Xie bu ya zheng

A real man never boasts, but speaks from the heart. 100 years ago a young man, Li, who follows this advice, narrowly escapes being shot, a burning home and certain death. Unfortunately his relations are not so lucky. Adopted by an American father and raised to be a fighter and spy, Li relishes the chance to return to China and avenge the murders. It is the 1930s and the situation is made more complicated by the Japanese occupation. While Li speaks from his heart and is a good man, it is not certain - even to him - where his loyalty lies; to mission, vendetta or, upon meeting beautiful women, love.

Hidden Man is fast paced, funny, creative, playful, romantic and sexy in addition to being an martial arts action film. The stunts and twists in the plot are varied and unexpected. The creative, refreshing and ingenious film makers employ decoys, historical touchstones, competing interests, biking on rooftops, prominent roles for women, grenades and other surprise weapons, medical references, throwbacks to classic action films and more. Despite showing marks of censorship (hardly showing any skin, for example) and proceeding too fast at times, Hidden Man is thrilling and fun to watch. It is the final film of a trilogy. Seen at the Toronto international film festival.

I am not familiar with Jaing Wen's work and went in with no expectations. A Taiwanese friend passed me her ticket telling me that it's Chinese with Japanese historical and cultural references, and while that is not untrue, it's not what I would describe it. An indulgent description would call it a parody or self-parody, but I don't have the background and familiarity with his work to justify it.

I felt the first jolt to run out about 10 minutes in, and it's been a struggle to watch until the end. The story is convoluted and hard to follow, dialogue is fast and furious, and while I get it that the director may be going for parody, the net effect is cringe.

The hero is nonetheless played by an actor who is supposedly some kind of sex symbol, and he appears bare chested, which may be redemptive for some audiences; it might also spark a parkour renaissance in China (or at least boost the sales of Assassin's Creed).

I can't resist the ROC and the old Peking flavor in this film. Liao Fan's performance shows the real calibre of his acting skills.

Director and writer spend a lot of effort to this movie. U have to understand China history to understand easter egg in this movie. It's make no sense in many way but very strange that u start to accept by its unique way with beautiful sound track of telling stories to u. U have to watch a few times to discover the hidden message in this movie and u can go to school become history teacher.

The director want to say too much, but he don't want the audience to understand. There's too much drama on the roof and it doesn't make any sense. Some of the first passages are quite good, but the latter is pure self-liberation. Audience? It does not exist.