Flawed, but an OK way to kill a few hours on the couch.
I was interested in how Korean samurai movies compare with Japanese samurai movies, so I forgave many of this films fundamental transgressions. In the same way that photorealistic art undermines the thing that makes comic books work, the director of a sword-and-sash fantasy does his project a disservice when he opts for a grainy, cinema verite approach.
That kind of thing works in movies where you're trying to drive home some kind of reality (the beach landing from Saving Private Ryan comes to mind). It doesn't work so well when you've got people leaping onto the roofs of buildings and running across the tiles like a cat, or pulling arrows out of their chest so they can spit in the face of the opressor and fight on. It creates a disconnect with the audience.
This movie was Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon re-imagined as Gimme Shelter, and it just didn't pan out.
No comments:
Post a Comment