Wow, this is truly beautiful: He's in a Chinese film, and yet, Christian Bale is still playing the "American" mortician. Well, I suppose Bale's not the only person retreating to what he's used to doing in films, because this is a Zhang Yimou film, and who… More
Wow, this is truly beautiful: He's in a Chinese film, and yet, Christian Bale is still playing the "American" mortician. Well, I suppose Bale's not the only person retreating to what he's used to doing in films, because this is a Zhang Yimou film, and who better to do a subtle, realist war drama than the guy who did such other subtle and down-to-earth dramatic Chinese classics as "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers"? For you silly several hundred million or so Americans who don't get it, those are wuxia films, or in other words, about as far from subtle as you can get Asian action dramas, which is really saying a lot, so you know that this film is a bit of a stretch for him, even if itself isn't all that subtle, being that "Saving Private Ryan" wasn't all that subtle. This does pretty much seem like the Chinese "Saving Private Ryan", or rather, "Saving Private Dancers" (Fourteen of them are prostitutes, in case you didn't catch that), so much so that the only American's name is John Miller. I think the first mistake made by the filmmakers in their attempt at making this film the Chinese "Saving Private Ryan" is making it hardly Chinese, for although the English dialogue segments are about 40%, that's still just a bit below half of the film, and what pushes the film over to about 70% or 80% percent American is its starring Christian Bale, because you don't get more of an American than that. Okay, jokes aside, Bale actually does sound more convincing as an American than an Englishman, yet the point is that he's definately not helping in making this film more Chinese of a Chinese film. Eh, oh well, it's still a pretty decent film, even if another big reason why it fails at being the Chinese "Saving Private Ryan" is because it's not even close to as good as "Saving Private Ryan", and for many a reason.
Clocking in at nearly two-and-a-half hours, you'd think that the film, considering its story, would be airtight with few loose ends, until, of course, you remember that this is an awards push foreign film, something that, at this point, should almost be by definition slow, so sure enough, the film slows down considerably for many an extented period of time, dulling things down and really showing just how overlong this film truly is, as if the film's spending too much time focusing on other matters doesn't already tell you. The film opens up taking what seems like the longest time meditating upon the war sequences that just end up not being the central focus of the film, thus leaving the incorporation of the primary plot rather inorganic, which isn't to say that the unevenness ends there, for although the major shifts in focus are rather few and far between, when they do happen, the film tends to stick with them too long, drawing them out with excessive looseness that makes them less and less interesting, while making certain other aspects less and less interesting because we spend too much time away from them, and as Roger Ebert would tell you, it's pretty hard to make a lot of parts in this film less interesting. Ebert came down pretty hard on the film's central plot, deeming it rather uninteresting and even rather expendable, especially considering the level of worthiness within the true war tragedy story that lays beyond this fictional story, and really, while I certainly enjoyed the primary story and still found it to be rather worthy, it wasn't the most interesting thing in the world, though it's not like the war segments make things any more interesting, because no matter which plot or theme the film retreats to, it all has the same level of oomph, which really isn't that much. I don't know if it's because he used to working with less restrained and less lengthy films or whatever, but director Zhang Yimou doesn't entirely seem like he has his heart fully in this, or if he does, then he tries too hard, either limping out or putting so much meditative emphasis upon the story that, after a while, he just ends up drowning the story with too much slowness and not enough substance, which not only renders the film rather dull, but emotionally distant, which of course makes such aspects as brutal war violence come off as gratuitous (Yet still not quite "Saving Private Ryan" brutal and gratuitous, so there's another strike against this film's attempts) and certain other aspects come off as almost profoundly unsubtle. Well, to be fair, it's not like the film was ever going to be all that subtle to begin with, because the script is riddled with character types, moments of manipulation and even the occasional cliche, and tosses them all together with a kind of messiness that doesn't ring terribly false, considering the performances behind it all, yet just as rarely ring all that true. The film has its moments, and those moments seem to grow more recurring as the film progresses, especially around the time we reach a perhaps too sentimental yet mostly moving final act, yet the fine moments don't quite break through enough to influence the film, as a whole, and while the low points never descend that low, they ultimately prevail in leaving the film to fall short of goodness, let alone what it should have been. However, what it is as a final product is an effort that may not hit quite as much as it should, yet hits often enough and often hard enough for the film's descent to decent to be a close call, as the film will indeed hit high points hard, while keeping consistent with a few aspects that never let down.
