Die Söhne des Generals Yang

Joining a line of movies about the Yang family generals that has grown longer than their lineage is Ronny Yu's 'Saving General Yang', an earnest if slightly underwhelming recount of the bravery of their seven sons who rode forth into war to rescue their embattled father. As far as such big-budget historical war epics are concerned, Yu's addition stands out as an exemplary example of how to do large-scale action sequences right, though its simplistic story and underdeveloped characters prevent it from joining the leagues of 'Red Cliff' and 'The Warlords'.

Co-scripting with Edmond Wong (aka producer Raymond Wong's son and writer of the Wilson Yip-Donnie Yen 'Ip Man' movies) and Scarlett Liu, Yu keeps the story straightforward in fleshing out the themes of "忠孝仁 义" – translated literally as loyalty, filial piety, humanity and justice – which the Yang warriors are supposed to personify. A border war with the Khitans from the North sees the decorated General Yang (Adam Cheng) rising to the call of his Song emperor, but he and his frontline troops are betrayed by their supreme commander Lord Pan (veteran martial arts actor Leung Ka-Ying) when the latter leaves them to fend for themselves upon an enemy ambush. To the aid of the wounded and outnumbered General Yang are his seven sons, each of whom make a solemn promise to their mother (Xu Fan) to bring dad home.

Apart from a red herring by a prophet who foretells that "seven sons will go but only six will return", the plot is generic to the point of being bland. Quickly whittling down the good guys to just General Yang and his sons, what unfolds is a series of cat-and-mouse chases as the Yang clan attempt to evade a certain Yelu Yuan (Shao Bing) and his band of about 100 Khitan warriors, the former of whom bears a personal grudge against the veteran Yang for killing his father in battle years ago.

In order to care about the subsequent fates of the Yang brothers, one must first be able to identify with them – and we're not talking about differentiating which actor plays which part. Unfortunately, the characterisation is shallow at best, rarely venturing beyond the badge of loyalty and heroism that every one of the seven brothers is supposed to wear so proudly on his sleeves. Among the seven, more attention is comparatively spent on the Sixth and Seventh Brother (Wu Chun and Fu Xinbo respectively) – the former we learn is deeply in love with the Emperor's sister Princess Chai (Ady An) and the latter is portrayed as an impetuous wild card often disobeying his father or his elder brothers' instructions – but neither fails to engage beyond a superficial level, except of course if you're already biased for that character based on your fondness for the actor (here's looking at you Wu Chun fans).

Instead, what becomes clear over the course of the movie is that plot and character are just devices for Yu's elegantly staged action sequences – with the help of veteran action choreographer Dong Wei of course. The first of these immediately grabs your attention as the Yang warriors overcome their disadvantage in numbers with a smart tactical manoeuvre that literally lights up the sky over their enemies; and the rest that follow are no less rousing. Yu ensures that each of the brothers has his own well-defined personality on the battlefield owing to a certain weapon of choice – be it First Brother's (Ekin Cheng) 'guan dao', Third Brother's (Vic Chou) bow and arrow (a la 'Legolas') or Fourth Brother's (Li Chen) twin cleavers. No matter which member of the ensemble cast you are a fan of, rest assured that each gets his own time to shine on the field – though particularly memorable is Third Brother's poetic and edge-of-your-seat gripping one-on-one with a rival archer amidst a field of tall grass.

In turn, the who's who of male celebrities in Chinese (and by Chinese, we mean Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong) cinema acquit themselves with competent to impressive physical turns. Deserving of special mention is Wu Chun, whose performance in the film's climax will surely have his fans cheering, and whom brings the right mix of naivety and maturity to a role that grows increasingly significant as the film progresses. There is also plenty for Ekin Cheng's fans to cheer for, as the once immensely popular Hong Kong actor gets probably his meatiest role in recent years that harks back to his 'The Storm Riders' and 'A Man Called Hero' films. And in a rare big-screen appearance, Adam Cheng brings gravitas and depth to his patriarchal character who is both a stern and a loving father at the same time.

Such a star-studded cast is reason enough to see 'Saving General Yang', though one had hoped that Yu and his fellow screenwriters could have adopted a more character-driven narrative that would certainly have made the familiar story a more compelling one. Nonetheless, Yu's first film in seven years after the critical and audience hit 'Fearless' still sees the veteran director bring a solid and assured directorial hand to offer thrilling blockbuster entertainment. As for learning more about the Yang family, that will have to wait for the next Yang Generals movie, which we are sure will not be too long away.

Chinese historical stories have no lack of its own heroes who display virtues of courage, and loyalty, and the Yang Family of the Song Dynasty has been celebrated in countless of books, plays, operas and of course, film. There are many variations to the adventures of General Yang (Adam Cheng) and his seven sons in the face of deadly adversary, and this Ronny Yu directed period action film is yet another take that's done right, wiping off the unworthy stink that Legendary Amazons in 2011 had laced upon the family of valour.

This production brings back the creative talents of those behind the scenes of the successful Ip Man movies starring Donnie Yen, such as Producer Raymond Wong, his son Edmond who served as one of three co-writers, and musician Kenji Kawai who provided the score, and you'll be assured for that attention to detail, and high production values put into this retelling. There's good balance between the more dramatic moments in the film and the requisite war action scenes, but it only did adequately enough without pushing boundaries to have made it from good, to instant classic.

