Let the Bullets Fly

[Jimbo]

It was released here in SD at one theater.

For me, it sucked. From the first few minutes at the beginning, I had to restrain myself from walking out. But I had to give it a chance, as it's the most popular Chinese movie ever. The very beginning was a *tiny* bit reminiscent of The Good, The Bad, The Weird; that's where the similarities ended. TGTBTW was, for me, a great film. I didn't find this one great.

What I really disliked about Let The Bullets Fly and comedies like it is the painful overacting and mugging. As if the actors are drawing their loudness, facial expressions and mannerisms from Looney Tunes characters. It works in cartoons, but not in live-action. When people try too hard to be funny, it's painfully unfunny, IMO. But clearly I'm in the minority, as apparently billions of people, including a whole lot of reviewers, like it.

I get that it's full of double-talk and is a metaphor that a lot of people are relating to. I just wasn't particularly entertained by it. Some of the older comedies from HK were funny, but I guess what people find funny in the mainland is less universally funny? Or maybe it's just me.

[GeneChing]

Then again, I almost never walk out on films. Sometimes, albeit seldom, they redeem themselves with the ending.

I found LtBF irreverent but not totally over the top. There's some really good stuff in this flick, stuff that someone like Tarantino could easily poach. Jiang Wen has this great gravitas, and I forgot how much I enjoy Chow. CYF takes on a dual role and totally nails both. I forgot what a great comedian he can be.

A lot of the puns are lost in translation, and if you don't have a basic grasp of Confucian hierarchy and etiquette, as well as mahjong, a lot might seem nonsensical. I found it enjoyable overall - more gun fights than sword fights - but I was underwhelmed given its box office success in China. That became the lingering riddle for me. It was okay - just okay - so why did it earn China's highest grossing film title? Obviously I'm missing something.

[Jimbo]

You know, Gene, I think you hit the nail on the head. I think my disappointment with the movie was definitely colored by its being "The Highest-Grossing Chinese Film in History." More underwhelm-ment (is that a real word?), as opposed to it being a totally awful movie. I was expecting something REALLY good from all the hype, and ended up feeling a bit cheated.

Well, that and I just didn't think it was funny.

[GeneChing]

It was one of those films that was probably much funnier if we could understand the puns. Chow was funny - especially his Kagemusha character (wow, no thread for Kagemusha here? I'm so disappointed). LtBF stopped being funny for me with the rape scene. I never find rape scenes funny, except maybe the one that was deleted in 13 Assassins.