wall-to-wall score. But though not as rushed and breathless as many late '80s/early '90s Hong Kong action costumers and Ching's earlier directing forays, it has no special texture or psychological depth. Pic plays resolutely to average Asian auds, not upscale ones or fest circuiteers. Only in the final reels does the pic finally take on a genuine, over-the-top, tragic grandeur.

Every cent of the reported $16 million budget is on the screen, even if the movie sometimes squanders its visual detail (especially Duan's elaborate forest hideout) in its desire not to bore. Of the two male leads, Yen emerges the stronger, emphasizing character over martial artistry, and, like Chen, gains extra presence from the catchy costuming. Action is grounded and light on wire-fu.

Chinese title is the same as that of the 1959 Shaw Bros. opera classic "The Kingdom and the Beauty," but the two pics are completely unrelated. At Berlin market screening caught, pic was shown in a DV copy but was a finished version.

Camera (color, widescreen), Zhao Xiaoding; music, Mark Lui; production designer, Yee Chung-man; art director, Sen Lau; sound (Dolby Digital); special visual effects, Menfond Electronic Art & Computer Design Co.; assistant director, Gary Mak. Reviewed at Berlin Film Festival (market), Feb. 9, 2008. Running time: 99 MIN.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117936 ... 1&nid=2562

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More pics and trailers and MV here (in Chinese)
http://ent.sina.com.cn/f/m/empresswarriors/index.shtml

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An Empress And The Warriors


Dir. Tony Ching. Hong Kong/China. 2008. 93 mins.

Celebrated action choreographer Tony Ching's latest and most ambitious directorial outing is a case study in the dangers of setting out deliberately to make a martial arts epic with wide territorial outreach and broad audience appeal. A light yarn about a female ruler's attempts to reconcile affairs of state and affairs of the heart, An Empress is certainly a good-looking package, its lavish costumes, flashy sets and pin-sharp widescreen photography testifying to the technical bravura of the Hong Kong studio system. But in attempting to be both Asian star vehicle and Western crossover title, battle-scarred actioner and slushy romance-with-a-message, the film will end up irritating most of its viewers at least some of the time.

Following an average mainland opening on March 7 the film's Hong Kong haul three weeks later was disappointing: it had already dropped out of the top ten by its third week (tellingly, grittier historical actioner Three Kingdoms: Resurrection Of The Dragon continued to ride high in the chart as The Empress faded). Non-Asian sales to date include Splendid in Germany and the UK 's Showbox Media Group.

Comparisons to other recent Asian high-kicking period epics like The Warlords, The Assembly or Battle Of Wits seem obvious, but in the end An Empress plays more like a Bollywood take on Hero, sans the musical numbers. Such a meld could be fun, of course, and initially the film's old-school approach to action and story is rather refreshing. But after a peppy opening act the script runs out of ideas, getting bogged down in a dramatically inert mid-term forest idyll and never really recovering.

Set during the Warring States period but bearing little relation to the historical record, An Empress and the Warriors centres on young princess Feier (Kelly Chen), who is forced to take over the Kingdom of Yan after her emperor father dies in an attempt to avoid the conflict which would ensue if his chosen successor Muyong (Donnie Yen) took over the reigns instead of his power-crazed nephew Wu Ba (Guo Xiaodong).

As he teaches her to be a warrior, Muyong and Feier fall in love, but she is attacked on Wu Ba's orders and wakes up in a forest dwelling belonging to handsome Duan Lanquan (Leon Lai) – a mysterious, tree-hugging man of the woods who turns out to be running away from something in his past. The feisty warrior queen's suspicion turns to admiration and then love as Feier's forest interlude goes on, and on, and on, drowning the tightly-paced opening in a vat of comedy-romance treacle, culminating in a ride in a hot air balloon that looks more like a huge old sock to the strains of a Mandarin pop ballad.

Kelly Chen makes an odd choice for the main role: she finds it difficult to repress a comedy strain that sits uncomfortably with the story's darker tones. Leon Lai is a rather wooden romantic sidekick; only Donnie Yen (who gets a stirring lone warrior fight scene at the end) and Guo Xiaodong fully inhabit their roles.

Costumes are spot-on, and the action choreography is efficient but suprisingly tame, given the director's background in the field. Though the battle scenes are well-edited, only a climactic sequence featuring Muyong in a solo fight against successive waves of assailants really gets the pulse racing.

Production companies

Big Pictures

United Filmmakers Organization

Polybona Film Distribution

International sales

Mei Ah Entertainment (Asia)

Golden Network (rest of world)

Executive producers

Yu Dong

Eric Tsang

Li Kuo-hsing

Producers

Yu Dong

Claudie Chung

Screenplay

James Yuen

Cinematography

Zhao Xiaoding

Production design

Yi Chung-man

Editor

Tracy Adams

Music

Mark Lui

Main cast

Kelly Chen

Donnie Yen

Leon Lai

Guo Xiaodong


http://www.screendaily.com/ScreenDailyA ... ryID=38517