By Andrew Hamlin
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Hong Kong master director Tsui Hark’s early films showed viewers microcosmoses, inner workings—technically impossible shots that took the point-of-view inside a gun barrel, inside the springs and works, right before the trigger pull.
His more recent works, historical epics—including his new film “Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants”—reverse polarity to the macrocosmos. Vast swarms of sword-swinging warriors fill fields, deserts, and valleys. Volleys of arrows rise, then slant down like lethal showers. Mystical martial arts powers manifest themselves as swirling circles or semi-seen force fields. For all the pomp and joyous excess, though, “Condor Heroes” turns ultimately on the most private, mysterious, and mystical force of them all: Love.
The film’s source material, Chinese novelist Jin Yong’s wuxia epic novel “The Legend of the Condor Heroes,” covers so much ground that Hark’s finished movie concerns only the action between chapters 34 to 40. Against the real-life war between Mongols and the Jin Dynasty in roughly the early 12th century, we meet Guo Jing (played by Xiao Zhan) and Huang Rong (Zhuang Dafei). When Huang Rong becomes seriously injured, Guo Jing carries her a long distance on his back, forsaking his marital arts studies to tend to her health.
The young man proves his loyalty to Huang Rong by learning healing techniques from master Loyal South, Monk Sole Light (played by Wu Hsing-kuo). The master teaches Guo Jing the secrets of Novem Scripture, a private and extraordinarily powerful system of both fighting and healing. A master of Novem Scripture can do almost anything else, by manipulating the qi, or vital energy, underlying all existence. Here, Hark returns to his old microcosmos ways at times, shooting inside a human body to the atomic or subatomic level to show what’s going right, or wrong, with the qi.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong’s romance proceeds along awkward, fumbling, but charming lines. They vow eternal love to each other only to have that swiftly tested by the ravages of war, enforced separation, and Huang Rong’s imprisonment by the diabolical Venom West (Tony Leung Ka-fai), who won’t stop until he extracts the Novem Scripture secrets from the gallant young woman.
Tony Leung Ka-fai has a long-standing reputation as a leading man in the Hong Kong film world, but the role of Venom West tests his uglier side. The villain boasts sunken, glowering eyes in a craggy, creviced visage—and that’s before misapplication of the Novem Scripture teachings begins to warp him from within. He associates a great deal of his power with “toad”-style fighting; and at times, he does get down on his hands and knees, like a fetid amphibian. He won’t stop until power completely corrupts and destroys him, and he’s strong enough to destroy both sides of the war.
One other crucial character emerges one-third of the way through this saga: Princess Huajun (Wenxin Zhang). She wants Guo Jing’s hand in marriage, and the princess being the darling daughter of Mongol leader Genghis Khan (Baya’ertu), she’s confident she can get her wish. But the chaos of war will bring her closer to her female rival Huang Rong, than either of them could imagine. And Guo Jing’s feelings for the princess seem genuine; he’s not at all sure how to proceed.
In the end, Tsui Hark’s sweeping epic scale seems sure to keep action mavens glued to the screen—and will surely play better on a big screen than my own miniscule laptop. Still, it’s the love triangle that lingers in my head. Who will end up with the handsome hero, and who, in the end, deserves him more?
“Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants” plays theaters around Seattle. Check local listings for venues, prices, and showtimes.
I don’t know how you all do ratings but that three and a half star is ridiculous with the millions of millions of dollars this movie generated you people giving it a three and a half star