Friday, January 25, 2013

FLYING SWORDS OF DRAGON GATE (2011) movie review


Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, The (2011) d. Hark, Tsui (China)

Lot of zippy Hong Kong medieval action on hand here, but the complicated story and interchangeability of many of the characters makes things pretty confusing. (Even the press release synopsis seems to require a scorecard to keep things straight.) The biggest reason for celebration must be the reunion between Jet Li and his Once Upon a Time in China director Hark, but the theatrical wonder of wire-fu has been replaced by CGI trickery, and the digitally augmented combat sequences lose the magic as well. Most frustrating though was the 3D processing, which make the lightning-fast sword/footwork extremely difficult to follow, becoming a general wash of flurried fists and steel. Too much whizbang for its own good.

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