"Judge Archer" tells the story of a man who takes the name of another man that he meets on a journey outside of the walls of his martial arts school. The name is known as "Judge Archer" and the name has been cursed for six generations. The role that came with the title calls for the person to maintain peace between the different martial arts schools around China. This young name soon finds himself caught up in a war of revenge.
The film on location made me excited to see the overall product of this film. The sights shown contain more of a Chinese historical flare than other films where the scenery looks like a set created for the film. Homes are built in old traditional style with open porches and stone walls that seem filled with historical context. The outside shots done in fields full of gentle moving grass as the wind blows it makes for an emotional trigger to see as a viewer. I love looking at Pagodas because they look like no other type of architecture in the world. You have to wonder the hardships the people who built them went through to make those things. The process must take a long time. Ive never seen some of the creations shown in this film like the carriage where people lay down while the ride in it. Does anyone know what they are called? The whole setting looked similar to the set in "Memoirs of a Geisha" only "Judge Archer's" set has mostly daytime shots and Memoirs was shot more at night to execute the environment for a Geisha.
You know what? That.... Plot..... I BELIEVED IN YOU! WE ALL BELIEVED IN YOU!! Everything started off so good but then got messy in the middle. People who read my post on "Saving Mr Wu" should figure that i'm not about mindless martial art or action films from China. I'm an action lover but you can't let the story take a backseat. The story needs to be in the front with the action. Judge Archer has action done in a special way but the story gets to the point that it swerves all over the place. Some of the flashback scenes will confuse you because you don't know when these happened and really don't have time to put the pieces together. Events happen one after the other with the pacing pretty much just trying to get to the next fight scene. We need meaning behind the fighting and I mean a strong reason or the sequence seems meaningless to me. Certain times, the plot has a lot of potential but its destroyed by the lackluster pacing and the lackluster conclusion.
The acting from everyone felt kind of cold. Stone cold in fact. This world seemed to be created for fighting. Martial Arts wasn't original created for killing. Its still not meant for killing but you cain't control what students of the art decide to do with their knowledge. The main character seemed more like a puppet controlled by the name he took on. He's robotic only showing emotions when he shleps a biracial Chinese women get revenge for his father who was murdered. These character's super lack of any really development because the storyline is in constant motion like it can't wait for them to catch up. The good qualities were the martial art fights and the looks of the main character.( I'm so superficial but I had to look for something else good..... )
The martial arts stayed true to the original style. No over the top violence or dramatic deaths. The movements are so fast that you have to pay attention to who is taking damage and who isn't. The use of weapons also leave the viewer in a state of shock because they're used so fast that your mind can't keep up. Your mouth can't help but speak the words "what just happened here?"
"Judge Archer", directed by Haofeng Xu and stars Chengyuan Li, Yenny Martin, Yang Song: reminds viewers what real martial arts looks like. The art has to do more with how you hit and where more than just hitting to hurt or kill someone. I need to watch this film a second time to see if I can find other reasons I liked it besides eye candy.
No comments:
Post a Comment