a review of 影

Yimou's return to wuxia is unfortunately not the return to form. While I highly enjoyed this film, just like The Great Wall, it's nothing but a fun blockbuster action film. You could say it tackles a lot of the same themes, as his famous wuxia trilogy, but it doesn't explore them, instead focusing on action and political thriller aspects. In the end we're left with pretty underdeveloped characters, so all that intrigue and backstabbing leaves me impressed, but not as emotionally engaged as it should've. The action scenes are awesome though, and had me going "fuck yeah" in a few moments there. However, that's not why I loved Yimou's films in the first place. His best films weren't about action, and when they did have action scenes, they were a narrative tool, while still remaining beautifully choreographed. You know that criticism idiots have towards Star Wars prequels, when they say "action scenes don't have impact, they feel like a dance"? That's kind of how Yimou's action scenes felt before, something gracious and profound, something meditative, and that's a good thing. Now you can clearly see emphasis on certain moves and certain actions during fights, like they were designed with spectacle in mind. I dunno,what's going on in Yimou's head, and why would he move towards this kind of cinema in his older age. I'd always thought the process is supposed to go the other way. But still can't deny this and The Great Wall are masterfully made films that succeed in what they're doing - entertaining with style. EDIT: Removed the rating. While I still mostly agree with what I said in the review (at least according to my memories), I have some doubts whether I would still rate it the same. For that I would need to rewatch the movie.