Culture-lite Propaganda In Breathtaking Colour

Sun Herald

Sunday November 7, 2004

Rob Lowing

HERO

Rated: M.

Starring: Jet Li, Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Zhang Ziyi.

Critic's warning: Non-stop sword-fighting.

Critic's rating: 6/10

THE new Chinese action film Hero is a jewelled casket: it flashes brilliantly from every angle but it is hollow inside.

Despite the foreign movie presentation (subtitling) and dreamy retelling of a Chinese legend, this 2002 feature is best suited to action fans. They'll revel in intensely coloured cinematography, which is being touted as the most exquisite seen on screen. That's debatable The Last Emperor was better in its framing and layering of detail.

What Hero does have is ... more. The film is 100 minutes of variations on the same Eastern, flying, martial-arts fights, which have been popularised in Western movies such as The Matrix.

So, anyone who thought Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was overhyped won't be impressed by a similarly underplotted fight flick.

Hero is presented as the legend of how China came to be united. The film opens in those always-handy Ancient Times, when the country was made up of seven warring kingdoms.

A district official called Nameless (Li) arrives to see the ruler of Qin. This king is so reclusive and so wary of assassination that no one is allowed to get within 100 paces of him.

Nameless claims to have killed the king's deadly foes: two assassins called Broken Sword (Leung) and Flying Snow (Cheung).

The newcomer is allowed entry. As he tells his story, the king relaxes and allows him to come closer.

Hero's constantly replaying approach is reminiscent of the Japanese classic Rashomon, itself much imitated, notably recently in The Usual Suspects.

The repetition here is a smart move. It increases the meagre suspense and gives the impression of detail to a thin plot. Familiarity mutes the impact though. The strain of trying to figure out what is real, and what is not, may annoy or bore some viewers after a while.

It is a backhanded compliment to say that the film is redeemed by its visuals. Entire segments are gorgeously themed, by colour: blue or red or white. The fight on water especially is great work from Christopher Doyle, Australian cinematographer of Rabbit-Proof Fence.

The good-looking cast is no hardship to watch. The physical grace of action star Jet Li (Kiss Of The Dragon; Lethal Weapon 4) is nicely balanced by expert drama actors Leung and Cheung. This pair brood magnificently in close-up. They enliven the most posed moment, much as they did in their In The Mood For Love.

As Broken Sword's assistant, Zhang Ziyi is as doll-like here as she was in Crouching Tiger.

Director Zhang Yimou is famed (and reportedly criticised by some Chinese filmmakers) for his soft focus, politically uncritical dramas such as Raise The Red Lantern.

Slow-motion cliches make his latest feel like culture-lite propaganda (or a travel advertisement) for Western audiences. (To be fair, many countries do the same.)

Action fans will argue that Yimou dumps dull period drama for fast, timeless warrior fantasy. Does the film entertain? Yes if what you want are fight scenes as stylised as a ballet.

Tunes steal the same old show

DE-LOVELY

Rated: PG.

Starring: Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd, Jonathan Pryce.

Critic's warning: Language, sexual references, adult themes.

Critic's rating: 7/10

MUSICAL lovers will be well pleased by De-Lovely, a well-made if well-worn biography of Cole Porter, who wrote great songs such as Night And Day, I Get A Kick Out Of You and It's De-Lovely.

However, despite the film's revelations of Porter's secret homosexual life, the result is the same old song-and-soap mix.

This is no revitalised musical like Chicago.

But the formula won't faze fans who get what they want: a collection of deluxe period music clips of wonderful songs.

We can't say it too often: the tunes make De-Lovely.

The plot is workable enough. It is a neat trick to have Porter (Kline) reflecting on his life as though it were a Broadway musical.

The film skips nimbly through key career moments, following the little-known composer from the 1920s, when he was working in Paris, to big-time success with Broadway shows such as Anything Goes and Kiss Me Kate. At the core of the splashy stage numbers and fantasy scenes is the relationship between the gay Porter and his adoring wife, a poised former divorcee called Linda (Judd).

She was his muse; he was her idol. That is the film's initially cheery approach to a marriage of convenience which soon ran into emotional trouble.

The story has surprisingly dark moments, courtesy of writer Jay Cocks (Gangs Of New York, The Age Of Innocence).

Still, tougher scenes of illness and distress balance the sentimental leanings of Irwin Winkler, a workmanlike but otherwise unremarkable director who made Life As A House with Kline.

The film certainly goes much further than the rigidly discreet 1946 Porter biopic Night And Day.

It was sensible to use likeable Kline to play a man who at his best was apparently a dangerously reckless hedonist. Judd displays her own dramatic talent in stopping Linda from being a jazz-baby groupie.

A strong support cast does well in not being overshadowed by the locales (think deluxe mansions) and clothes. Both Kline and Judd are dressed to the nines in specially designed Giorgio Armani.

But we know what you want to know: who sings?

Good news: the musical voice cast is a knockout. Natalie Cole, Robbie Williams, Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morissette and Elvis Costello do justice to these Porter classics.

