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CANNES 2011

Cannes 2011 Review: Peter Chan's Awesome Martial Arts Film 'Wu Xia'

by Alex Billington
May 15, 2011

I love most martial arts movies, but there are a few in particular that stand out above others, like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (which premiered in Cannes in 2000), and Wu Xia is one of those exceptional films. Now I know why Cannes chose to feature it. Wu Xia (being titled either Swordsmen and/or Dragon in English) is the latest film from Chinese director Peter Ho-Sun Chan, also of The Warlords a few years ago, and it's awesome. While it does have a few fantastic fight scenes, he never sacrifices story for spectacle, which pays off as it's a film that I enjoyed from start to finish and will definitely be revisiting in the future.

The easiest - and honestly best - way to describe Wu Xia would be to say it's A History of Violence but set in early 1900s China, about a paper maker named Liu Jinxi (played exceptionally by Donnie Yen) living peacefully with his family in a small rural Chinese town. Obviously that description hints at the fact that he has a rather intriguing past, and he may just be a martial arts expert even though he's hiding it now. When two thugs attempt to rob the town's general store, Jinxi miraculously defeats them, making it look like it was all just an accident. But when an investigator comes to town and starts to look closer at the incident, he begins to notice that Jinxi may not be the peaceful family man he claims, stirring up his sordid past again.

The one word that kept coming to mind watching this film was indeed "awesome". It's much more of a drama than a martial arts epic like True Legend, but it has a strong enough story to make up for that. And while there aren't a lot of fight scenes, the few we do get are awesome. When the investigator comes to town, he "revisits" the general store crime scene and watches (by putting himself "into the scene") the action take place, trying to discover how Jinxi was able to defeat them. Chan uses slow motion and beautiful cinematography which, unlike with Zack Snyder, is actually integral to the story because it's used to show how every tiny inflection, every last millisecond, is important in martial arts/kung fu. It's exciting to watch.

Donnie Yen is unquestionably the driving force in Wu Xia and carries the weight of the entire film on his shoulders, delivering a fantastic performance that has made him one of my favorite international actors. The rest of the cast, including Wei Tang as Jinxi's wife, is great as well. While I could complain about the lack of fights, that would be unnecessary for this film, and if anything would suggest that they trim about 10 minutes from some of the drama in the middle to tighten it up. But besides that, this is a film that I totally loved. It's exceptionally entertaining, even comical at times, and totally awesome in every sense of the word.

Alex's Cannes Rating: 9 out of 10

Filed under Cannes 11, Opinions, Review

From around the web:

http://twitter.com/QuanahTweets Quanah

Is there a trailer anywhere for this? I'm extremely interested.
- http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington
  
  Yes there is! We featured it right here on FirstShowing.net a few days ago: http://www.firstshowing.net/2011/watch-first-teaser-trailer-for-peter-chans-swordsmen-film-wu-xia/
  - Michael
    
    If Donnie yen is one of your favorite international actors then why haven't you posted any of his other movies in the past until now? like for examples such movies as Ip man 1 and 2, 14 blades, and the recent The Lost Swordman. Those were great movies that this site never mentioned.
    - http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington
      
      "...delivering a fantastic performance that has made him one of my favorite international actors." I was saying that it was this film that officially made him my favorite. Haven't seen all of his other films, but I am now planning to explore more of his past work.
      - http://www.facebook.com/danielvutran Daniel Vu Tran
        
        Check out SPL and Flashpoint if you want to see him showing off his speed . Those are his 'fastest' movies. He goes ape shit in them LOL. Enjoy! (If you haven't already ^^)
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JEOOYMKTUKVIFHUAYNQ7YOTYLQ Rey

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http://watch-kung-fu-panda2-movie.blogspot.com/ kung fu panda 2 online

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Anonymous

"He never sacrifices story for spectacle" And to that, I say, god bless Peter Chan. I´m a very very big fan of Donnie Yen. But I can also see the bad things about some of his films. He burns when directing / fight on screen, but at times, the scripts fail, as The Lost Bladesman. The reviews are unanimous in this movie, all are positive. I have really wanted to see it.
jah p

Daniel, I love SPL and Flashpoint! The fight between Donnie and Wu Jing is a classic! These movies have too much wire work for me. I like Donnie's older films compared to his newer stuff...
Anonymous

I back anything Donnie Yen. Return of Chen Zhen was a bust though :/
- http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington
  
  Yea, I kinda agree... I saw that film at the Toronto Film Fest last year and it was good, but I didn't like it too much, lots of issues with pacing. Oh well.
Terrence

wads the age limit? PG?
octopussss

It's good that you loved the movie so much, but you failed to mention that the the other main character, the detective, is played by the very famous Takeshi Kaneshiro. Not only he is a very important player in this great movie, Kaneshiro made a lot of famous great movies, like The Warlords and Red Cliff.