Qi jian (2005) Reviews

• A movie by an auteur for the amateurs behind Ashes Of Time, Hero or Crouching Tiger...

  lRS342006-06-13

  Wong Kar-Wai, Zhang Yimou and Ang Lee... PLEASE... oh please, watch this film and for Christ's sake learn finally something about wuxia pian because you never had not even a little idea what you were doing there! Unfortunately after Once Upon a Time in China there were very few wuxia films in fact and most of them turned out to be very weak (Hero) or ridiculous, pretentious and contrived beyond belief (Ashes of Time), now Tsui Hark finally comes back as a very mature filmmaker and reputable king of the wuxia of the screen format who takes all his previous experiences and skills he gathered over the last years right into this film and let me tell you... he truly outdid himself here, both as a storyteller and action director, even to such an extent that today one would hardly even recommend his Once Upon a Time in China or The Blade over this genuine masterpiece. I dare to say that he's at the highest peak of his career here. Some people are not excited about this film but it's quite obvious that most of them don't realize that this film actually goes against any genre conventions or film-making rules we went through before. It gives us a little story-telling and technical innovation that can easily get over the head of many average or too sophisticated and close-minded moviegoers. I know the footage's been cut from 4+ hours to 2 1/2 hours, yes it might not be an original vision the director had in his mind but considering however that he had at least the final cut on this shorter version we can cool down because it's the second vision he gave to the film and let me tell you that it WORKS, yes, it really works... sure, it might not be as detailed as would be given by the longer footage but if we keep in mind that the sequel will compensate for and balance out all the development of the characters (that is otherwise sufficient enough in this film) some people can see this film only as the first act or the first chapter of the whole planned saga. I mean, with all this in mind one has to admit it's a brilliant accomplishment after all! This is easily one of the most truly challenging Wuxia films in years... it gives you more than enough to think, imagine and enough adrenaline for lots of complex action scenes and leaves you fully entertained. Maybe it's already useless saying what many others already said here but i must also remind you all that this is an instant classic many people (not all) have been waiting for. Let's just hope many other filmmakers will once again learn from another "true" stunning masterpiece Mr.Tsui Hark has accomplished here. BRAVO!!

  More

• A cinematic milestone that can appear only once in every 20 years or so.

  JoseBBl2006-06-01

  Well, what to say what has not been said yet, saying that it's a magnificent masterpiece is just an understatement. Beautiful, barbarian, sublime, lyrical, except for its cinematic scope it has nothing in common with profit-driven, highly flawed swordplay film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" that has brought nothing interesting and fresh to the genre except for the obvious commercialization. This movie was excellent, and really I cannot see how anyone who doesn't have ADD or any humanity cannot sit down and watch this movie. A nice example of another re-invention of the Chinese swordplay movies. Seven Swords is also one of the bigger films of this genre since The Blade and the films of the Shaw Brothers. The only thing I disliked was Donnie Yen (the only flaw on this film was the casting of his character) I saw this film with a couple of friends, and let me tell you that it was vividly seen on their eyes that every single one was totally mesmerized by this, later we were talking mostly just about this film the whole week. As for comparisons to Seven Samurai, while I must say I love that movie as well, I think this one has much more depth and raw humanity. It's much more emotional and inspirational to life... at least to me certainly. This is out of question the cinematic accomplishment of the highest proportions.

  More

• a good mix of action, story and character (very mild spoiler)

  tjebi2005-08-10

  Movies that are purely action based are exciting for a time, but ultimately unsatisfying for me. This film is different, Tsui Hark has included enough back-story for the main characters to explain their motivation. I felt like I understood what was behind their actions and that allowed me to be part of what they were going through. The action sequences were exciting and sometimes brutal but they were only there to provide jeopardy for the victims and motivation for the heroes to act and overcome the dangers. Constant danger is also the context for the final climactic fight scene. Honglei Sun who plays Fire-Wind is a superb bad guy with an arrogant sense of humour. I found myself understanding that he too had some sadness and tragedy that was driving his cruelty. Something else that strikes me about this movie is that I felt I was in amongst the action - rather than watching it from a distance. Zhang Yimou's Hero and House of Flying Daggers were very beautiful but more like theatre where the audience is definitely separate and a little distant from the action. Seven Swords is more immediate and that makes it a stronger film I think. In short, it is an epic story set in an unforgiving landscape, a struggle where courage and integrity fight against greed and brutality.

