Review: The Shadowless Sword (2005)

The Shadowless Sword is a bit of a conundrum.  It has ever appearance of being a classic wuxia film.  A historical epic taken from Chinese history.  Lots of action and swordplay.  Heroes and villians with skills bordering on magic, and at the heart of it all a tragic love story.  So imagine my surprise to find out that despite all this (and being filmed in China to boot), this is actually a Korean movie.  Perhaps this is more common than I thought, but I must say the Koreans did a damned fine job  on this one.

Based on the struggle between the Balhae and Khitan kingdoms in the 10th century, the story concerns the efforts of  Yeon Soha  to bring Prince Jeonghyun back from exile to re-establish the kingdom of Balhae.  Now a petty criminal, Prince Jeonghyun  is the last remaining member of the Royal Family to escape assassination by the notorious Killer Blade Army.  While the Killer Blade Army is working for the Khitan, it's leader has a much more personal grudge against the Royal Family, which sets him at odds with his employers, who wish to use Jeonghyun as a puppet king.

Intrigue and history aside, the movie is a classic quest tale, with  Jeonghjyun and Yeon Soha's journey from exile to the headquarters of the Balhae forces mirroring an internal journey from vagabond to king, and from antogonistic strangers to lovers, all the while fighting, evading and/or fleeing from the Killer Blade Army.

This movie rocks for to major reasons.  Number one is that it looks amazing!  The scenery, the sets, the costumes and the actors are all a treat to watch.  I'm guessing that this morning probably cost a fraction of  a comparable American epic would cost, and yet you could put this side by side with any one of them without shame.  Seriously, it looks that good.  The second reason is that the action is brilliant.  Sure, there's the obligatory wire-work, and sure, there's times when it all becomes a little implausible, but even those moments are done with such conviction and style that they actually work.  The centrepiece fight scenes take place between Yeon Soha and Mae Yung-ok (the second in command of the Killer Blade Army), and they are almost hypnotic to watch--a combination of kung-fu, swordplay, and ballet.

The climax manages to evoke both tragedy and pathos, without straying into maudlin.  More Hero than House Of Flying Daggers, and very satisfying within the story.  If you think that the wuxia genre in the west peaked with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, then you need to see this movie.  Seriously.  See it.

The Libertine

The Libertine stars Johnny Depp as 17th poet, playwright and all-round reprobate John Wilmot, better known as the Earl of Rochester. Played with a wonderful combination of exuberance and despair by Johnny Depp, Wilmot opens the film with a prologue during which he declares "You will not like me". And he's right.

John Wilmot is portrayed as the 17th Century version of a self-absorbed rock star. Self-indulgent, self-absorbed, self-loathing, with emphasis on the "self". Talented but lazy, intelligent but crude, lionized yet isolated, Depp portrays the dissipated Wilmot like a spoiled rock star in the mold of Axl Rose or Nikki Sixx--an out of control Bad Boy whom no one has told to grow up. As Wilmot's looks and health succumb to the ravages of syphilis, he increasingly resembles Freddy Mercury in his final days.

The movie is not perfect, by any means. It suffers from a certain air of "staginess" and the script occasionally loses focus, resulting in periods that are bordering on tedious. Less emphasis on Wilmot's relationship with actress Elizabeth Barrie and more on that with King Charles II (wonderfully played by John Malkovich) would have improve the plot considerably. Many of the supporting characters are flat and lifeless, and there is no real antagonist to the story.

Reactions to the movie show that there is no middle ground. You will love it, or you will loathe it. Of the negative reviews I've read on Amazon, about 70% seem to be from women who picked up the movie solely because Johnny Depp was in it, and were disappointed to find such a dark and depressing story. Another 20% were from people who objected to the vulgarity of the movie (making me wonder what the hell they were expecting of a movie called "The Libertine"), with the remaining 10% of viewers who knew what they were getting into, and sincerely gave the movie a chance.

Perhaps it's best to think of The Libertine as a very, very dark counterpoint to Shakespeare in Love, a movie that it very much resembles in many ways. Don't let that mislead you into thinking that this is a feel-good movie, however, because that is one thing that it most definitely is not.

Chanbara Beauty Trailer

I saw this movie a couple of days ago and I'm working on a review. Until then, here's the trailer to whet your appetite...