O Grande Duelo

This movie had good special effects. Andy and Ekin both did a good job playing their roles as cool and skilled swords-men. The plot is about a duel that will determine who is number one. Each man falls in love during the days leading to the duel, showing the soft side of their hard exteriors. Though the movie is about the duel, the life and investigations of a royal officer seems to be a main focus. Nick Cheung, who plays the royal officer, kind of takes the audience through the movie and provides comic relief. Vicky Chao, the princess, provides some comic relief as well. Over-all this movie was good and I would see it again.

There's actually a fair amount of energy in this film, but ultimately its part of a trend in Hong kong cinema for "enhancing" martial arts action with CGI. Its not new for fights to be manipulated in this way. Many stars are not fighters, and their combat is cunningly edited to convince us otherwise, or they perform gravity-defying feats thanks to wires and pulleys and other tricks. CGI takes the constructed nature of martial arts to a different zone, and for a while, its been interesting to see how the technology is incorporated into Hong Kong cinema (where its a recent addition to the technical arsenal). In the films of Andrew Lau (not to be confused with the film's star and all round heart-throb Andy Lau), the technology is used to create elemental effects, with all kinds of spectacular things happening with clouds, ice, water and snow. What is lost as a result is the sheer breathless excitement of watching two powerful warriors duke it out with fist, foot and blade. When the great swordsmen in "The Duel" finally face each other (and its a long time coming, especially since the showdown is disappointingly brief), they end up assaulting each other with... well, energy. A sword would have done the trick, but these guys would rather fight with lightning. OKay, this is all well and good - its based on a legend of a fight between the greatest swordsmen ever, so it must be made to look special. However, the film doesn't build up much suspense. We are not made to really care about who will win. Where the film scores highly are in the scenes between Vicki Zhao (Zhao Wei) and Nick Cheung. Zhao is particularly charming, and their interplay is the core of the film. The two warriors generally mope around for most of the film - Ekin Cheng is almost entirely absent from the screen for the first hour. CGI will be a great asset to Hong Kong directors once the novelty wears off - it can be used to create the image of superhuman characters doing amazing things, but the problem is that it often makes the same characters seem untouchable and inhuman.

This movie tried to do too much in too little time. It was suppose to be a martial arts, love, friendship and hate film. It tried to be intense, then funny. Like many of the present day HK films, they have to make everything comical. I actually thought this would be a serious film, but it was comedy/drama, and i don't think that's a good combo at all. All in all, this movied tried to do too much in too little time and ended up nothing at all!!

The Duel strikes that elusive balance between tongue in cheek and believable wuxia martial arts goodness. The story goes that a master of the sword Yeh Cool Son (Andy Lau) challenges another master, Simon Snow Blower (Ekin Cheng), to a final duel over the rooftops of the Forbidden City. And yes, that is his name. The emperor, believing this all to be in good fun, allows this, but at the same time his special agent, Dragon 9 (Nick Cheung), starts investigating strange murders around the palace.

The Duel features some spectacular special effects for its time, though I do admit that they water down the traditional wuxia fighting more than a little bit. There are some cool shots, certainly, but I still prefer the more restrained wire techniques. Luckily though the movie largely makes up for this with a relaxed, tongue in cheek style of storytelling. The characters are played for laughs, the dialogue is quick and witty and overall the movie isn't aiming to be a huge epic. It's more of an affectionate parody of the genre, but in a way that also works as a straight example. If only barely.

I also really enjoy Dragon 9 as the main character. He's clearly the comic relief of the film, but refreshingly that doesn't make him the butt of the jokes. Quite the opposite. He is one serious badass, only surpassed by the two masters of the sword. He's also joined by the emperor's sister, Princess Phoenix (Wei Zhao), who's a lot of fun, but also capable in her own right.

All in all The Duel is a great watch for all looking for a more lighthearted wuxia experience. It's fun and witty, but also capable of telling a captivating story and featuring some truly great characters.

I enjoyed 'The Duel'. It certainly isnt the greatest film in the world, but its certainly isn't the worst.

It begins with a traditional 'Stormriders'esque action sequence. By that I mean more CGI than actual fighting. I don't mind this at all really. People fly around. A geezer turns himself into a giant snowball and a man regurgitates poison. All in a days work. I like to see things like that. Spectacular and a bit out of the ordinary. The people who usually complain about the flying around in films such as this and Crouching Tiger are the very same ones who believe Bruce Willis can exterminate an elite squad of Mercs by himself or that Toby Maguire does have webs coming out of his wrists. Its funny what people will suspend disbelief over and what they won't.

Anyway, after the initial sequence we discover that the main character in this is a parody of James Bond (but one that fraternises with whores and gangsters). His main task in the film is to set up and mediate a Duel between the two greatest martial artists in the world, one of whom is his best mate and the other is a mysterious recluse with a harem of flying beauties.

Its just funny to watch, basically. The Duel doesn't take itself too seriously and neither should you. If you liked StormRiders and can sit through A man called Hero without fastforwarding the story parts then you will really enjoy this.

On a side note, as most people will inevitably watch this on DVD, The Duel is presented in flawless widescreen with good subtitles. The 5.1 soundtrack is lively and the soundscape is wide. The extras are standard but servicable. Don't bother watching the pan and scan dub. It cuts out half the action (and I mean half. Rendering the story unintelligible).