The Great Magician (2011)

[DiP]

First trailer is out. Directed by Derek Yee, starring Tony Leung and Lau Ching-Wan (their first collaboration since The Longest Nite), and action choreography by Jackie and his team. It's supposedly a Chinese version of The Illusionist.

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[ShaOW!linDude]

Oh, that looks bad. And not the "cool" kind of bad.

[One Armed Boxer]

Hmm...a movie that stars one of my favorite actors, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, being made by a quality director like Derek Yee, with action being choreographed by Jackie Chan and his stunt team...should equate to a must-see.

However much like ShaOW!linDude, that trailer doesn`t really leave me clamoring to see more....and that`s the second Chinese period movie trailer I`ve seen in less than a week that goes for plodding heavy metal guitar riffs as part of the soundtrack, the first being `My Kingdom`....please stop already.

[DrNgor]

I caught this on Netflix last night. I was not very impressed. The film was too long and too unfocused. There were too many subplots, which resulted in the film feeling both overstuffed and undercooked. Unlike a lot of Chinese films, the film's light tone was consistent throughout, but that also robbed a lot of scenes of their suspense. The action director turned out to be Stephen Tung Wei, but his talents are largely wasted. There's an interesting comedic sequence where Zhou Xun avoids Lau Ching-Wan's amorous advances in a choreographed fashion. There are other scenes where serious (and entertaining) martial arts threatens to break out, only to become slapstick comedy at the last moment. Derek Yee does better with darker subject matter.