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KellyC · 07-20-2011, 01:42 PM

Donnie Yen's newest action flick, The Lost Bladesman - 2/10

This movie is a short story about Guan Yu's service under Cao Cao after he was captured, it's taken from one of my favorite book, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Donnie Yen plays Guan Yu and right from the bat something is seriously wrong because Yen is too damn small to play the physically imposing Guan Yu. The film also deviates a lot from its source material for whatever the hell reason the people involved had in mind. For example, in the book Cao Cao is portrayed as cunning, scheming, and ruthless; in the film he's a righteous dude, albeit scheming, who works hard to save the empire and bring peace to the people. The Cao Cao in the book has tremendous respect for Guan Yu and would loooooove to have Guan Yu work for him, but he's not going to kow tow to Guan Yu and beg him to stay on several occasions. He has too much pride for that, and he's in a position of leadership so that would make him look bad to his subordinates. Similarly, Guan Yu is compassionate but he's also very stern and is all business. He would not be all buddy-buddy with Cao Cao as that would be disrespectful to his sworn brother and lord Liu Bei. He wouldn't hesitate to cut down any one who's in his way, and he wouldn't run from a fight either. So Cao Cao is enamored with Guan Yu and he showers Guan Yu with tons of gifts, of which Guan Yu either returns the gifts or donates to charity. But the film makers missed the most important gift, the Red Hare, which is a legendary horse known for its strength and speed. This horse helps Guan Yu numerous times on the battlefield is omitted from the story. There's no mentioning of him at all and Red Hare plays an important part in Guan Yu's life. Then you have some dumb side plot like Guan Yu being secretly in love with his sworn brother's betrothed and get all doll-eyed for her. The Guan Yu in the book wouldn't be bothered with nonsense like this. He has a lord to serve and an empire to save.

By now it should be clear that this movie is a failed endeavor. But to make it worse the film makers took the liberty to alter the actual plot itself. You find Guan Yu not actually crossing the Five Passes and slaying the Six Generals, a feat that he's famous for. Instead you see him wandering around the region here and there, and the gatekeepers commander stops him in his track with the explicit order to kill him. And Guan Yu actually hesitates to kill some of them. That didn't happen in the book. I can go on about the book-film comparison but i'll stop for now.

Other than numerous factual errors, I find the film to be a sloppy piece of story telling. Some scenes could've extended longer so the characters can finish their thoughts and some scenes should be cut short to spare us the silliness that has nothing to do with the overall narrative. An important theme that's down played in this film is loyalty. There's no character development as everybody is the same from the first scene to the last. Though, the only exception is the emperor, who, surprisingly isn't such a useless coward. He has some guts, somewhat of a mind of his own, and an ambition. But ultimately, he's an idiot and he deserves to have his authority usurped by Cao Cao.

So if you're looking for a respectable treatment of Guan Yu from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, look somewhere else. For a mindless action flick that's set in the late Han dynasty, this is tolerable fluff. That's the only reason why the film gets a score of 2/10.

07-20-2011, 01:42 PM	#3995 (permalink)
KellyC Comment or else!! Location: Home sweet home	Donnie Yen's newest action flick, The Lost Bladesman - 2/10 This movie is a short story about Guan Yu's service under Cao Cao after he was captured, it's taken from one of my favorite book, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Donnie Yen plays Guan Yu and right from the bat something is seriously wrong because Yen is too damn small to play the physically imposing Guan Yu. The film also deviates a lot from its source material for whatever the hell reason the people involved had in mind. For example, in the book Cao Cao is portrayed as cunning, scheming, and ruthless; in the film he's a righteous dude, albeit scheming, who works hard to save the empire and bring peace to the people. The Cao Cao in the book has tremendous respect for Guan Yu and would loooooove to have Guan Yu work for him, but he's not going to kow tow to Guan Yu and beg him to stay on several occasions. He has too much pride for that, and he's in a position of leadership so that would make him look bad to his subordinates. Similarly, Guan Yu is compassionate but he's also very stern and is all business. He would not be all buddy-buddy with Cao Cao as that would be disrespectful to his sworn brother and lord Liu Bei. He wouldn't hesitate to cut down any one who's in his way, and he wouldn't run from a fight either. So Cao Cao is enamored with Guan Yu and he showers Guan Yu with tons of gifts, of which Guan Yu either returns the gifts or donates to charity. But the film makers missed the most important gift, the Red Hare, which is a legendary horse known for its strength and speed. This horse helps Guan Yu numerous times on the battlefield is omitted from the story. There's no mentioning of him at all and Red Hare plays an important part in Guan Yu's life. Then you have some dumb side plot like Guan Yu being secretly in love with his sworn brother's betrothed and get all doll-eyed for her. The Guan Yu in the book wouldn't be bothered with nonsense like this. He has a lord to serve and an empire to save. By now it should be clear that this movie is a failed endeavor. But to make it worse the film makers took the liberty to alter the actual plot itself. You find Guan Yu not actually crossing the Five Passes and slaying the Six Generals, a feat that he's famous for. Instead you see him wandering around the region here and there, and the gatekeepers commander stops him in his track with the explicit order to kill him. And Guan Yu actually hesitates to kill some of them. That didn't happen in the book. I can go on about the book-film comparison but i'll stop for now. Other than numerous factual errors, I find the film to be a sloppy piece of story telling. Some scenes could've extended longer so the characters can finish their thoughts and some scenes should be cut short to spare us the silliness that has nothing to do with the overall narrative. An important theme that's down played in this film is loyalty. There's no character development as everybody is the same from the first scene to the last. Though, the only exception is the emperor, who, surprisingly isn't such a useless coward. He has some guts, somewhat of a mind of his own, and an ambition. But ultimately, he's an idiot and he deserves to have his authority usurped by Cao Cao. So if you're looking for a respectable treatment of Guan Yu from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, look somewhere else. For a mindless action flick that's set in the late Han dynasty, this is tolerable fluff. That's the only reason why the film gets a score of 2/10. __________________ Him: Ok, I have to ask, what do you believe? Me: Shit happens. Last edited by KellyC; 07-20-2011 at 01:48 PM..