Posted in : Movies , Review , Sony| Tagged : Taiwanese celluloid , Jin Yong , Legend of the Condor Heroes , legend of the Condor Heroes : The beau , Louis Cha , tsui hark , wuxia films , Xiao Zhan
caption of the Condor Heroes : The Gallants is Tsui Hark ’s blockbuster adaptation of a huge script whose rushed plot is grounded by Xiao Zhan
Article Summary
legend of the Condor Heroes , the epic soldierly arts novel byJin Yong(pen name of the late Hong Kong author , scholar , and newspapermanLouis Cha ) , is possibly the most frequently adapted wuxia novel of all fourth dimension , having spawned a trilogy of Shaw Brothers moving-picture show called The Brave Archer direct in the 1970s by legendary theatre director Chang Cheh , then a classical Hong Kong TV series in 1983 , then at least five more from Taiwan and Mainland China ever since . What could a new blockbuster movie adaptation offering ? And how can it possibly state a story that demand up over a thousand pages and needed a trilogy for one of the last times it was a picture ? The answer isTsui Hark , one of the good action film director in the world , andXiao Zhan , one of the most popular Chinese idol in the existence .
An Already Complicated Plot from the Middle of a Long Novel
So isLegends of the Condor Heroes : The Gallantsworth seeing ? Yes , if you ’re a wuxia buff and fan of Xiao Zhan ( of whom there are tens of millions worldwide ) , but it ’s far from perfect . As someone said , Jin Yong ’s novels are exceedingly surd to adapt into a single movie . There are too many characters and too many plotlines , so wakeless redaction and condensing will have to be done . The outcome is a fast two hours and twenty minute of one sec of the novel that only incubate about seven chapter of the midsection of the saga . Guo Jing ( Xiao Zhan ) , the hero of the story , is on a delegacy to prevent the Mongolian invasion of the fail and corrupt Jin Dynasty . Guo Jing is a Song Dynasty orphan raise by Genghis Khan as an adopted Word and is expected to lead the charge , but Guo Jing ’s female parent farm him to commemorate his Song stem , so he feel duty - tie down to protect both people and quit the war .
Guo Jing has been in Jin Country learning mystic soldierly humanities and has fall in love with his fellow trainee Huang Rong ( Juang Dafei ) , the daughter of the Beggar ’s Clan . When he has to yield to the Mongolian Steppes , and Huang Rong specify off in interest . Huang Rong is chased by Ouyang Fang , the Venom of the West ( Tony Leung Kar Fai ) , a megalomaniac who want her mystic gyre that would yield him the ultimate power in martial liberal arts , a attainment Guo Jing already larn . Meanwhile , Guo Jing is reunited with Princess Huajun ( Zhang Wenxin ) , whom the Khan had pledged to get hitched with since puerility , but he realize he loves Huang Rong . The Khan is preparing his army to launch his invasion just as Huang Rong and Ouyang Fang arrive at the Steppes .
Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants is Flawed But the Most Authentically Gritty Version of the Story
Fans of the original novel and preceding television series adaption ofLegend of the Condor Heroesmight sound off that Tsui Hark ’s movie finger too rushed and disjointed and that too much of the backstory has to be tell in agile montages and exposition . It ’s not for nothing that the idiot box adaptations took over forty or fifty episodes to evidence the whole floor . Tsui Hark and his writer have choose to create a love triangle between Guo Jing , Huang Rong , and Huajun as the heart of the story and the independent excited arc of the picture is Huang Rong ’s journey to reunify with him after all the obstruction that keep them apart . In the script and previous adjustment , Huang Rong was always the tangible inwardness of the novel since she was witty , crafty and fresh than Guo Jing . We do n’t get to see as much of that part of her graphic symbol because of the rushed pace of the moving picture . Juang Dafei act Huang Rong with the vibe of a twenty-first - century woman that jibe this new take on the tarradiddle . Tsui Hark still has an eye for young talent , with Zhang Wenxin in her first acting theatrical role as Mongol princess Huajun in the more nuanced female fiber in the movie . Tony Leung Kar - Fai exudes the good amount of threat as the movie ’s full-grown Bad .
In the conclusion , it ’s Xiao Zhan who keeps the whole picture show found with his portrayal of Guo Jing . The character has a tendency to be a lunkhead in the book and previous adaptation , but alternatively of play him as stupid , Xiao Zhan plays him as serious - disposed , sincere , stoical , and unwavering in his moral code . Guo Jing has never been a complicated character , the other characters are , and end up more interesting , but Xiao Zhan name him good-hearted and interesting enough to invest in .
Every previous adaptation ofLegend of the Condor Heroes , apart from feature small budgets , looked too clean , the actors too well - scour , and their costume too colourful with obviously artificial sets . Tsui Hark uses his megahit budget to film in real locations on the Mongolian Steppes with a wise sprinkling of green screen for some of the set , and the story reckon more authentic for the first meter . lease ’s be clear : the original novel was a mush serial , not a grand literary chef-d’oeuvre , that ran for a longsighted clip in Louis Cha ’s paper , which would explain why the news report is so longsighted and the mold so vast . For the first metre , the costumes also feel authentic and conditions - flummox instead of shining , shiny frock from a Peking Opera production and the actors count like they ’ve been in the scandal and the debris of the knit stitch .
The Mongolians also speak in their authentic language , and of course , the budget is spent also on Brobdingnagian armies and extras on top of epic sets . Tsui Hark wanted to create an updated adaptation of the account for a new generation , and his solar flare for action is still unmistakable , as is his perhaps excess in CGI . The way the story lurches from one plot stop to the next without provide room for the relationships to breathe , specially the love life story , suggests this theatrical version was shorten down from a much longer cut , possibly as long as three or four hours and that might be a better version , but we may never get to see it since Tsui Hark hardly ever bring out a long Director ’s Cut of his movies . This is the first openhanded budget wuxia movie by anyone anywhere for years , and it might not be Tsui Hark ’s best , but it ’s more than good enough .
legend of the Condor Heroes : The Gallantsis now out inUS dramatics .
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