Wednesday, November 9, 2011

284) The Blade (1995)

284) The Blade (1995) Dir: Tsui Hark Not Yet Released Date Seen: July 11, 2011 Rating: 3.75/5

It's hard not to be somewhat resistant to the topsy-turvy wiles of what some call Hong Kong wunderkind Tsui Hark's best film. The Blade is very good at aesthetically replicating the punch-drunk queasiness that characterizes his bloody and not a little insane variation on the One-Armed Swordsman archetype. If one were to seriously try to make the case for over-editing action scenes as a means of creating a new kind of cinematic cubism, The Blade would and should be used as exhibit A. I'm sure David Bordwell's done it by now, too. Which is basically why I low-balled this with a B+ grade. I like it, a lot even. But man, it's like Hark conflated the euphoric feeling you get when you're getting high from alcohol with the inevitable hangover that follows said imbibing. Ow, ow, ow.

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