About 
The Magnificent Chang Cheh is a Blu-Ray of two films from the beginning of his career and the later years of his career, coming on April 29th
Posted in: Movies, Review, Sony | Tagged: Chinese cinema, Jin Yong, Legend of the Condor Heroes, Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants, Louis Cha, tsui hark, wuxia films, Xiao Zhan
Legends of the Condor Heroes: Xiao Zhan Grounds a Rushed Wuxia Epic
Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants is Tsui Hark's blockbuster adaptation of a huge book whose rushed plot is grounded by Xiao Zhan
Article Summary
- Xiao Zhan stars in Tsui Hark's rushed but grounded Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants.
- Tsui Hark adapts Jin Yong's sprawling novel into a gritty, action-packed wuxia epic.
- Film's focus shifts to a love triangle and Huang Rong's pursuit of Guo Jing.
- Authentic locations and costumes enhance the film's visual appeal and immersion.
Legends of the Condor Heroes, the epic martial arts novel by Jin Yong (pen name of the late Hong Kong author, scholar, and newspaperman Louis Cha), is possibly the most frequently adapted wuxia novel of all time, having spawned a trilogy of Shaw Brothers movies called The Brave Archer directed in the 1970s by legendary director Chang Cheh, then a classic Hong Kong TV series in 1983, then at least five more from Taiwan and Mainland China ever since. What could a new blockbuster movie adaptation offer? And how can it possibly tell a story that took up over a thousand pages and needed a trilogy for one of the last times it was a movie? The answer is Tsui Hark, one of the best action directors in the world, and Xiao Zhan, one of the most popular Chinese idols in the world.
An Already Complicated Plot from the Middle of a Long Novel
So is Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants worth seeing? Yes, if you're a wuxia fan and fan of Xiao Zhan (of whom there are tens of millions worldwide), but it's far from perfect. As someone said, Jin Yong's novels are extremely hard to adapt into a single movie. There are too many characters and too many plotlines, so heavy editing and condensing will have to be done. The result is a fast two hours and twenty minutes of one second of the novel that only covers about seven chapters of the midsection of the saga. Guo Jing (Xiao Zhan), the hero of the story, is on a mission to prevent the Mongolian invasion of the dying and corrupt Jin Dynasty. Guo Jing is a Song Dynasty orphan raised by Genghis Khan as an adopted son and is expected to lead the charge, but Guo Jing's mother raised him to remember his Song roots, so he feels duty-bound to protect both peoples and stop the war.
Guo Jing has been in Jin Country learning mystic martial arts and has fallen in love with his fellow trainee Huang Rong (Juang Dafei), the daughter of the Beggar's Clan. When he has to return to the Mongolian Steppes, and Huang Rong sets off in pursuit. Huang Rong is chased by Ouyang Fang, the Venom of the West (Tony Leung Kar Fai), a megalomaniac who wants her mystic scroll that would grant him the ultimate power in martial arts, a skill Guo Jing already learned. Meanwhile, Guo Jing is reunited with Princess Huajun (Zhang Wenxin), whom the Khan had pledged to marry since childhood, but he realizes he loves Huang Rong. The Khan is preparing his army to launch his invasion just as Huang Rong and Ouyang Fang arrive at the Steppes.
Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants is Flawed But the Most Authentically Gritty Version of the Story
Fans of the original novel and past TV series adaptations of Legend of the Condor Heroes might complain that Tsui Hark's movie feels too rushed and disjointed and that too much of the backstory has to be told in quick montages and exposition. It's not for nothing that the TV adaptations took over forty or fifty episodes to tell the whole story. Tsui Hark and his writers have chosen to create a love triangle between Guo Jing, Huang Rong, and Huajun as the heart of the story and the main emotional arc of the movie is Huang Rong's journey to reunite with him after all the obstacles that keep them apart. In the book and previous adaptations, Huang Rong was always the real heart of the novel since she was witty, crafty and smarter than Guo Jing. We don't get to see as much of that part of her character because of the rushed pace of the movie. Juang Dafei plays Huang Rong with the vibe of a 21st-century woman that fits this new take on the story. Tsui Hark still has an eye for new talent, with Zhang Wenxin in her first acting role as Mongolian princess Huajun in the more nuanced female character in the movie. Tony Leung Kar-Fai exudes the right amount of menace as the movie's big Bad.
In the end, it's Xiao Zhan who keeps the whole movie grounded with his portrayal of Guo Jing. The character has a tendency to be a lunkhead in the book and previous adaptations, but instead of playing him as stupid, Xiao Zhan plays him as serious-minded, earnest, stoic, and unwavering in his moral code. Guo Jing has never been a complicated character, the other characters are, and end up more interesting, but Xiao Zhan makes him sympathetic and interesting enough to invest in.
Every previous adaptation of Legend of the Condor Heroes, apart from having small budgets, looked too clean, the actors too well-scrubbed, and their costumes too colourful with obviously artificial sets. Tsui Hark uses his blockbuster budget to film in real locations on the Mongolian Steppes with a judicious sprinkling of green screens for some of the sets, and the story looks more authentic for the first time. Let's be clear: the original novel was a pulp serial, not a grand literary masterpiece, that ran for a long time in Louis Cha's newspaper, which would explain why the story is so long and the cast so huge. For the first time, the costumes also feel authentic and weather-beaten instead of bright, shiny frocks from a Peking Opera production and the actors look like they've been in the dirt and the dust of the plains.
The Mongolians also speak in their authentic language, and of course, the budget is spent also on huge armies and extras on top of epic sets. Tsui Hark wanted to create an updated version of the story for a new generation, and his flare for action is still evident, as is his perhaps overindulgence in CGI. The way the story lurches from one plot point to the next without leaving room for the relationships to breathe, especially the love story, suggests this theatrical version was cut down from a much longer cut, possibly as long as three or four hours and that might be a better version, but we may never get to see it since Tsui Hark hardly ever brings out a longer Director's Cut of his movies. This is the first big budget wuxia movie by anyone anywhere for years, and it might not be Tsui Hark's best, but it's more than good enough.
Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants is now out in US theatres.
Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants
8/10
A flawed, somewhat rushed adaptation of the most famous modern wuxia novel of all time, Tsui Hark's adaptation only covers one plotline in the midsection of the novel and creates a love triangle as the heart of the movie to drive it as hero Guo Jing rushes to prevent the Mongolian invasion of China while hoping to reunite with his love. it's obviously been cut down from a longer edit and feels disjoined in places but the gritty authenticity of the setting, art direction and real locations make the story feel more real than previous lower budget adaptations, and Xiao Zhan's portrayal of the hero as stoic and earnest rather than gullible and stupid grounds the movie and makes it feel updated.
Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!
Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!
