Though you can certainly argue that the glory days of Chinese period epics has come and gone that's certainly not stopping them from being made. There are currently multiple Mulan projects in the works and it looks as though the first out of the gate will be Jingle Ma's version with Vicky Zhao in the title role, the film now slated for a theatrical release in December.
We ran the Cannes promo for this a good few months ago and now the proper trailer has arrived. The production values certainly look solid and Zhao is never hard to look at but after such a long string of these films, is that really enough?
We ran the Cannes promo for this a good few months ago and now the proper trailer has arrived. The production values certainly look solid and Zhao is never hard to look at but after such a long string of these films, is that really enough?
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- Reviews: MULAN Review
This is not what I want from Vicky Zhao.
I'm with you Todd. This genre seems totally dead and as much as I want to be interested in this movie...I'm really just not. I'm not putting any thought into, I'm just going by gut feeling. I guess that it's the live action version of the Disney movie Mulan that interests me most...but yeah this will be a fly by for me.
That's what i liked about Ong Bak 2, it's period, but it's less epic, more intimate, brutal, and realistic. Less huge color-coded armies and palaces, less pretty dancing in the air fighting and more of Jaa's kness and elbows knocking the wind out of his fellow actors.
Plus its jungle, for a change, and the weapons are so creative. I found the period setting very cool with those elements.
I've heard from my cousin, who has had some inside word from inside the industry, the decline in quality of these period epics is not always the fault of the directors.
The investors, obviously, put down a big chunk of money for the films. A very significant amount of that money, unfortunately, ends up as corruption money. But the director/producer still have to have SOMETHING to show for the large investments. So they make them flashier and look more expensive. Along the way, they sacrifice storytelling, character development.
Then add the fact that these movies have become the equivalent of Transformers in Hollywood: overly simple, but flashy enough to be entertaining. So people watch them, and pay to do so.