  More

• Another masterpiece from Tsui Hark

  peaceattack2006-06-10

  Everything from the characters, swords, romance, action, scenery, editing, wonderful dialogues, art direction is enormously memorable to me. I saw the film at the Toronto film festival last year and since then i still could not put so many of these details, especially the characters and images out of my mind. What i started to more appreciate in this film with the coming years is quite neglected and unprecedented in sword-play movies: the strong emphasis on the characters background and development, which has ironically become the most distinctive and memorable mark of this film. One can feel how the Seven Swords background abounds with those remarkable ideas and touches that could be witnessed only in dozens of Tsui Hark's other works. If there's anything that will make this awesome film stand out, it's that innovative technique, because i have quite simply never seen anything like this before, and i have a collection consisting of nearly thousand Asian films including the martial arts, Chinese historical dramas and many other genre classics. However, i have to admit that i was quite disappointed by this film the first time i saw it, but is a little surprising to me how this film truly grew upon me, this movie simply gets better and better and i'd do anything to take back what i said about this film a couple of months ago. Although, it must be admitted (even though a bit late by me) that Tsui Hark has finally gained back his magical touch, and what's the most important that he showed an indescribable improvement over the last years, so as many others i have to honestly applaud him for this achievement as well. Undoubtedly he's not only returned to his form but is very possible that he's much better than ever before. I am completely blown away by every image, framing and lighting, not to mention the spiritual heart and poetic meaning hiding behind them carrying a true sense of cinematic power. Although, what i always admired about this guy is definitely his originality and innovative ideas. I think it'd be quite relevant to mention his infamous working method as well: Tsui Hark is very often infusing his basic framework (which is usually the traditional Chinese story, fairy-tale, novel.. whatever he wants to remake) by his own original ideas always reflecting the current social values and atmosphere, and through this artistic combination of the past and present he's systematically modernizing that for the new generation. I think this is quite unprecedented working method in order to being constantly groundbreaking and at the same time preserving the Chinese traditional values for another generations. This is why the whole repertoire of his is usually comprised of the remakes of or ideas taken from the classic Chinese films that are slowly losing the touch with the modern time. Interesting to note that Tsui Hark's loose, usually very original remakes have been much more successful at the audiences than their predecessors, but that certainly has a lot to do with their exposition to the mainstream as well. He's keeping the Chinese legacy alive. And it's also no surprise he's being usually called a champion of the Chinese nationalism and culture. I just wanted to clarify what some people still don't understand. Note: If Wong Kar Wai thought his 2046 was art or stylish he should have engaged Tsui Hark's skills and team to shoot it. Once again, Wong could have learned from him. After all, who do you think started as the first in HK using the whole combination of meditative voice-overs, scattered story-telling, visual metaphors, stylized cinematography, moral sermonizing and political allusions, the last-minute revisions during post-production, developing sub-plots into main plots, non-sync dubbing to inject additional meaning (though WKW does this only just to provide continuity), and belief that the unmade, incomplete version is the better version – Yes, Tsui Hark. Then who do you think was more successful at the audiences with this technique, Yes, Tsui Hark, not Wong. This is just my little hatred and lesson centred at some stubborn freakish WKW fanboys and moviegoers who apparently know only 15 years old movies at most. It might as well be interesting to note that the renowned Wuxia writer Jin Yong stated on many occasions that no one has adapted to screen any one of his works sufficiently. Although, he explained that Mr.Tsui Hark was the only filmmaker to this day who was successful at the audiences with these adaptations, but only at the expense of the personal vision and fully original approach rather than a conformity. The reason why so many Yong's adaptations failed is that his stories are very complicated, long and feature far too many characters. Therefore, Jin Yong stated that Tsui Hark as many others never got too much out of his novels! This is just in response to some of the people i found here who (intentionally?) badly misinterpreted Jing Yong's claimings. Take into consideration that Liang Yu Sheng (the writer of the Seven Swords novels) was all the time at the forefront of the whole production of this film to take care of the film's faithfulness to his original novels. From the very beginning there was written the so-called Seven Swords bible containing more than what ended up on this film which was under Yu Sheng's guidance as well. Reportedly, at the screening of this film Liang Y. Sheng was extremely satisfied with the result and its accuracy. So it seems that his presence during the production was worth it after all. Also remember that this film was just one seventh (at the very least) of the whole giant volume comprised of several generations, stories, themes, intrigues, characters, and many more that form all the novels this planned saga of films is going to be based on! I'm also very confident that this film can't even work just as much on its own as only a part of all seven films.

  More

• A rewarding and humbling experience that the audience has to work for, rather than just sit back and watch.,

  WildStrawberries2006-06-12

  If you are going to see The Seven Swords, be prepared to have to pay close attention and keep an open mind. For the fist half an hour I was immensely frustrated, both with the rambling editing and seemingly out-of-place music, but once I realized that what I was seeing was not a standardly narrated action drama, but an exploration of heroism, redemption and meaning of life at its best. Once you surrender yourself to the jagged style and that every second of a scene might be the last and that many of them don't last more than two shots, you appreciate every little detail and cherish every word. This is not a film, this is a documentary of the history and the very beginning of the Wuxia culture and heroism in general, and you are invited to the fictional world that is frighteningly reflecting our own. I was amazed at how staged and stylized scripts, acting, editing and action have become, and how this director seemed to say so much with so little words. Just watching the emotional expressions on the characters will attack you so much deep inside that your heart will be literally breaking apart and you start gasping for one little breath. I was so refreshed after seeing this movie that I felt like running off into the wilderness and escaping the constraints of society forever. So much is crammed in to every minute that it seemed like you saw literally 10 films at once. It is not so much a slow pace that bores many viewers (the man in front of me left halfway through) but the need for them to expect nothing more than what they are shown. In other words, do not expect to be handed character motives and themes on a plate. A great film for devoted and hardworking audiences, but not for the impassible, faint-hearted, squeamish and heartless. In the end, this film will reward such audience with an unforgettable experience that can sometimes appear only once in a lifetime. On a side note, evidently there's a lot to look forward to upon hearing that along with the sparked enthusiasm by the producers and audiences alike and the recent reports of the preparation of a number of sequels, this film officially marks the beginning of the new wave of martial arts movie-making in the 21st century.

  More