Andy On plays a docile second prince and is the favourite to succeed his father, which places a touch of jealousy within his eldest brother. Things, however, come to ahead when the second prince (Andy On) is threatened with…chicken feathers. The chicken feathers are Chicken’s (an assassin) trademark to indicate a marking of judgment or death.
Thus, the princes try to find Chicken to execute him for the vigilante killings and the threat on the second princes life. It’s all rather generic, hum drum nonsense, but it gets things moving at least. In this mix is Black Phoenix, who loves the second prince and will do all she can to protect the huggable bear.
Wuxia Pien comedies are an interesting genre. Some come off well, mixing with fantasy sword play and epic tales of heroism with touches of likable humour. The majority, however, don’t do too well, and often miss the mark; providing neither enough sword action, nor entertaining comedy. White Dragon hangs somewhere on the border.
A remake and parody of an older wuxia film (The White Dragon), the 2004 release of Flying Hero, Little Wite Dragon stars the current favourite of Chinese film, Cecilia Cheung. She is, if you will, the Keira Knightley for China. Young, attractive (arguable), and a hit with the teenage audience. She’s starred in a fair number of films, but has yet to really make her mark as a serious actress. So, it is with White Dragon that she stars as generic heroine in a comic update. Hey, even Knightley had to start from the bottom.
I’m not a fan of Cecilia Cheung. I find her annoying, plain and rather drab. As an actress, she comes across as still learning, and if she is an example of the current crop of young Chinese stars, it is to the detriment of the Chinese film industry. The hilarious idiotic acting skills in Jackie Chan’s New Police Story paid testament to that fear. It’s rather ironic she plays a student here, as she looks like a 14 year old, so it’s hard to take her seriously when she tries to be all emotional. It just looks like a 14 year old trying to pretend to do what comes naturally: whine.
She does, however, get good support from Francis Ng, who plays Chicken, the blind swordsman who goes around killing those that have sinned. It’s an obvious parody of Zaitoichi, both in mannerism and style; add blonde hair and you have it. It’s an amusing performance, and he does get some pretty amusing lines to moan, particularly when he is constantly being told to get lost.
The action is sparse, but when it does occur, it’s really entertaining. Whether in the forest, or on execution grounds, there is some really solid, really good fighting; it’s both quick and intense. I think, the only thing lacking was light. It seems they couldn’t afford any lighting, or the intention was to shoot the core fights in dim light. This isn’t really a good idea, as you need to be able to see the characters. Sometimes it’s quite difficult to make out what’s going on and who’s hit who. For the most part, it’s pretty well done though, and the only other nag would be the silly Zorro style animated flashes. It was pretty pointless and ruined the flow.
Most of the film is taken up by a developing bond of love between Chicken, the blind swordsman, and White Dragon. What starts as a relationship of hate, rather predictably ends up a relationship of love. As I said, this is generic fodder for the teen audience, so expecting a serious and solid plot is difficult to find. The comedy comes in waves and is as sparse as the action. There are some very funny moments, which sort of remind me of Naked Gun with it’s obvious literal references (such as the beaver joke), using literal translations of transference, for example. Still, the comedy in general is pretty lackluster.
I feel slightly duped in having watched this. It promised two genres, and gave me romance. I don’t do romance unless it’s smart with a good dose of slapstick (like the Korean films My Sassy Girl, or My Boss My Hero). I don’t do English romance films either as I find them quite abhorrent (there are some wonderful, notable expections though).
As romantic films go, this one was pretty bad, because it’s been done to death before, and much better. For someone who loves films, I seem to have hit the crossroad of “Averageville” where mediocre films disguise themselves as something else. I guess I should have taken Cecilia Cheung’s involvement as an indicative warning of what to expect, so I guess I am to blame.
The film has a few worthy fight scenes worth watching, and the first half has some decent humour, it just seems to drop off after the first third through into the realms of boredom. I found myself staring out of the window at times, wondering if it will get dark soon so I can watch a horror flick.
Verdict: Romantic borefest, with some solid fighting and a scattering of humour. Look, but don’t keep.