Double World
Director: Teddy Chen
Year: 2020
Rating:
6.0
Don't go into
this Chinese period fantasy film expecting a lot of martial arts. Like most
of these recent Chinese fantasy films, it has more CGI than a Marvel film.
Nearly all the fighting is using wires extensively as well as special effects.
Think Harryhausen. But if you go in with the right expectations, this isn't
bad at all - a decent if often used plot and a group of characters who are
appealing. And the Chinese CGI is getting better all the time. This has Hong
Kong talent all over it which likely saves it. Directing it is Teddy Chen
who has been involved in the Hong Kong film industry since the early 1980s.
He has a few good if sporadic credits as director - Downtown Torpedoes, Purple
Storm, The Accidental Spy, Bodyguards and Assassins and Kung Fu Jungle. He
only seems to direct a film every four or five years now, but they are quality
films. Then you have Stephen Tung-wai doing the action choreography - he
has been around first as an actor since the 1970s and then became a top action
choreographer in Hong Kong. He performed that duty for both Chen's Downtown
Torpedoes and Purple Storm. And the producer? Cheung Pou-soi, one of the
best Hong Kong directors of the past 25-years. So, from the Mainland and
in Mandarin but infused with Hong Kong talent.
If you check out the actors, it is fairly
obvious this isn't going to be a heavy hitting authentic martial arts film.
At the top of the bill is Peter Ho. I had to double check to see if this
was the same pretty boy Peter Ho that was in The Truth About Sam and Jane,
Deja Vu and When I Fall in Love in the 1990s and it was. He has filled out,
grown out of his pretty boy phase and is impressive in this as a tough fighter.
His two comrades are played by a pop star and a Reality Star, Henry Lau and
Lin Chenham. Neither with much acting experience and no martial arts training.
But they are both charming and I challenge anyone not to have a small crush
on Lin. The three of them together are fine and Tung makes them all look
competent in their action scenes. Throw in a fourth character, a slave freed
who wants vengeance played by Jiang Luxia - who is in fact a fine martial
artist - but who sadly gets less action than the other three.
Two Kingdoms have been enemies for years
- Southern Zhao and Northern Yan - but they have been at peace for over a
decade. In Southern Zhao the young king depends on his Grand Tutor Guan for
advice. What he doesn't know is that the Grand Tutor is a traitor and planning
to overthrow him. The traitor declares a Martial Arts tournament in which
all the Clans have to send three fighters to participate. One dusty little
village asks for volunteers and Dong Yilong (Lau), Chu Hun (Ho) and a third
man raise their hands. I don't know who the third man is, but it doesn't
much matter in that he gets eaten by a giant scorpion out in the desert.
When they get to Phoenix City they pick up a third fighter - the adorable
Jinggang (Lin) - who is as tough as leather wielding a sword as big as she
is, but much cuter. They also pay to free a Northern Yan slave in a cage
where she has to fight to survive, Bi Nu (Luxia). Both Chu Hun and Bi Nu
have hidden agendas. Revenge. As part of the contest, they have to cross
over a large raised field by balancing themselves on chain links while handcuffed
to each other and giant metal balls rolled at them. Spikes below. Then they
have to get the Beast King's Egg. That should be easy except the Beast King
is a giant monster. Clearly, all CGI but well done. The entire city of Phoenix
is CGI but they make it look very cool. It takes a turn into serious that
had to come, but I still wasn't ready for it.
