As Good As It Gets

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The movie is wildly uneven but lively and timely - in its own surreal way

Blistering performances.

Two sword brothers of war in a historical Chinese era, running into conflicts with each other and because of a certain girl. Sounds familiar? Well it's because it has been done before many times in films. But that is just a small part of this whole well crafted film It actually has a great strategic and tactical story with characters that stand out. One is a Liu Bang who is a calm, courageous, collective, soft and yet strong-willed leader that also has a sense of wisdom and understanding. And yet manipulative and a sufficient schemer as well. His men are loyal to him for his will and heart. Liu Bang is backed up by a wise historical strategist that went by Zhang Liang, who was known for being diligent and clever. While the other side is is a powerful, confident, tough, charismatic and very ambitious leader that has good leadership qualities named Xiang Yu. His army is loyal to him for his strengths(plus he gets involved in the battles bravely). And a very wise counselor on his side that goes by Fan Zeng or Yafu. Who was even wiser than Zhang Liang was his right hand man and his mentor. Personally I liked Xiang Yu's character more, at least how he is portrayed in this film. It's a Chinese historical war movie with some exaggerated elements that has strategy and tactics. And both sides leaders are from Chu. Despite the situation it seemed like Zhang Liang or Fan Zeng should have been the emperor. Anyways both sides are on a race to defeat Qin army and save the people of Xiangyang while winning over the people. After the Chu lost to the Qin. The story is a good combination of brains, brawn, strategy, tactics and building strength and reputation within the two armies. In another words this isn't a narrow head to head, battles to battles movie. But a entertaining film that has a good story and substance and not just crazy swords and spears fighting. It's even more entertaining if the viewer doesn't know much about the outcome to this history. The whole thing is a grand-scale and thrilling power struggle. Where it doesn't pick a side but stays in the middle ground for the most part. Although it does focus more on Liu Bang's side a bit for a reason. Now a lot of what goes down in this film might be exaggerated or fictitious. A bit more development with the characters would have been better. And Crystal Yifei Liu character just seemed to be there just to add a bit or irrelevant romance element in. And give the two lead characters a bit more motivation. But it's still a enthralling, thrilling. fast-paced(for the most part) and entertaining film, sometimes that is what matters. It even had a high production and budget. Highly recommended to any one that wants to see a war/action film with substance.8/10

I am hovering around 7 or 8 for this one.The English translation is just translation in this movie. I can understand the classic Chinese they use in the conversation, but I found that the English subtitles totally ruin the beauty of it. Whoever the translator were, this person didn't even bother using the word farewell in place of goodbye in appropriate situations. Too bad u really have to understand Chinese to enjoy the linguistic pulchritude of this piece. Also, it is too bad that the tale about Yu Ji's dance is not acted out before Yu Ji's suicide. Plot is alright. I kinda like the intellectual "fights" between Zhang Liang and Fan Zeng. I particularly favor their quotes from the Book of Yi and their argument on the property of certainty(change) of future and fate.Many little issues, such as the far-fetching finger-biting scene and the awkward first-time encounter between Yu Ji and Xiang Yu, which involves over-unrealistic trust between the 3 figures, exists, and they could have been taken care of with more efforts. It is kinda interesting to see that, observing from all the male characters, the Chinese definition of masculinity is physically characterized by the dark eyebrow and tanning face instead of the Hollywood style of big muscle, and psychologically noted for excellent analytic skills (playing weiqi, the Chinese chess in addition to figuring out what plots other folks are planning) and knowledge on classics works. The last plot of Fan Zeng framing all of Liu Bang's inner-circle people is a very excellent attempt of bring up another little tide of climax, but is kinda far-fetching to me. I don believe being in a ruler's position impair one's capacity of trust, it merely requires more skill to use it.

The atmosphere are mostly well done.. but the story kind of dragged on.The story revolves around a famous meeting between 2 top generals vying to inherit a war torn China.All the setup leading up to the meeting is just alright introducing the characters, the sides and the supporting cast. But this HK movie has the same tendency as others .. that it is too greedy and wants to have a bit of everything.While I enjoy the tension leading up to the meeting. The meeting itself has to have some action - a bit too much. The 5 chess match is alright, but they are moved by 2 menacing grunts. A bit more imagination could be used here .. why not have a lavish meal and dance around smiling conversations with the chess match.Then it meanders from twist to twist - showing every bit (and taking too much time). Then the whole tone shifted heavily towards a love story ending that was planted with a 10mins long scene in the first half. So about 20min too long for me.And Leon doesn't quite fit the scheming type. He is not that evil looking, not even a hint.