Admitedly, there are many characters here in the story, given the General and his 7 young sons, in addition to the women in the film, primarily represented by the General's wife (Xu Fan), and the Helen of Troy equivalent Princess Chai (Ady An), who drives a rivalry between the Yang family and the Pan family further when Pan's son vies with Yang's seventh son (Fu Xinbo) for the Princess' affection, only for the former to perish, and sets in motion the Pan's patriarch (Leung Ka Ying), appointed supreme commander against the invading Khitan forces led by Yelu Yuan (Shao Bing), to betray his fellow Song citizen by feeding him to the wolves with a lack of backup, and rescue troops.

Cornered at the Wolf Mountain, this film then takes on 300 proportions, with soothsayers boldly predicting unfavourable outcomes, while the strengths of the few, in this case just seven and an assortment of a handful of loyal soldiers, venture out to rescue their father/leader from impending doom. While the opening big battle sequence involving all seven brothers was a treat, this soon gave way to a fight choreography that bordered on repetition, with shots on characters on horses wielding their weapons around, and because of their bring grossly outnumbered, finding themselves backpaddling and fleeing most of the time.

But Ronny Yu, knowing the constraints of the story he wanted to tell, which is for the seven brothers to bring their father back home to their mom, while under pursuit by the Khitan Yelu Yuan possessing a personal vendetta against the Yangs, managed to keep the narrative moving at breakneck speed, leaving you breathless for its continuous swarm attacks of many against a pitiful few. It's a challenge featuring an ensemble cast battling it out against a stunt team, but these were action scenes crafted that managed to convey the sense of claustrophobia, frenzy, panic, and at times, fear. There's also that art house sensibility that found its way into the story through some shots that lingered around for a tad too long, giving us that detailed glimpse into the production effort in recreating that era.

At times though you'd feel that you want to get to know more about the individuals in the story, rather than to just get acquainted for a short period through flashbacks that highlight the brothers' diverse characteristics. While that would likely stretch this to television series proportions, I thought it would provide some deeper understanding, at least of the characters played by headliners such as Ekin Cheng, Vic Zhou and Wu Chun. The villain Yelu Yuan is obviously of one track mind and objective, and it's a good thing that we didn't get superhuman with the Yang generals, which was quite the surprise with injuries sustained from the get go, once again keeping things real, with that element of danger lurking around.

It's been a long gestation period ever since the movie was introduced at last year's Hong Kong International Film Festival, while making its world premiere recently at this year's festival edition. It's as close to a Chinese blockbuster as can be with a lightweight narrative propped up by heavy duty battle scenes. Who would have thought though, that the more dramatic moments in the film, turned out to be its key strengths, together with Xu Fan's limited moments as the wife/mom who harboured as much hope as dread as she waits out the return of her husband/boys. Recommended!

I've just watched this movie and it's surprising to find its only get a 5.5 out of 10. I mean, come on, Saving General Yang deserves better! I went to this site to check the rating after I watched the movie and I expect it to get above 7, but after finding out that the rating was not even decent, I wonder if the people who rate it low truly watched the movie.

What's not to like about an epic tale of a legendary general, deceived by his devious comrade-in-arms, while a barbaric foe who hold a grudge against him ready to cut him in pieces, and his 7 sons, each with different personalities, risk their lives to save his father?

This movie has several memorable scenes, and some of them even gave me troubles to hold my tears. The fighting scenes were excellent. The only thing that keeps me from giving it a 10 is the ending, but overall, it's a joy to watch.

I highly recommend this movie!!!

This is a feature film version of the Yang army story which is one of the legendary stories passed down from generation to generation amongst the Chinese population. The fact is, the film will not raise any kind of excitement or appreciation for anyone else other than Chinese people. For example, many reviewers do not even know that there are multiple versions of this story portrayed in multiple TV series. "So what?", they ask... well because you have something to compare to and once again, I stress that its all down to appreciation of the history of the story which most critics will have lacked.

It is true that there are similarities to 300 and Troy but this is executed with style. In fact, I would use the word "Style" to describe this remake. It has a stylish look and feel to it which saved what could have been disaster. The cast features a few big names who struggle to exert their screen presence due to the vast number of prominent characters. To my surprise none of the actors and actresses impressed me with their performances, which I found merely adequate. Instead, I was more impressed by the sets and choreography as well as the movie score. The cast features two big names, Ekin Cheng and Raymond Lam, who I had expected to shine. Instead they are allowed to fall back on their wooden acting (both are guilty of this acting style) which left the rest to veteran HK actor, Adam Cheng. Unfortunately Adam Cheng tends to excel in roles that are less serious, and I felt that someone with more physical presence was needed for the role of the General.

But still, I gave this film 10/10 purely in an effort to balance up the poor ratings given by the clueless. I was half expecting someone to confuse this film with "Saving Private Ryan". I never thought anyone would own up to it....

This was a very easy to follow film with a simple premise: seven sons sent to save their father, and the obstacles on their journey. The film has some really great visuals, especially the attack scene at Wolf Mountain. Bloody hell, that was great! The film also has a great score and convincing acting. Brace yourself, though, the ending is not what you expect.