Member RogueWarrior Posted November 5, 2011 Member Share Posted November 5, 2011 In Shaw Cinemas 17 November 2011 (Thurs) - During the Northern Song Dynasty, the emperor neglects the political affairs, hence rolling border war. The war created times of hardship for the Xia country. Enemies invaded into Song's territory forcefully, allegedly attempted to intrude to the country. The Yang family were slaughtered. Mu Guiying, the wife of Yang Zongbao tolerate the pain of bereavement, leads a congregation of Yang's widow and lead them to a battle of war... Legendary Amazon is a Frankie Chan's film about the real life story of the Yang family women generals, who took up fighting after the men in their family were slaughtered. It is a retelling of the same story from the Shaw Brothers "classic 14 Amazons" and a 1960 film "Women Generals of the Yang Family". Expanding the parameters of the genre and boasting a stellar cast includes Cheng Pei Pei, Cecilia Cheung, Richie Jen and other stars to join the three places in the front-line film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member fiol Posted November 8, 2011 Member Share Posted November 8, 2011 gotta see this.. probably on the 18th.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member daisho2004 Posted November 8, 2011 Member Share Posted November 8, 2011 Looks really good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member blue_skies Posted November 10, 2011 Member Share Posted November 10, 2011 Not exactly what I was expecting thinking this was going to be like a modern Shaw Brothers movie, with actresses who could really kick ass. I'm not the biggest fan of these battlefield type of films, I like to be able to see lots of cool martial arts fights with tight choreography rather than dozens upon dozens or even hundreds like this. However it does look pretty violent although it will probably turn out to be horrible CGI blood and I wish Hong Kong/China would minimise the amount of wire work. Maximise what talent they have, Don't have everybody floating around especially in a more realistic, gritty environment it looks so out of place . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member rdenn Posted November 12, 2011 Member Share Posted November 12, 2011 more horses and arrows.. sigh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AbeRudder Posted November 12, 2011 Member Share Posted November 12, 2011 more horses and arrows.. sigh. Yeah, couldn't be less excited for this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member rdenn Posted November 24, 2011 Member Share Posted November 24, 2011 i actually watched this movie last night, loads of fights but most of them are not very good mainly battle based but awful cgi and for some reason the yang family are fighting a stray black character called black demon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member RogueWarrior Posted November 24, 2011 Author Member Share Posted November 24, 2011 sounds and looks interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted December 1, 2011 Moderator Share Posted December 1, 2011 Review for this movie is up on lovehkfilm....I didn't know Frankie Chan was directing, now I'm interested in giving it a look, and of course to check out Yukari Oshima, even if it is just a small role...is this the first time they've worked together since 'Outlaw Brothers'? http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/legendary_amazons.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member BaronK Posted December 1, 2011 Member Share Posted December 1, 2011 Skimming through watching the action now, movie later. Searched and found out Fung Hark On did the action. Man, he always was unnoticed as an AD. He brings nothing but the goods. This isn't Sammo or True Legend stuff. This is damn good choreography and some decent length takes. Most of the wires are done better than Sammo and WP does them as well. It's not a float fest. I really like the fact that this is not done in the horse and arrow style, as the Captain calls it. The battle scenes actually have chor. and fights in them, rather than just heavy swinging and hacking. Well thought. This movie has more fights than any movie that I can recall, Bangkok Knockout had a lot but this has more. This comes off like Woman Knight Of Mirror Lake, where it seems like its something else. This is kind of wuxia but it's practically a KF movie. Who would have thought the last 2, best choreographed movies would be women fronted KF movies. And i mean that. KF movies. The chor. base is also, not, wushu, so the movements are cleaner, smoother. If you understand what I mean. Entrenched more in the peking opera style, as that's his background. We even see mellon hammers and single halberds used in fights. I had given up on everyone chinese not named Tony Leung or Tung Wei but damn, FHO brings the goodness. I want him to do more. please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member rdenn Posted December 1, 2011 Member Share Posted December 1, 2011 Baronk this movie is full of floatng me and you are going to fall out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member BaronK Posted February 20, 2012 Member Share Posted February 20, 2012 Just watched the whole movie. Going back on what I said earlier. Wire work was not good here. Floating, and everything else going on. Wirework has gotten terrible over the years. Choreography is fine but the wires jack it all up. So jarring and unnatural. I'm really up to here with the wires. Had it. Lu Chun Ku, Siu Tung, Tung Wei. They can do wires. I don't know if there was some frame removal but some of the action had a clippy, weird movement, look to it. Everyone looked fine doing the action, with the end being the best. The movie is sloppy. Terribly miscast. Grandmothers, mothers, daughters and son barely 20 years difference in actual actor age and one character with gray hair. Yeah. When 1 character calls another mom or grandma, you'll get a look on your face like what? Terribly miscast. It's not deep enough to rag on as a picture, so, that's it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member phoenix_darshan Posted March 19, 2012 Member Share Posted March 19, 2012 its kinda weird movie, not sure what the intention was casting