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February 19, 2014

Movie Review: Saving General Yang (2013, Pegasus Motion Pictures/Well Go USA)

...considering the human virtues examined and upheld, there's more than great appeal and compelling intrigue, when partaking of Chinese films, which depict the best...and sometimes, the worst of man's nature. His strengths... weaknesses... ideologies... flaws... passions... sacrifices. Time and time again, Asian cinema has wrought keen focus on their historical figures and heroes...Wong Fei Hung...Hung Hei Kwoon...Fong Sai Yuk...finding them much more relatable and inspirational than invented fictional characters. And in a nutshell, that's the major juxstapositioned key to these films' invariable appeal; if one finds one's self unable to relate to these characters, or feel the sense of how real these persons actually were, then the overall substance in the events portrayed becomes minimal...even non-existent. Regrettably, such is the case with the latest dramatization of one of China's most famous historical war tales, and the fraternal band of warriors, associated with the legendary tale...told a number of times, in the past, but here, rendered with all the grandiose visual spectacle of a major war epic...but with little substance...generic, fleeting and dramatically unembraceable...

...situation-wise, "Saving General Yang" opens very fleetingly, with two young siblings of the Yang clan, circa late 900 AD, in Northeast China, competing in a martial arts duel, for the right to marry a clan princess, who unbeknwnst to them, is already betrothed to a rival clan's suitor. Initially forbidden to compete, Zhao and Si (Wu Chun and Fu Xinbo), the youngest of the brothers, are detained and publicly beaten for their actions...actions which angrily stir rivalry discontent with an already war-hungry and vengeance-driven adversary of the Yang clan. In the midst of the battle the ensues, the seasoned patriarch of the Yang clan, General Yang (Adam Cheng), is subsequently trapped in the battle-worn ruins of the famed Wolf Mountain grounds. Exploiting the general's deliberating situation as more of a capture, than a detainment, in an effort to lure the general's seven sons...whom it is wholly expected to rally to their father's rescue...into a trap, the leader of the opposing Pan clan, led by Yelu Yuen (Shao Bing), awaits the arrival of General Yang's would-be rescuers...two of which has never seen a battlefield...with the intent of wiping out the Yang clan, once and for all.....
...there's no denying that director Ronny Yu (...of 2006's "Fearless", 1993's "Bride with White Hair", and domestically, 2003's "Freddy vs. Jason", amongst notable others) has afforded us viewers here, a visually sweeping period war epic, replent with magnificently grandiose staged battle sequences, as well as equally striking one-on-one combat. However, the story itself is overly paired down to it's bare basics...almost seemingly giving the impression of the entire tale herein, rendered as mere 'highlights' of the historical event...sort of like 'Cliff Notes' of the story, otherwise executed elsewhere, in a much more extensive form (...see 1986's "The Yang's Saga", for instance), and made even more extensive...a sort of sequel to these events, for lack of a better suggestion...in covering the 'rebirth' of the clan, with the ensuing vengeance-themed, matriarch-flavored continuation (...as evident with 1972's "14 Amazons" and 2011's "Legendary Amazons")...
...as the result of this regrettable encapsulation and fleet-footed rendering of events, the characters themselves are invariably unattachable, unrelatable and unembraceable...a flaw, further emphasized, in observing that the protagonist brothers in this tragic tale, aren't even given names...just numbered position (...i.e., 'Brother Number Two, Brother Number Five, etc.); as such, the events flash so quickly, there's barely enough running time to note the brothers' separate personalities, or to even see whether or not they actually relate to one another, in one way, shape or form...as warriors, as well as brothers. Granted, there are scant singular moments of character depth with some of the brothers, but in the end, one cannot help but yearn to know more about them...or why the concepts of family, loyalty and honor...which are elements often examined, in films of this venue...are so important to them. There's just not enough compelling complexity of literary information provided, to adequately intrigue, and the lack thereof is 'padded out' by all the great battle sequences...
...Well Go USA's Blu-Ray of "Saving General Yang" seems to take full advantage of the magnificence of the battle sequences, with the HD format...almost exploitatively, in fact. To a small degree, there's almost a parallel cohesion in these scenes, which very much resembles higher-profile, domestic war/battle productions, such as "300" or "Troy", albeit on a diminished scale. The disc itself...as an extra, other than the typical set of trailers, provided by Well Go USA...features rather informative, behind-the-scenes enlightenment, as afforded by director Yu, as well as a number of the actors, portraying the brothers...


...visually, "Saving General Yang" is indeed a striking piece of work; however, one might consider looking elsewhere, for something much more comprehensive, relatable and inspirational, with regards to the overall story of these historical proceedings...

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