Rarely does a Chinese film simultaneously a popcorn action-tastic flick and a philosophical artsy piece. Most of the time it is either like Wolf Warrior 2 and The Great Wall where you need to just shut your brain off to enjoy it, or like In The Mood For Love where the pacing is so slow and the cinematography is so in emphasis to borderline cringe-worthy. But there comes the masterpiece "Let the Bullets Fly".
It is set in a fictional small town named Goose Town. After watching it for countless times, I still have no idea how the layout of the town is or where the locations are relatively to each other. But it doesn't matter because that's not the point. There are some CG shots and they are fake as hell. But it doesn't matter because that's not the point. What matter the most are the characters. The film is centered around a fast paced three-way chess game among a Robin Hood like bandit (by Jiang Wen) with a loyal gang, a cowardly governor (by Ge You) driven only by greed, and a kingpin mobster (by Chow Yun Fat) who actually runs the show in the town. The bandit is trying to take down the mobster and distribute his wealth to the people; the mobster is trying to kill the bandit; and the governor is trying get as much as possible for himself in between this chaos. How they try to outdo each other is just so much fun to watch.
For a long time I couldn't articulate why exactly I adore this film. Could it be the ever cool looking protagonist with my favorite round teashade? Or his even cooler gang of bandits who hold guns sideway like a gangster? Or could it be the dark humour? Now I know why. That day I was scanning through channels on TV looking for stuff to watch. There was "Inglorious Basterds" playing on one channel and and "Let the Bullets Fly" on another. Then something in me just clicked : "Let the Bullets Fly" is a very Tarantino-y movie.
"Let the Bullets Fly" is funny, brainy, dialogue-driven, and never shy of over-the-top violence, just like every single Tarantino's film. That's why my favorite scene of the movie is the the dinner scene in between the three main characters. The scene perfectly encapsulate all the characteristics I previously mentioned. Just like a Tarantino's film, I won't be surprised if there are fanatics who can memorize all the instantly classic dialogue.
Since it is dialogue-driven, I don't think it works as well when you don't speak mandarin and watch the subbed version, let alone watching the dubbed version. Many times the witty dialogue is playing with words and homonyms. Not only it needs an understanding of the language itself to truly appreciate it, it need some historical context too. For example the dinner scene is clearly paying homage to the "Feast at Hong Gate".
However I would still strongly recommend everybody to give it a try. If you reading this and you can understand mandarin, I would also recommend this in-depth review by Fast Food Movie. I have never thought that we could interpret the movie this way.
It is set in a fictional small town named Goose Town. After watching it for countless times, I still have no idea how the layout of the town is or where the locations are relatively to each other. But it doesn't matter because that's not the point. There are some CG shots and they are fake as hell. But it doesn't matter because that's not the point. What matter the most are the characters. The film is centered around a fast paced three-way chess game among a Robin Hood like bandit (by Jiang Wen) with a loyal gang, a cowardly governor (by Ge You) driven only by greed, and a kingpin mobster (by Chow Yun Fat) who actually runs the show in the town. The bandit is trying to take down the mobster and distribute his wealth to the people; the mobster is trying to kill the bandit; and the governor is trying get as much as possible for himself in between this chaos. How they try to outdo each other is just so much fun to watch.
For a long time I couldn't articulate why exactly I adore this film. Could it be the ever cool looking protagonist with my favorite round teashade? Or his even cooler gang of bandits who hold guns sideway like a gangster? Or could it be the dark humour? Now I know why. That day I was scanning through channels on TV looking for stuff to watch. There was "Inglorious Basterds" playing on one channel and and "Let the Bullets Fly" on another. Then something in me just clicked : "Let the Bullets Fly" is a very Tarantino-y movie.
"Let the Bullets Fly" is funny, brainy, dialogue-driven, and never shy of over-the-top violence, just like every single Tarantino's film. That's why my favorite scene of the movie is the the dinner scene in between the three main characters. The scene perfectly encapsulate all the characteristics I previously mentioned. Just like a Tarantino's film, I won't be surprised if there are fanatics who can memorize all the instantly classic dialogue.
Since it is dialogue-driven, I don't think it works as well when you don't speak mandarin and watch the subbed version, let alone watching the dubbed version. Many times the witty dialogue is playing with words and homonyms. Not only it needs an understanding of the language itself to truly appreciate it, it need some historical context too. For example the dinner scene is clearly paying homage to the "Feast at Hong Gate".
However I would still strongly recommend everybody to give it a try. If you reading this and you can understand mandarin, I would also recommend this in-depth review by Fast Food Movie. I have never thought that we could interpret the movie this way.
