O Grande Duelo

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.

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.

I don't use the term "spectacular spellbinding blockbuster of a movie" often; but, this movie certainly approximates that. It manages to combine humor, romance and martial arts with competent special effects. The women are attractive and dynamic, especially Princess Phoenix (Wei Zhao) who comes across as a little sister to the comic character, Dragon Nine (Nick Cheung).

The two "duellists" are attractive and subdued in their performances...

The best performance, in my humble opinion, is that of Nick Cheung. He manages to combine humor with facial expressions and physical comedy; however, his character also comes across as a competent marital artist.

Granted, the movie is way too short; however, it is worth a watch (or two). Odds are, if you have premium cable, you'll come across it from time to time...

Following on from Storm Riders and A Man Called Hero, this latest feast for the eyes from Andrew Lau sees Ekin Cheng once again as the hero. This time his adversary is Andy Lau. With perhaps a little less action than its two predecessors, The Duel focusses on the drama surrounding events in the days leading up to a duel between two master swordsmen.

When Holy Sword (Andy Lau) challenges Simon the Snow Blower (Ekin Cheng) to a duel on the roof of the Imperial Palace the imagination of the people is captured leading to much excitement and anticipation. Dragon 9, the emperor's secret agent is entrusted with choosing eight individuals worthy of witnessing such an event. However a couple of days before the duel there are some mysterious murders and Dragon 9 turns detective as tries to discover the identity of the killer.

The mood of the movie is much lighter than the other two with more comical asides included in the dialogue thus keeping it interesting in the long gaps between action scenes. Despite there being less actual fighting in this movie the action, when it comes, is quite thrilling and some of it rather beautifully put together. Andrew Lau is not afraid to try out new techniques and the opening scenes in particular contain some very interesting sequences reminiscent of the Matrix. When the duel finally does happen it is the special effects spectacle you would expect but with enough attention given to the swordplay.

Although Andy Lau and Ekin Cheng are the two biggest stars of the film, most of the screen time is given to the Dragon 9 character (don't know who plays him) as he tries to solve the mystery. Andy and Ekin just seem to pop in every now and again until the end of the film when the actual duel comes to the fore. Its this aspect that gives the film an air of originality in what is otherwise a pretty straightforward plot unfortunately their characters aren't really given that much opportunity to develop so come the end you don't really care that much which of them actually wins.

If you didn't enjoy Storm Riders or A Man Called Hero then you're unlikely to like this very much. For me it sits somewhere between the two (Storm Riders being the worst).

Rating 3 out of 5.