This film is such a mixed bag it is difficult to know where to begin. The filmmakers decided that everything would be on set and filmed with a green screen which lends itself to a dark and visually exciting look, however, the downside of so much emphasis on visual effects is that it transforms the film into a quasi unbelievable fantasy land. In essence it sucks the life out of all the characters and makes it look like some animated video game. The town is a bizarre circus, literally not figuratively, that makes no sense especially since they just hang around in circus outfits all the time. To make matters worse, you have all these characters plopped in a town that is a small street of run-down, mostly uninhabited buildings with no homes for any of the townspeople, huh? What a mess. That said, if you are looking for beautiful cinematography (visual effects of course) as the backdrop for a martial arts film with some great fight scenes, then not all is lost...well sorta.
That's because you must endure (and yes it's sleep inducing) the love story for the first hour of the film that basically has as much spark as a wet match...thanks in large part to Jang Dong-Gun's emotionless, monotone acting, he is nothing more than a robotic person delivering bad one-liners. Paired with Kate Bosworth, who for some reason decided a southern accent went with the old west, the on screen chemistry is nonexistent and their love scene shows nothing to either titillate or make us believe they have the hots for each other.
If that were not bad enough, Dong-Gun's English is so bad that delivering his extremely sparse dialog of Arnauld talk makes him sound like a bad Mr. Miyagi. Hence this also showcases one of the big problems in Hollywood; overlooking hundreds of talented Asian-American actors for a superstar actor from Asia who just cannot handle an English language Hollywood film. WHY?? Dong-Gun has so few lines in the entire film (were they cut?) it is reasonable to expect a superstar actor to devote the time necessary to perfecting his craft, in this case his few English lines, which of course wasn't done. If there is any acting saving grace, it is Danny Huston's stellar performance as the colonel.
If you can bare an hour of "love story" as the producers have promoted the film as, and some bad acting that goes with it, you can get to some really fun action scenes. In particular, when the colonel decides to hide in the hotel and Dong-Gun walks up the dark staircase to fight the bandits in the hallway guarding the door...some awesome effects and fighting will jolt you from much of the boredom experienced prior.
And just when you think the film might redeem itself, it degrades into a bad typical ending with horrendous narration by Geoffrey Rush. If Jang Dong-Gun thought this was gonna be his ticket to Hollywood stardom ala Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat or Jet Li, he is in for a rude awakening because he does nothing to make himself memorable on screen for American audiences.
That's because you must endure (and yes it's sleep inducing) the love story for the first hour of the film that basically has as much spark as a wet match...thanks in large part to Jang Dong-Gun's emotionless, monotone acting, he is nothing more than a robotic person delivering bad one-liners. Paired with Kate Bosworth, who for some reason decided a southern accent went with the old west, the on screen chemistry is nonexistent and their love scene shows nothing to either titillate or make us believe they have the hots for each other.
If that were not bad enough, Dong-Gun's English is so bad that delivering his extremely sparse dialog of Arnauld talk makes him sound like a bad Mr. Miyagi. Hence this also showcases one of the big problems in Hollywood; overlooking hundreds of talented Asian-American actors for a superstar actor from Asia who just cannot handle an English language Hollywood film. WHY?? Dong-Gun has so few lines in the entire film (were they cut?) it is reasonable to expect a superstar actor to devote the time necessary to perfecting his craft, in this case his few English lines, which of course wasn't done. If there is any acting saving grace, it is Danny Huston's stellar performance as the colonel.
If you can bare an hour of "love story" as the producers have promoted the film as, and some bad acting that goes with it, you can get to some really fun action scenes. In particular, when the colonel decides to hide in the hotel and Dong-Gun walks up the dark staircase to fight the bandits in the hallway guarding the door...some awesome effects and fighting will jolt you from much of the boredom experienced prior.
And just when you think the film might redeem itself, it degrades into a bad typical ending with horrendous narration by Geoffrey Rush. If Jang Dong-Gun thought this was gonna be his ticket to Hollywood stardom ala Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat or Jet Li, he is in for a rude awakening because he does nothing to make himself memorable on screen for American audiences.