The art direction on the film is nothing short of upstanding, with the production being assembled in a kind of artistic way that both catches your eye and emphasizes the atmosphere, while Zhao Xiaoding delivers on gritty yet lovely cinematography with clever staging to capture the environment and emphasize the striking color and lighting, sometimes breathtakingly. The stylish grit of the film plays with the atmosphere and certainly pays quite the compliment to the war sequences that showcase the action directing talents of Zhang Yimou, who may not be having people do the insanely cool over-the-top wuxia stuff that I bet he wishes he could have these people do, yet delivers all the same on stylish and slickly concieved, yet still realistically gritty, explosive and intense war combat that plants you in the heat of the battle in a fashion that's both dazzling and somewhat hard to watch. Sure, Yimou maybe makes the action a little bit too hard to watch, keeping things pretty hardcore all too often, while typically keeping a certain emotional distance that leaves the gratuitousness of the brutality to rise more to attention, yet on the whole, Yimou's war action is relatively restrained enough to produce genuine intenisty and, during the occasions in which Yimou finds a comfortable grip on resonance and depth, even genuine dramatic emotion. Yes indeed people, there are points where Yimou does, in fact, find a comfortable grip on resonance and depth, or at least as comfortable of a grip as he can find, as the film is just so unsubtle in scripting and just enough in direction for resonance to go too diluted for Yimou to redeem it all that much, though he tries, and to quite a bit of avail at points, for although the film never hits as hard at it should, Yimou will draw some potency from the film and engross you, providing poignant moments that carry through within this film just enough to create golden moments that define this story. These are worthy moments that bring to life a worthy story, yet they remain few and far between, as Yimou primarily keeps his distance when it comes to resonance, and thus, the duty of carrying this film's intrigue falls upon the shoulders of the cast members, almost all of whom deliver on distinct humanity and depth, which is more than you can say about the characters themselves, as they are written by Liu Heng with few note, yet executed with the depth the depth they need. Tom Hanks' Captain John Miller-I mean, Christian Bale's John Miller character is particularly hurt by Liu Heng's faulty characterization, as he is not much more than "that" drunk punk who finds a path to redemption once the opportunity to do the extraordinary presents itself, and Heng makes sure that you realize that by overdoing the initial dirtbaggery of Miller before hucking him somewhat messily into redemption, thus making for a character who, in the hands of a less competent actor, would have been uneven and barely likable, yet truly compels when handled by Christian Bale, who delivers on a human charisma and depth that goes undercut by the writing, through which Bale manages to generally bypasses with the confident presence and acting skill needed to make Miller a worthy head to this cast. Outside of Bale, there is a myriad of inspired performances that go held back by the writing and hit-or-miss direction, like most every other strength in this film, yet, also like most every other strength in this film, cut through just enough to leave an impression that tragically can't redeem this film as genuinely good, but come close enough to get you engaged more often than not.
Bottom line, the film is consistently slow and often rather overdrawn, with particularly problematic padding leaving certain areas of story to stretch out until the shifts into other areas go rendered rather inorganic and the film itself is rendered somewhat uneven, which isn't to say that there aren't mutual aspects in ever angle of the film, as there's no escaping extended periods of emotional distance that often make the film a bit dull and disengaging and bring more to attention the gratuitousness of much of the violence, as well as the unsubtleties and conventions that ultimately leave this film to fall as no more than decent, yet still have more than enough hit points to keep you going, whether it be the gritty yet lovely art direction, intense war sequences, or occasions in which director Zhang Yimou finds a grip on genuine emotional resonance, made all the stronger by a slew of inspired performances, which keep consistent enough in their inspiration to help greatly in carrying the Chinese "Saving Priv-I mean, "The Flowers of War" and leaving it to stand as an all too flawed, yet typically enjoyable and sometimes genuinely compelling study on the rather undermentioned yet unthinkable war tragedy that was the "Rape of Nanjing".
2.5/5 - Fair
