With his career now spanning six decades, Tsui Hark continues to be one of the most definitive directors working in action cinema. Even now, with him hitting 75 years old, Hark shows no signs of slowing down, with his latest, Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants being suitably epic. Visually stunning, with great costume and set design, coupled with imaginative action scenes, it’s everything we have come to expect from a Hark movie.
There will be some complaints that it’s not a faithful adaptation of Jin Yong’s novel, but I never expected it to be. This is Hark’s version of the tale. There are more traditional adaptations out there if that’s what you are looking for.
Apparently the film is mostly based on chapters 34 to 40 of Jin Yong’s novel but I honestly can’t comment on this, having only ever read snippets of the original. It’s not a text that was readily available where I grew up. This version of Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants focuses on young martial artist Guo Jing (Xiao Zhan) who during his two-year sojourn to the Central Plains to acquire special martial arts skills ended up falling in love with Huang Rong (Zhuang Dafei). His masters warn him against her, but he takes no heed of their advice. Their reasoning is because of their distrust of her father, Huang Yaoshi.
After the majority of his masters are found slain, Jing comes to the wrong conclusion and assumes that it was at the hands of Yaoshi. This causes him to turn his back on Huang Rong, only finding out too late that he was wrong in his assumption. Now he spends his days searching for his scorned lover. At the same time, evil martial arts master Ouyang Feng (Tony Leung Ka-fai) is seeking out Jing as he believes he holds the Nine Yin Manual, the key to Feng increasing his martial arts knowledge which would make him almost unstoppable.
As this unfolds, Jing comes back into the fold of his adoptive father Genghis Khan (Baya’ertu) who wants him to lead his army in an attack on the Song Dynasty territory which just so happens to be Jing’s former homeland. Jing’s refusal to attack the Song brings him into conflict with Khan, with it looking like war is inevitable unless Jing can convince him otherwise.
After collaborating with Chen Kaige and Dante Lam on the Battle at Lake Changjin films, Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants finds Hark once again working solo behind the camera, in the Wuxia genre no less. Whilst Hark has produced the likes of Sword Master (2016) and The Thousand Faces of Dunjia (2017) more recently, this is the first Wuxia he has directed himself since Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (2011).
As expected from a Jin Yong adaptation, there is a lot going on here, with a dense plot and an assortment of characters to keep track of during the film’s lengthy, but never excessive 146 minute run time. There’s the usual conflicted loyalties, unrequited romance and mistaken identities. This is par for the course for a good Wuxia, and once Hark kicks events off, you’ll find yourself quickly picking up on all the disparate plot elements including the machinations of both the film’s heroes and villains. As mentioned, traditionalists may be annoyed with the changes to the adaptation, but I was fully invested in the story as it unfolded.
This isn’t Tsui Hark’s first foray into the worlds of Jin Yong, with him having a hand in bringing the Swordsman trilogy to the screen, working as producer on all three as well as being one of many directors on the first (and best) of the series. Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants has similar qualities to that series but on a much grander scale.Â
As expected with Hark, his film is filled with an energy that is lacking from many similar Wuxia tales. One just has to compare this to the countless movies currently showing on such streamers as Iqiyi to see the difference. Sure, this film may have an increased budget than any of those films, but Hark brings more to the screen than just being able to spend money. Hark’s film, like the majority of his previous work, is full of imagination, be it how he stages the action, the camera work or just those small touches that are characteristically his.
Now and again some slightly sub par CGI rears its head, but these don’t derail the overall quality of the film. For the most part the CGI is decent and well integrated into the film. Don’t expect Hollywood levels of effects work, however, in hindsight I have seen worse in many recent so-called Hollywood blockbusters.
In terms of action, it’s more fantastical than traditional martial arts action. There is some old school swordplay on show, with a quality fight scene between Zhuang Dafei and Zhang Wenxin that focuses more on old school fight choreography rather than having characters using their special powers against each other. Additionally, there are some large scale battles interspersed throughout the tale, which varies the style of action on display.
Still, even when the action is more focused on our characters’ supernatural displays of power, the action continues to be of a high quality. The standout for me was Ouyang Feng facing off against the Mongolian army, with him taking down hordes of soldiers single-handedly before facing off against Guo Jing. All I’ll say is that if you’re looking for something more akin to Once Upon a Time in China (1991), you may want to look elsewhere, with the action heavily utilizing CGI.
While Flying Swords of Dragon Gate had the veritable star power of martial arts movie legend Jet Li to help sell, whereas Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants main selling point to me was that its directed by Hark. Sure, I had heard of leading man Xiao Zhan, but had only seen him in one film prior to this, Ching Siu-tung’s Jade Dynasty. This probably says more about me, as Zhan is just one of many new or upcoming Chinese stars that I should make myself more aware of.
While I know nothing of Zhan’s music career, he had done well enough in Jade Dynasty that I was willing to trust his casting here. He makes for a valiant hero, selling the character’s heroism. The romance between him and Zhuang Dafei’s Huang Rong wasn’t as convincing as I would have liked, but the two of them still do well enough in their consecutive roles.
I did enjoy the playful rivalry between Dafei and Wenxin’s characters, as they vied for Guo Jing’s affections. Although her character does come across somewhat childish, Zhang Wenxin proves to be a likeable presence, becoming quite the hero when the time comes.
Unsurprisingly, the legendary Tony Leung Ka-fai just oozes class as the villainous Ouyang Feng. Interestingly, this is the first film Leung Ka-fai has starred in to feature the character, with him appearing in Jeffrey Lau’s Eagle Shooting Heroes where he was played by Tony Leung Chiu-wai. He then featured in Wong Kar Wai’s Ashes of Time (1994), played by the late Leslie Cheung. Each of their iterations of the character were extremely different from the other, with Leung Kar-fai’s take on the character also being very different from what either of them brought to the screen.
It would appear that Hark really likes casting Big Tony as the bad guy. Going back to the likes of The Raid (1991) and up to the more recent The Taking of Tiger Mountain (2014), Ka-fai has been chewing the scenery with aplomb for Hark. Here is no different, with Big Tony getting plenty of opportunities to portray a complete bastard. It helps that the traditionally handsome actor is uglified to further display his villainy, although not to the extent he was in The Taking of Tiger Mountain. Well at least not until the last third of the film, where he becomes mostly unrecognizable. Sadly, this is where the aforementioned sub-par CGI shows up most, but by this point I was so invested in the plot and the action it wasn’t really an issue.
It was also nice to see veteran actress Ada Choi show up in a small role as Guo Jing’s mother. She doesn’t get much to do in the film other than provide Xiao Zhan’s Jing with something of a motive to take action, but she is still a welcome presence.
Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants isn’t the best film to come from Tsui Hark. I don’t think classics like Peking Opera Blues (1986), Once Upon a Time in China or The Blade (1995) can be surpassed, but Hark still works hard at trying to. If I had to compare it in terms of quality to his later work, I would place it alongside the likes of Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom Flame or the previously mentioned The Taking of Tiger Mountain.
All in all, Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants is a visually stunning actioner that has everything we have come to love from Tsui Hark. I’m glad to see that the film has already become a success, as hopefully this will allow Hark to work on a follow up. I remember being extremely disappointed after the failure of Hark’s Seven Swords (2005) put an end to that series before it even began. As it stands, Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants is now the highest grossing Wuxia movie in the history of Chinese cinema.Â
One last note. Make sure to stay during the end credits as there are additional scenes that work as something of a teaser of what could potentially follow, which seems like a foregone conclusion.
Highly recommended.
Plot: 4/5
Acting: 4/5
Action: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