actresses the same age and then it turns out its three generations of one family. seems cheaply sped up and jerky at times when the fights take place I do agree. there are some good parts when they dispense with sloppy CGI which is all over the show like a mad womans piss. there is heaps of ridiculousness such as the jumpping stilts, please do not do this to me. music was a bit theatrical for me, very in your face. it can be done more subtly. I liked the general idea of having a pure woman family being into fights each with their own forte, and some strategies like the pepper during the battle were quite nice features. all in all not enough to entice me to a second watching. btw hardly any blood visible during battle and if its a splash of cgi here and there. its watchable on youtube so you can form your own opinion: enjoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted June 4, 2012 Moderator Share Posted June 4, 2012 I just got through watching this one, and all I can say is that it seems like time travel actually is possible, because it appears Frankie Chan and his crew went back in time to the early 90s, made this movie, and came back to recent times and attempted to pass it off as a new one. 'Legendary Amazons' sometimes feels like more of an early 90s New Wave wuxia movie than some of the movies actually made during the period itself. Everything is here and in place - overdramatic acting, even more overdramatic plot, a musical montage in the middle set to some Chinese pop ballad, and best of all....plenty of action, of the type when wires where used for creativity rather than enhancing some move that if, it can't be done without them, should probably not be done at all. Is it a movie to recommend? Probably not, it's a stretch to even call it a good movie. But did it take me back to when I was first getting into HK cinema, and I was ploughing through movies like 'Swordsman 2' and 'Butterfly & Sword'? Yeah, absolutely, & it's done completely absent of any knowing winks or nods to the audience. Of course this is based on the same story as the Shaws movie '14 Amazons', and as such there's definitely a Shaws vibe in places. From the family hall where they gather to the casting of Xiao Mingyu as the only male son, who's a dead ringer for a young Fu Sheng, to the variety of weapons on display. It's been a while since I've seen so many different kung-fu weapons in one movie, and they're all given their own introduction, Shaws style. The action itself is plentiful, and as much as I wanted to find another word to describe it than the one that first came to mind, I couldn't....put simply, the action is goofy. Not goofy in a "this is unwatchably bad" kind of way, but in that high energy anything goes kind of way that could also be seen in the likes of 'Swordsman 2'....spiked logs crash into defensive formations and a heap of people go flying through the air in every direction, and it's not CGI, it's a stunt, and probably thanks to Jackie Chan being on board as a producer, stick around during the end credits and you'll see just how much of a painful stunt it was. The fight scenes themselves are well choreographed and clear, although a strange form of undercranking seems to have been used which sometimes makes them look oddly jittery, like a few frames are missing. But in the end it's nothing too distracting, and nice to see so much one on one weapons work, and some very Shaw style deaths thrown into the mix as well. All in all, worth a watch if you go in with low expectations, and prepare to enjoy Cecila Cheung's performance...this movie was her comeback, but her character onscreen seems as on edge and slightly unhinged as she probably was offscreen, hard to believe this was once the 'Best Actress' winner...I blame Edison Chen, as I'm sure does everybody else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member masterofoneinchpunch Posted November 16, 2012 Member Share Posted November 16, 2012 My comments on the film: Frankie Chan the very prolific Hong Kong film composer and bad guy in The Prodigal Son had not directed a movie since 2002 so I wondering how effective he was going to be in this retelling of the Shaw Brothers film The 14 Amazons (1972). At first you get the feeling of a Shaw Brothers film when each main character gets a title with their weapon of choice. One of the issues of Shaw Brothers epic films like The Water Margin is the over-introduction of characters and fragmentation of storyline because of the vast amount of protagonists (and sometimes antagonists) and that problem is certainly here are well. Often this leads to an overdramatic scene where someone is killed in battle and you are wondering who exactly they are. The overwhelming majority coming out of China and being released here on DVD are historical dramas often with a wuxia influence, often quite nationalistic and often featuring many big budget battle scenes. This falls under that category except the battle scenes are lower budget. Late in the film there are some battle scenes where fighting is going on in the background that has been digitally put in (green-screen I believe). It looks like rear-projection and it reminds me of the backgrounds in some of the earlier Mortal Kombat games. I am not sure why those scenes were kept in because they could have easily been excised without losing much of the plot. Also the wire-work fight choreography is not the most aesthetically pleasing and when the majority of the film is battle scenes they really needed to be much better to stand out among much better films like Red Cliff. Jackie Chan coproduced this. I have not used him as a barometer of goodness in a long time and I absolutely did not like his last film 1911. I am considering this movie a 2012 release because no (non-pirated) DVD release was out in 2011. Either way it is toward the bottom of the 2012 releases I have seen so far (you have company Casa de mi Padre). Ultimately the film is harmless, but the competence is not there. The cast is not to blame as Richie Ren, Cheng Pei-pei and even Cecilia Cheung have given good past performances. Watch Red Cliff, Bodyguards and Assassins, The Warlords, or Detective Dee instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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