posted by orbital on January 3, 2009 | 0 comments
Just caught this in trailer in the theaters. Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro made the first movie, which was the best film John Woo has made in ages, maybe even since he was back in Hong Kong.

Ending to the first film was a cliffhanger, so I've been looking forward to this. Hopefully I'm not the only one.
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marco64 on January 3, 2009 | reply
thanks for the link - I saw the first one too and had forgotten about it.
trevelyan on January 3, 2009 | reply
I'm looking forward to this one too, thanks for posting the trailer. Some of the action sequences were a bit over the top in the first episode, but the turtle defense was fun to watch, and Kaneshiro did a great job as Zhu Geliang.

Was surprised it was actually directed by John Woo. Face Off? Broken Arrow? ? !!!

A Better Tomorrow was pretty good though.
Lunetta on January 3, 2009 | reply
I got the first one on DVD just before Christmas and have now watched it a couple of times. The first time I was completely lost trying to figure out the role of the different characters and understanding the plot. The second time it was easier to get into the story but I still feel some of the battlescenes were too long.

The most annoying thing about watching is probably not the movie itself but my own lack of cultural knowledge. I guess you could compare it to someone Chinese watching something like Troy without ever having heard about classic greek literature and mythology. I have the feeling the movie takes a certain cultural knowledge for granted and it makes it difficult for me to decide what I think about the acting and the plotline.

Btw Takeshi Kaneshiro is one of my secret obsessions. I may or may not have watched weird Japanese talk shows on Youtube just because he was a guest....
trevelyan on January 14, 2009 | reply
@orbital and @lunetta - Echo and I caught this last night. We both really enjoyed it - it's a big improvement over the first one and definitely worth seeing in the theaters if you get the chance. A genuine blockbuster.

Look forward to reading your own thoughts on it. Takeshi Kaneshiro is great as Zhu Geliang btw.
Echo on January 15, 2009 | reply
非常好看,鸿篇巨制,但是没有近些年来“张氏”、“陈氏”古装大片的虚假造作、莫名其妙。

很多网上评论说这部电影有很多笑场的地方,但是我自己看的时候觉得虽然有些语言单独看可能荒唐,但是在电影当时的情景下,并不荒唐搞笑。一部历史题材的古装片,既有历史经典的还原,也有现代气息的融入,可以说是近年来中国电影中难得的佳作。

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
Lunetta on January 24, 2009 | reply
Dave, I probably won't be able to see it in theaters around here unless I get very lucky. If it comes out it'll probably be the condensed version meant for the western market and even then it'll probably only be in a few theaters. I'll most likely get it on DVD at some point but I want to get a decent copy so will have to be patient.

I'm wondering how the cut for the western audience is going to be like and how it'll be received. The two movies are something like 4 hours put together and cutting that down to 2½ hours for an audience without any knowledge of the background story must be a challenge. Not having seen the second part I'm guessing that most of the footage is going to come from that but I would like to hear what you guys are thinking.
barrister on January 25, 2009 | reply
I've seen both films now. The second is a definite improvement on the first, but I think it was still a bit long. Some of the things that were somewhat off-putting about the first film (the sentimentality with that horse) will probably be cut. The second film could also have been edited down, especially the final battle sequence.

So I'm going to be interested to see what it looks like edited down to 2½ hours. If it forces the studio to focus more on the narrative it could really improve the movie. You never know.
bakary on April 8, 2009 | reply
i want to know if that movie is already out or its gonna be out??????????????????
trevelyan on April 8, 2009 | reply
It's out and worth seeing. MUCH better than the first one. Best John Woo film I've seen.
mat on June 20, 2009 | reply
Yes, I thought it was much better than the first one too. A really great film. I found this absolutely fantastic for language too because the, ah-hem, version I saw was very nicely hard subtitled in Chinese and English simultaneously with good timing.

I really wish I could get more movies done like that. Movies with subtitles online in English (with those sort of 'artistic' translations) and out of sync are virtually no use at all.