The vast open locations suffer from a purposeful lack of color.
But then again, Asian audience love their melodramas and stories about doomed love. In the end it is a more compact film than it set out t be with a romance angel that is really not needed. Unfortunately the low hanging fruit of decision to leave, the big reveal to everyone of who she is, and her reunion with her father were done as merely passing scenes that you’d miss if you blinked.ĭirector Jingle Ma, is a veteran of Hong Kong Cinema, but it seems he may have hedged his bets when given the chance for a sprawling epic. Zhao Wei is really the standout in the film as she has the most depth of character as time and war takes a toll on her being the witness to death and loss of so many comrades over time. She also disguised herself as a man to infiltrate an enemy camp in John Woo’s grander and better period war epic Red Cliff. Ironically, this is her second role as a crossdressing warrior. Throughout this, though is the heavy weight put on the shoulders of Zhao Wei, who as Vicky Zhao, is perhaps best remembered as the female lead in Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer. And even though there are great shots of thousand of extras in formation, the actual battles become more close and appear to be more like perhaps a hundred stunt performers.
#Mulan rise of a warrior cast movie#
The movie also suffers from several unnecessary melodramatic tropes, such as the obvious romance between Mulan and Wentai, but which, for variou reasons is doomed.Įven though the film says that a dozen years have passed, it certainly does not look it as all the characters look as if they’ve only been fighting for a few weeks together.
Though what there is is done well.Īs a period war film, it succeeds for the most part, but as a story it suffers from an uninteresting villain that himself prefers to lay on a mat like Jabba the Hutt and let things happen around him. Ultimately, it is a war movie and not so much a martial arts film. And this Mulan was made at a time when Chinese movies still used practical stunts and the fight staging is very well done. Well, at least a lot of extras to make their battles look big. Mendu does some Game of Thrones shit and proclaims himself the ruler and plans to continue the war. Meanwhile, Prince Mendu, of the Rourans disagrees with his father’s plan to retreat back because of heavy losses.
Over time, the two eventually both become generals and lead successful battles against the invaders. In fact, her secret is safe for the next 12 years. Mulan and Wentai both distinguish themselves in battle and her secret is safe for now. Things could go badly for except they are conveniently attacked by Rourans. One thing leads to another and eventually one of her commanders, Wentai (Chen Kun) discovers that she is a woman too. She is recognized by a Tiger (Jaycee Chan, and yes, he is Jackie Chan’s son) a friend she grew up with, but is sworn to secrecy. Hua Mulan disguises herself as a man and joins the army. but in the middle of the night, his daughter, Hua Mulan (Zhao Wei), takes his armor, sword and conscription letter to take his place in the Chinese army. Retired, and sickly Hua Hu insists that he is able to fight for his country. The call goes out to enlist men to join in the fight to repel the invaders. In 450 AD, the kingdom of Northern Wei (China is not united at this point) suffers multiple invasions by the Rourans, nomadic tribes that raid and pillage, your standard barbarian horde. It may be out of print or at least difficult to find because of renewed interest in the story and the release of the new live action Disney version. This review, however will be for the US released Blu-ray disc of Mulan: Rise of a Warrior released by Funimation. I first saw this film on an imported disc from Hong Kong. It is also known as Mulan: Rise of the Warrior, Mulan: Legendary Warrior. And of course like all old folks, “back in my day we all knew the story of Mulan.” Funny how I’ve now become like my parents in saying the same thing now.įlash forward ten years and the Chinese action film Hua Mulan is released in 2009. When I showed it to my mother, in a Cantonese dubbed VCD, she enjoyed it. but hey, we weren’t used to seeing people that looked like us in anything that came out of Hollywood, let alone Disney in a big role. Looking back, some of it is problematic in some of it’s forays into orientalism. As an American born Chinese, like may, my first exposure to Mulan was the 90’s Disney animated film.
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