Film Name: 传说 / 神话2 / A Legend
Personally, I think I’m pretty good at avoiding bad movies, and although I often go to the cinema to see new releases and inevitably step on mines and fall through the cracks, I’ve managed to avoid almost all of the really ‘classy’ big bad movies – until I saw A Legend last night.
God knows how long it’s been since I’ve seen one of these all-around bad films, and I didn’t get away with it this time.
In fact, I already probably knew I was going to step in a hole before I watched the film, but the Jackie Chan-Tong Jiri collaboration from nearly 20 years ago, The Myth, was after all the blockbuster film that screamed out to me in high school, and that’s what made me tough it out ……
Hopelessly, even though I had lowered my expectations considerably, I was still left with a furrowed brow and, if not a quiver, at least a semblance of a frown on my face by this film.
I don’t even know where to start with spitting on A Legend.
Honestly, The Myth wasn’t much of a film that year, but at least the narrative was usually well-paced, and the two story lines of the Qin Dynasty generals and modern-day scholars mirroring each other made for some interesting filming.
A Legend, on the other hand, is a total regression from the premise of The Myth in terms of setting and story line, and it’s a skill to be able to make a film that’s so scribbly and difficult to watch – it’s a lot more difficult than making a mediocre film.
What I couldn’t stand was how sloppy and uninspired the film’s cinematography, editing, and choreography were.
Almost the entire film is in a state of ‘shooting everywhere’, with one shot being made in the east and the other in the west:
This scene feels good, so let’s play it a little longer;
I don’t know how that scene ended, so I just blacked out and pinched it;
People love to see beautiful women, then let Xinran dance a dance, and then let Naza dance child sword, a few more horseback riding shots. ……
This kind of arbitrary shooting brings disastrous results to the pace and watchability of the film, you may not feel anything when you take out a single paragraph, but when you put it all together, it’s no longer a sight to behold.
This is not a landscape promotional film, nor is it a photo album of anyone, this is a film! I don’t think many people will buy a film with PPT-like transitions and close-ups.
Moreover, such a rough and casual production further amplifies the already poor plot.
Seriously, it’s rare for me to fault a film for having a bad storyline these days (it’s normal to have a bad story these days, it’s rare to have a good one), but A Legend still pushed through my defences.
Take that later scene in the film after the big battle between the Han army and the Huns, I was thunderstruck to the point of tears and laughter:
First, Jackie Chan’s character Zhao Zhaobao gets hit with a poisoned knife, comes back and Meng Yun helps him with drugs in his mouth, and then gets poisoned as well – I can’t believe I’m still seeing drug use in the mouth these days, and it managed to make me laugh for a minute;
Meng Yun then drags his poisoned body to the Great Shaman to get the antidote, and Hua Jun, played by Zhang Yixing, also drags his seriously injured body and rides the injured white horse Lei Zhen on the road together;
When they arrive at the Shaman’s place, the wounded horse Lei Zhen dies first, and Hua Jun cries, ‘You’ve done your duty’ – why can’t you get a new horse?
Later on, Meng Yun and the villain Hu Poison died in a fight, and Hua Jun also died after delivering the medicine to the military camp. ……
I understand that these scenes are the emotional climax points arranged by the film, but the behaviour of these people rushing to their deaths one after the other when they clearly could have survived really made me roll my eyes.
And the other slot that I can’t stand is the AI face swap of Jackie Chan’s character in the Han Dynasty timeline.
Before you see the film, you might even think it’s a fresh look, but after you see the film, you’ll understand how awkward this one-click face swap is.
Nowadays, good special effects are not unheard of, even if the target is Jackie Chan, there have been good age reduction and face grinding technology before, but in ‘A Legend’, it is almost a short video level AI face swap (or so much better than a short video) ……
It doesn’t help much at all, except that you can make out some of Jackie Chan’s eyebrow and eye features, and the result is, of course, unwatchable, stiff, rigid, and kind of creepy; he feels like he’s laughing when he’s crying about Hua Jun’s death.
Those of us who are a little old enough to have grown up watching Jackie Chan films know exactly what he looked like when he was young, not to say that he must have been amazingly handsome, but at least he must have had a vivid, funny and real face.
I also do not know whose idea this is, the stand-in actor Zheng Ye Cheng acted quite well, have to change his face, Tang Jili pot certainly can not escape, but does not serve the old Jackie Chan brother, I guess also happy to see it?
To say a few words, big brother to today’s age, with today’s fame and status, really can consider retiring, even if more to various film sets in the guest appearance or ah, the old so hard to hold out, but also insisted on shooting action films, the things that have been gained, perhaps not compared to the lost ……
However, I don’t think A Legend has no redeeming qualities at all, the only thing it deserves praise for is the large-scale live action filming and beautiful locations (the action sequences are barely worthy of a small compliment).
I often can not help but feel when watching the film, real shooting of large scenes of footage, in part of the visual expression, is really not special effects shots can be compared, in addition, Xinjiang’s colourful, magnificent and vast scenery is really beautiful …… Just for these two points, I speak with a clear conscience, can not be denied the efforts of the filmmakers behind the scenes.
But having said that, I feel even more sorry.
It’s as if a lot of people are praising Zhang Yixing for how much he suffered and how hard he worked on this film – yes, it’s obvious to all that he put in a lot of effort on the set, just like those filmmakers who put in the effort to make the film.
But under the drag of this ’embarrassing film effects from script to production’, no amount of hard work can save the reputation of a bad film.
All I can say is: it’s too bad about A Legend, you guys shouldn’t make it in the future.
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