ALSO SHOWING

Exorcist: The Beginning

ANYONE who saw 1973's The Exorcist probably should NOT see the sequel, Exorcist: The Beginning (MA).

The first movie was a grown-up shocker which brilliantly blended slow grind suspense with then-ferocious special effects and adult themes.

The sequel is a competently made but standard juvenile horror flick that throws in every possible cliche about demonic possession.

The saving grace is fine Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard (Good Will Hunting; King Arthur). He plays a younger version of Father Merrin, the priest in the first movie. In post-WWII Africa, Merrin is called in to examine an ancient church which has recently been excavated. But opening the church unleashes a demon that infects those closest to Merrin.

Unsubtle but energetic director Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger) reshot the movie after the original director, Taxi Driver writer Paul Schrader, was fired. (Reportedly, Schrader's version will be released on video.)

Harlin piles on the shocks but ends on an annoyingly unimaginative note, which undermines the few previous thrills and sends audiences out deflated.Rated 4/10

Prey For Rock & Roll

Face/Off star Gina Gershon delivers an excellent portrayal of a rock singer in Prey For Rock & Roll (MA). Gershon sings and also co-produced the film. She is the pub singer who, after 20 years with no big break, is wondering whether to give it away. She feels like "a 40-year-old woman chasing a teenage dream". But she is distracted from her career crisis by rapes, romance and drug abuse involving her friends. And there is always that tantalising possibility of a recording contract.

A lesbian interlude feels like a gimmick but otherwise a smart script captures the traditional hard-rock scene with flavour and realism.

Gershon comes across as a never-made-it Joan Jett or Chrissie Hynde while The Sopranos television series star Drea de Matteo is excellent as a perpetually drug-wasted friend. Handsome Marc Blucas (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) steps in as a potential love interest.

Female (rock) musicians of every age should check it out, although cash-strapped viewers should be aware that this is scheduled for a video release in January. Rated 7/10

Lightweight despite the flab

A MAN'S GOTTA DO

Rated: M.

Starring: John Howard, Rebecca Frith, Alyssa McClelland.

Critic's warning: Language, sexual references, adult themes.

Critic's rating: 5/10

PRESUMABLY, much goodwill for John Howard the actor, not the prime minister was responsible for a respectable turnout at one Sunday afternoon preview of A Man's Gotta Do.

This new Australian feature attempts to blend the ordinary bloke comedy of The Nugget with crime riffs a la Dirty Deeds and Two Hands: i.e. the family man concerns of Bryan Brown's character in both movies.

So Howard is Eddy, the tough guy enforcer who finds that family worries are affecting his work. His bored, unhappy wife (Frith) wants a baby or a cuddle. His teenage daughter (McClelland) is pining over an unsavoury boyfriend. Meanwhile, Eddy's new apprentice (Gyton Grantley) is proving far too nice for the job.

After Howard's consistently reliable work in television series such as SeaChange and All Saints, his fans will enjoy his irascible but good-natured tough guy. The actor stacked on huge amounts of weight, with amusing results.

Doing Time For Patsy Cline director Chris Kennedy delivers a well-shot and produced movie which also often feels pointless.

The lack of detail about Eddy's work is well, a lack. The family comedy drama is one-note. A few hasty developments in the last third come too late, after a listless middle segment.

CRITIC'S TOP 10 PICKS

COLLATERAL (MA)

Heat director Michael Mann extracts the best performance of Tom Cruise's career in this melancholy, exquisitely filmed riff on fatal encounters in the big city. Rated 8/10

SHAUN OF THE DEAD (MA)

Immensely likeable British comedy blends zombie horror chills, slacker-hero jokes and neat satire on numbing urban life.

Rated 8/10

SHALL WE DANCE? (M)

Smoothly enjoyable comedy has charming Richard Gere as the businessman looking to put zest back in his life. For everyone who loves to dance. Rated 8/10

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (MA)

Thriller boosted to dramatic greatness by Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber and Meryl Streep but undermined by muted finale. Rated 7/10

MY ARCHITECT (PG)

The illegitimate son of world-famous architect Louis Kahn tries to discover more about the father he barely knew in this slow-burn documentary. Rated 8/10

ANCHORMAN (M)

Will Ferrell is the smug, studly 1970s newsreader outraged to discover ambitious Christina Applegate wants his job, not his body. Rated 7/10

OPEN WATER (MA)

Ominous abandonment tale is a text-book example of how to deliver adult drama thrills on low-budget video. It's also super scary. Rated 7/10

THE NOTEBOOK (PG)

Fine actors lift routine cheese to entertaining romantic drama. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams are appealing as the separated lovers. Rated 7/10

RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE (M)

A-class, B-grade kick-butt science fiction sequel. Charismatic Milla Jovovich and team fight off zombies in a quarantined city. Rated 6/10

SAVED! (M)

Toothless religious satire soon settles for mild schoolie rebellion and sugary teen romance. The cast (Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin) is a plus. Rated 6/10