For the past one week, Cynthia has been nudging me to watch “Wu Xia”. Normally she is not into Chinese movie, so I was curious. Then I found out that Takeshi Kaneshiro is starring in the movie. I suppose her fascination to Takeshi is like mine to Shu Qi. I was still unmoved until she told me that Tang Wei is in it as well. Really?! The last time I saw Tang Wei on big screen, my nose bled for hours. Despite that unsightly bushy armpit scene – which I understand that perhaps in 1940, no one in China shaved their armpits – I still think that Tang Wei’s performance on and out of the bed was breathtaking.
When I was young, I was a huge fan of books of the Wu Xia genre. I believe that it is a genre that cannot be fully presented in a film format. In a way, “Wu Xia” does not have a strong plot of treachery and betrayal, no heartwarming romance or a strong heroine figure, and no character development in terms of how one becomes more powerful as the story unfolds. There are no legendary weapons either or the quest for one. Is there honor and sacrifice? Perhaps a little bit. The story is dark. There are bits and pieces that took me by surprise. Towards the end, there is a strong association to one of the famous Wu Xia stories. Because of that, to me in comparison, “Wu Xia” seems a bit dimmer. And the lack of love in the mist of family dispute also appears to be unrealistic to me.
Despite my lukewarm reaction to the plot, Donnie Yen is one fine actor. It was my first time to see Donnie taking on the role of a martial art action actor. In “Wu Xia”, whenever he fights, my body trembles. He is my new Jackie Chan. Takeshi plays the role of a detective (again) and he narrates part of the story. With the help of computer effects, Takeshi has done a pretty good job in explaining some of the mechanisms according to the world of Wu Xia (still, no match to reading a proper Wu Xia novel). What about Tang Wei? She plays the role of an ordinary housewife well. I wish she had a bigger role in shaping how the story climaxed.
In conclusion, “Wu Xia” is overall one ordinary film with moments of excitement with Donnie Yen is doing his things.