TORONTO: Zhang Ziyi, Yuen Woo-Ping's Latest "Banquet" Not Very Fulfilling
Summary
Zhang Ziyi and action director Yuen Woo-Ping last worked together in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," a movie which helped change audience perception that martial arts movies can be artful and open the door for similar movies such as "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers." Their latest collaboration, "The Banquet," looks just as good as "Crouching Tiger," but the film is undermined by a story element that's over-used in recent wuxia epics from China. More on that later. Back to Article
Zhang Ziyi and action director Yuen Woo-Ping last worked together in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," a movie which helped change audience perception that martial arts movies can be artful and open the door for similar movies such as "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers." Their latest collaboration, "The Banquet," looks just as good as "Crouching Tiger," but the film is undermined by a story element that's over-used in recent wuxia epics from China. More on that later. Back to Article
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on Sep 14 2006 02:32 AM Feng Xiaogang is currently mainland China's most solid director when it comes to story-telling so I'm kind of surprised that the story turns out to be the weakest part of the movie. This is his first big, sweeping costume epic so maybe he got carried away by the scale of the project. To be honest, I find Zhang Ziyi to be a pretty weak actress and definitely miscast to play the domineering Lady Macbeth/Gertrude-like role -- nonetheless, she definitely can help bring in the B.O. throughout Asia. In terms of unlikeable characters, this would be a problem shared by Hamlet (which The Banquet is supposed to be lightly based off of) as well -- but in the case of Hamlet, even though you don't particularly like him, there's enough humor to offset the soul-searching existenstialism. I've heard that there's not a single laugh throughout The Banquet. (Reply to this) |
on Sep 14 2006 04:49 AM In reply to this comment (#844229) Yeah, the film's pretty serious. On a technical level, it's pretty well made. It just has a lame story. (Reply to this) |
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