The Legend Of Zu [DTS]

The main problem boils down to style versus substance. I went into this movie expecting eye candy and really little else. Legend of Zu does create some stunning images. The computer-generated special effects are bar none the best to come out of Hong Kong (and shows that they can at least play with the "big boys" of Hollywood), and the (regretfully few) fights directed by $$ID=Yuen Woo Ping$$ are exciting.

But that's all the movie has to offer. If I just wanted to watch trippy visuals for two hours, I'd watch anime or something. The script is a shambles -- the viewer is thrust in right away to the story. There is no setup, no real explanation as to what's going on or who's who. Even though I have watched the original movie several times, I still felt lost. The lackluster script also fails to produce credible heroes or villains -- key for a "comic book" style movie like this. There are far too many characters introduced and then simply thrown away for the sake of showing more special effects. Zhang Ziyi's character is a prime example -- it is set up like she is going to be a major part of the plot, but after engaging in a fight, she simply vanishes for the rest of the movie.

It doesn't help matters that the acting is simply piss-poor. $$ID=Sammo Hung$$ is reduced to a talking fortune cookie, $$ID=Cecilia Cheung$$ offers good looks and not much else, and $$ID=Ekin Cheng$$, well, he's just Ekin. This guy fails in any sort of attempt to create emotion (and thus sympathy for his character) and drags down the movie with him. The current word is that the aging pretty boy is falling out of favor with local audiences, and if this is true, I will be glad when I never have to see old Noodle in a new HK movie ever again.

Even though the visuals are great, you cannot base a whole movie around them. You need a good story, engaging action, competent acting, something, anything -- which Legend of Zu does not provide. Even the star power associated with the movie couldn't keep it from bombing at the Hong Kong box office, and Miramax pulled back its' plans to release the film theatrically to the US, instead waiting to re-tool it to their own tastes.

This reviewer fully believes that Tsui Hark needs to take a step back and look at his career. His directorial output has become less than stellar lately, and for his sake (and the HK industry as a whole, since he is now so wrapped up in international deals), he should perhaps think about shifting his focus to behind the scenes, rather than subjecting us to more schizophrenic hallucinations such as Legend of Zu.

Review Courtesy of Neil Koch