Granted it did start off in rather disorientating factor, especially if one is not acutely aware of the historical event known as the Feast at Hong Gate between rivals Liu Bang (Leon Lai) and Xiang Yu (Feng Shaofeng), warlords who have been pitted against each other by the last emperor of Qin in order to seek the benefits from bickering amongst the insurgent ranks. Both are serving King Huai of Chu, but in essence both are seeking the highest post of the land, each with very different characteristics and styles that will determine the kind of rulership should either ascend the throne, with Xiang Yu seen as the more ruthless of the duo, and Liu Bang the more compassionate.But of course this is not a history lesson, and while most of the proceedings at Hong Gate were fairly covered, Daniel Lee's input for artistic license and merit served the film well. The introduction had been jarring no thanks to flashbacks and rapid fire introductions to a multitude of historical and fictitious characters that will serve to confuse the clueless (like myself initially), but do hang in there as soon after you'll start to see past all the bearded men, their ranks and their loyalties in each faction of the rivalry and center upon the characters who matter. It is the buildup to the events at Hong Gate, and the Hong Gate proceedings itself which is truly impressive, that White Vengeance truly shifted into top gear, and never relented in its pacing all the way to a gripping finale full of twists and turns, conflict and schemes,Like the game of choice in Go / Weiqi, White Vengeance played out like a measured chess game, with each side pondering and second guessing the opponent's move, and plotting its own counter-strategy way in advance. The strengths of the story lay in its effortless balance between brawn and brain, with action left to the likes of Andy On, who played Han Xin, a general who jumped ship and swap loyalties for appreciation, and even Jordan Chan himself to bring along that rebellious streak always out to look for a good fight. But the spotlight was definitely on Anthony Wong as Xiang Yu's counselor Fan Zeng and his rival Zhang Lian, played by the very charismatic Zhang Hanyu, serving on the side of Liu Bang.Both men inevitably stole the show for their brainy schemes to allow their respective masters to gain a leg up against the opponent, and the shifting advantages made this film very much engaging to sit through, culminating in their initial face to face meeting at the iconic Hong Gate which is filled with treachery, betrayal, and a simultaneous five game of Go that serves as the highlight. And this came pretty early in the film as well, in fact setting the stage for more plotting outside of this one time event, that will serve as the catalyst for an elaborate, extrapolated scheme.Daniel Lee seemed adamant this time round in balancing action with plot, and has his craftsmen to thank for in setting up gorgeous looking interior sets with CG landscapes, forts and castles that no longer exist, that didn't look as fake as those found in his earlier two films. Cinematography by Tony Cheung was also beautiful, especially with its shadow and light play and balance, allowing the film to stand out as one of the more gorgeous looking films to capture the action on screen, and the quieter moments that Lee's story called for when exploring options, and its characters.Between the two leads who play the rivals Xiang Yu and Liu Bang, Feng Shaofeng seemed to have a lot more spectrum in showing Xiang Yu's obsessive and ruthless side, as compared to the Leon Lai, whose singular expression served him well in this role of Liu Bang of having his truest innermost thoughts held extremely close to his chest, nuanced in a way that will make you sit up and evaluate just who amongst the lot is the master schemer. And then there's Anthony Wong versus Zhang Hanyu, veterans in their respective film markets playing opposing strategists, chewing up the scenery with their sheer screen presence, although the latter actor did edge out on screen charisma thanks to a longer screen time that allowed audiences to understand a bit more about Zhang Liang, as compared to Wong's portrayal of Fan Zeng who seemed more like an eccentric shaman.If there's a weak link in the film, it's the unfortunate introduction of Liu Yifei's character Yu Ji, as the lover of Xiang Yu who should also have some sort of romantic dalliance with Liu Bang to further their rivalry, but this was not quite to be since it wasn't fleshed out in detail. It could have brought the hatred between the men to another more personal level but that was not to be, instead the Yu Ji arc can be totally omitted, and not serve to diminish the story any one bit. I suppose Liu Yifei is included as a need to balance the level of testosterone in the film.But the payload of the film, even if you've been entertained by the bloodbath and battle of wits on screen, came in the final act that truly sealed this as a masterpiece effort from Daniel Lee. It hammers home points about the wielding of power and how man's pursuit of that absolute leads to natural paranoia as seen in so many madmen dictators, that the mantra of trusting no one rings home, giving rise to regrets and remorsefulness in not having done better than to succumb to the trappings that power brings about, with what price ambition. And the tying up of some loose ends, with nuances now magnified, served to unmask true intentions, and that sometimes one can never know the truth about someone, until perhaps it's a little too late.