|
Opinions expressed
in the following article are purely
that of the author's and do not necessarily represent the views of this
site.
Is the Movie as Good as the Novel?
Author: Christopher Fu
Date:
11 August 2001
The
Legend of Zu is the most disappointing movie for me since Peace Hotel, seen 6 years ago. In both cases, talented film-makers put substantial efforts into their work but gave audience only a mediocre
film for all their labour.
What surprised me is in Legend of Zu, Tsui Hark appeared to undergo a retrograde course in
film-making. While his first Zu movie is not as
accomplished technologically, it was driven by the enthusiasm of its cast and a sense of fun.
It had always appeared to me that Tsui Hark understood the vision and imagery offered by the
Zu books. The assemblage of creatures and magic
system (but not plot) he employed in A Chinese Ghost Story 1 and 2 is too close to the
Zu parallel novels to be just coincident.
Despite their age, those movies offered the best portrayal of Zu magic seen on big screen.
Legend of Zu suffers in comparison on the following
points:
Scenery
One thing which bugs me in LOZ is its drab presentation of the Zu landscape. The film appeared to have a predilection for brown and orange
colours (mountain and dirt). In contrast, Huanzhu Louzhu, the author of the
Zu sagas was astute in his depictions of a colourful world filled with
the scenic mountains and waters, idyllic woodlands, dark forests, glaring polar-seas, fiery labyrinthine subterranean realms and heavens garnished by stars and aurora.
There is a scene in the film which tried to portray what the author used thousands of words to
describe how the Immortals constructed the City
of the Golden Summit on Omei, an aesthetic easel of islands and gazebos on clouds, misty waterfalls, serene woodland parks and flowing water
beneath the suspended bridges using Cataclysm Magic. The filmed version simply lacks creativity by contrast.
Weapons:
It also saddens me to discover that after numerous revisions, the state of the art computer generated weapons fail to impress as much as book
descriptions which are nearly 70 years old. I also wondered who proposed to alter 'Ming fire' (Sword of Illuminative Flames) from a weapon drawing
on 'Hyper-reality' magic which is capable of unleashing an orb of fire as well erecting pillars of fire in combat into fake looking crystal spines.
Moreover, the mechanical and magic weapon marvel, 'Wheels of Sun, Moon and Five Stars' (used by bad guys) debased into 'Orbs of Sun and Moon' in the
film; The less said the better.
The 'Heaven' (Purple) Sword is the one weapon they got right in the film, at least in some aspects. The special effect for 'sword stream' is
satisfactory but they should have shown the sword as a physical blade rather than a gaseous saber
- "The sword stream is extended from the tip of
blade, not actually encompassing the sword." The blade of the magic
sword is always more powerful than its 'stream'. In the book, the 'blade' of the
Purple Sword is actually the protruded beak of a purple dragon - "The dragon
that is merged with the sword hilt."
Action Scenes
Sad to say this, but Huanzhu Louzhu who lived in the age before jets and homing missiles expressed the excitement and fluidity of aerial combat better in words than Tsui Hark did with his actors posing against
computer superimposed backdrops.
Well, if Tsui Hark had encountered technical difficulties to show characters flying convincingly using blue screens, why
didn't he set more of the
action scenes on ground? Certainly even in the novel, until the characters
acquire various methods of flight, they have to land before they launch their swords in combat:
"A sword immortal flies by merging with a sword and riding on its projected
stream." Unlike the movie with its two-dimensional backdrops, the novel also breaks the monotony of its numerous battles by setting it in scenic backgrounds either naturalistic,
such as plum orchard, branches breaking and clouds of flower in the air, or fantastic
such as realm of fire and ice. Tsui Hark also failed to explore the 'fog of war' anxiety
experienced by both sides in magic combat that was often depicted in the novel
- "Magically
generated fog, cloaking enemies, opponents which can sprang suddenly out of fog or from beneath the
ground." The assault by Blood Lords, "Black figures who were former Omei disciples turned to dark
side," on the Golden Summit of Omei is one of the few scenes
in the movie successfully adapted from the novel.
Characters
There are little the actors could accomplish, with their characters in the film being so
one-dimensional. Sammo Hung reprised his role as Long Brow
and had one of the movie's few intentionally funny scene. I feel that Tsui Hark
had, once again, missed the opportunity to develop the role of the villain, who is in the novel, Long Brow's brother.
|
|
