I'm more than a little baffled by this, quite frankly. I've just been steered by a reader to a post at Kaiju Shakedown where Grady breaks the news that SPL will be going straight to video. I just don't get it ... this is a film with established stars that plays fantastically well to a crowd with pretty much none of the culturally specific issues that often hinder Asian films from widespread acceptance. Sure, Fearless has a more recognizable star here in the west but SPL, I think, is a much better film and - more importantly - one that people can understand without a history lesson, which is not at all the case for Fearless. So why does Rogue put their film on screens while the Weinstein Company doesn't? Baffling, I say ...
The up side, however, is that the domestic DVD will release on September 12th, so there's not much of a delay at all - less than a year from Hong Kong theatrical release to US DVD, which is quite good, really - and we will very soon know whether they're simply talking a good game for their new Dragon Dynasty DVD imprint or if they're going to follow through with the goods. I sincerely hope for the latter ...
I can see why it is going DTV. I can't imagine US audiences enduring the melodrama for the first hour and being as enthralled with it as most of us are.
As for FEARLESS, I think it smokes SPL. It has an epic feel to it and that is something I will definitely check out in theaters in August.
I do think Fearless is a better movie overall, but the argument about releasing two asian movies close together doesn't make sense to me. It would be a mistake to release, say, Hero and HoFD within a month of each other because they're actually similar. The two films we are talking about are almost entirely different minus the martial arts portions.
SPL is similar but better than most of the mindless hollywood action flicks coming out in these past few years. I don't see why it wouldn't make it.
The point is that western audiences are reluctant to watch any subtitled movies at all. The average movie goer sees watching subtitled movies some kind of inferior experience. You release 2 of them in close proximity to each other and only one will get watched, guaranteed.
Poor Donnie Yen was so proud that his movie will be shown in North America. Good thing I saw it at the Toronto film fest.
Fearless- box office
China US15m
Taiwan US6m
HK US4m
SPL
China - not released
Taiwan did not make a dent
HK US1m
SPL => most overhyped movie EVER!
SPL is a Category III movie in Hong Kong. Grossing US$1m is a good result for a Category III movie.
The thing that's on the 'bummer' side of things is the number of people gypped of the chance to see it on the big screen, which was just all sorts of wincing fun for me when I got the chance. Hopefully it'll be screened at some fests and the people that weren't fortunate to go to TIFF or be in HK when it opened will have a small chance.
I'm wondering if they're be any worhwhile extras...
Please excuse the typos. :)
logboy,
Fearless was not hyped up by marketing dept at all. It had very tame marketing when the movie was released, without resorting to "dissing other stars/movies to raise its own profile" sort of dirty tactics which so commonly employed by so many over aggressive marketing ppl and the media in general. Jet Li is an auteur in his own rights and ppl went to watch him. As for SPL, I have read like a million articles hyping it as some groundbreaking movie and the film of the decade the film that saves the film industry. I am so hyped up that I buy the disc sadly the film disappoints. The first hour has four sad cops who mess things up due to their stupidity yet blaming everyone else. The movie has no build up whatsoever that leads to two final short fights which again is nothing groundbreaking as it hyped up to be.I've seen better fights in the 70s-90s kung fu flix.
i dont get it - why are people finding the idea of passion and excitement for a movie, coupled with an individual opinion on a film being good to be a sign of a distorted perspective or a film somehow "so worthwhile we couldnt remain objective" - surely this means these people are prone to unsubstantiated or unjustified opinions themselves, so thats what they expect similar-sounding articles and opinions to be?
people go out of their way to write long pieces explaining their thinking and yet people quickly reduce these words to a few phrases and simplify the message in their mind. dont be too quick to judge or prejudge a film - SPL, like anything more supposedly-substantial is something to be considered.
i think SPL is groundbreaking : the blend is something special, original, thoughtful, and it works with great style and substance. sure, its a HK film with the usual failings, melodramatic (and so on)... as for it being one of the best HK films in the last decade of its type, well there havent been that many action films in that time have there?
I watched SPL after reading the reviews on twitch and I have to say I was extremely dissapointed. The story was horrible, the acting wasn't much better and the whole thing felt contrived. Sure the action WHEN it happened was pretty good, but the film was pretending to be something it most definately wasn't. And I thought bollywood films were bad.
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