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Wu Xia (2011) (aka 武俠, Dragon)


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What really gets me I went into watching this movie with high expectations, after Legend of the Fist which I was highly disappointed with also! I mean Ip Man was totally Off The Hook, so I thought this was going to be an awesome movie, but it was just a slow paced dragged out movie.

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My parents enjoyed "legend of the fist". They saw it in English. In my experience, American or English language is better portrayed, vs watching subtitles for martial arts film. I haven't seen the dubbed version yet though, but will when i have time.

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My parents enjoyed "legend of the fist". They saw it in English. In my experience, American or English language is better portrayed, vs watching subtitles for martial arts film. I haven't seen the dubbed version yet though, but will when i have time.

Totally disagree..if i put a dub on while watching a film, my children laugh and say its funny, but they have been raised watching subbed films. I think dubbing just makes a film look cheap and nasty.

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Originally Posted by David Rees

I think dubbing just makes a film look cheap and nasty.

And unintentionally funny a lotta times too…

Of course dubs can work to a degree, especially when translations are made into related languages (German, French, English, etc) that happen to share many cultural similarities and signifiers, common metaphors and sayings. Case in point might be the more lavish end of the arthouse market, film and TV productions that are aimed at so-called “mature adult audiences”. Oftentimes those productions happen to enjoy bigger budgets too, meaning translations will be reasonably subtle and nuanced and dubbers will be carefully chosen to make sure the gravity and tone of their voices match their respective parts. But of course all this hardly ever applies to the kind of “genre films” that we love to discuss on forums like this.

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DVD/Bluray releases of HK movies after theatrical showing depends on what movie it is. Maybe for Wu Xia, it has been extended to 2 months after its' theatrical release.

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usually the types of things that hold them up would be the Mainland China release, but Wu Xia was released in China 3 weeks earlier than HK. I would imagine the preorder will be coming soon, maybe even later this week or next. there's never any guarantee though

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I finally got around to seeing this and I do agree that the story dragged and the plot is just eh but interesting.. However, when the action started, it got good and I finally woke up.

However, I don't know the full story but did he really chop off this own arm? I thought he lost it in a fight?

I definetly prefer bladesman over this movie.

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Already saw the action prior to watching the movie. But I never thought I would ever see a simple story done compellingly and exceptionally with top-notch acting made anytime sooner. This is it. There's influence from elsewhere for sure but the way they pulled the whole thing calls for admiration. Power of martial arts techniques, human anatomy, crime investigation, suspension, depth and emotions of the characters etc. It's like watching kung fu, crime, mystery/thriller, neo-noir and drama all in one.

Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tang Wei (who got lesser screen time in the Cannes version) are both marvelous and there weren't moments in which their acting were inappropriate but looked like they absorbed their characters to set them in the right mood for all their scenes. I give this one to Donnie and Jimmy Wang Yu though. Donnie constantly keeps trying out different roles to improve his acting skills and the outcome shows in everything he has been doing since Ip Man more and less. But Wu Xia is simply the icing of the cake and proves how far he has taken it. Jimmy Wang Yu, on the other hand, was pure dopeness and re-evaluates the word "menace". Watch his two big scenes and learn.

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Just watched it last night, very good. a lot more satisfying than The Lost Bladesman. Peter Chan is likely to get a best director nomination and even win for this one at the HKFA!

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Got this today. Going to watch it in a day or two. I'm curious to see if I'll notice the extra minute or so that's said to be exclusive to the HK cut.

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Peter Chan is likely to get a best director nomination and even win for this one at the HKFA!

i for one hope not, cuz imho, he doesnt deserve it for this (still very good) detective-fu extravaganza.

wuxia pros:

most impressive performances by kara hui and takeshi kaneshiro. he`s playing a great wiseley-esque type of character and im lovin it, although i had to suspend disbelief quite a number of times following his logic. kara manages to give her supporting character a lot of depth, plus shes now the epitome of one badass hard to the core chinese milf. donnie i thought was very solid, certainly to be taken seriously not only as a martial artist but also an actor by now. impressive he was not tho.

the fighting wasnt awe inspiring. it was really good tho with a few outstanding moments here and there.

cool story. my personal "convict killer of the century". but from here we move on to

the cons:

while the script is very nice, its transfer to the screenplay isnt. too bland and uninvolving with little tension and suspense particularly in the movies first half.

also i think they ve missed some great opportunities here, especially in creating a truly moody, captivating motion picture. with a different approach to the camera work and framing & lighting in particular, this could have been a cinematic orgasm. ingredients are all there imo. chan simply didnt pull it off. paint this movie tsui hark/neil marshall/chu yuan-ish in tone, atmo and style and we`d have gotten more than just a winner.

easily recommended, good stuff most of the way. not a MA-action fest (just to make that clear), a few aspects may be bothersome to some. 7.7/10.

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I thought it was great; between this and Reign of Assassins I have hope for modern wuxia.

I felt this film had a real (neo) noir feel in places, along with solid action scenes. It was great to see some Shaw stars show they've still got it.

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