|
 pproximately
8 minutes into Myung-se Lee's "The
Duelist", it suddenly occurred to me
(accompanied by a feeling of dread) that the
film's star, Ji-won Ha was channeling her
character from "Slave
Love" (aka "100 Days with Mr.
Arrogant"), except this time she had a sword.
That really is the best way to describe Myung-se
Lee's highly anticipated martial arts/period film,
a combination Keystone cops comedy (complete with
under cranking camerawork), a shallow Teen
Romance, and predictably heavy Asian melodrama in
the final third. If the first 10 minutes doesn't
immediately signal that "The Duelist" is
anything but the traditional martial arts movie
set in Chosun Korea as the film's trailers have
suggested, then an impromptu rugby scrum using a
bag of money that breaks out 5 minutes later, all
set to a blaring orchestra score, will surely
convince you that this isn't what you expected
when you bought your ticket.
"The Duelist" opens
with a story told by a blacksmith that doesn't go
anywhere, before moving onto the film proper -- an
outdoor market being staked out by cops Namsoon
(Ji-won Ha) and her much older partner Ahn (the
venerable Sung-kee Ahn). Their targets are
counterfeiters presently meeting with crooks (to
sell the fake money, one presumes), when they are
interrupted by a masked killer who goes by the
moniker Sad Eyes (Dong-won Kang), named so
because, well, he has sad eyes. Upon locking horns
with Sad Eyes, Namsoon falls instantly in love,
thus begins an investigation into a counterfeiting
plot that could overthrow the Government and a
cat-and-mouse game between the tomboy detective
and the sad eyed killer.
Coming into "The
Duelist" based on the trailers is like going
to a car dealership with expectations of buying a
Lexus, only to get a bright and colorful clown car
with 20 clowns stuffed in the trunk instead. If
you were expecting a martial arts movie, then
perish the thought right now. This is ballroom
dancing where the participants just happen to have
shiny metal things that they like to bang against
each other's shiny metal things because it looks
good. No one is going to die until the inevitable
(and predictably melodramatic) ending, so there's
little need to invest in suspense before then. In
fact, Myung-se Lee has as much subtlety about
selling the fights as dances as Ji-won Ha has
playing a comedic part.
A major problem with
"The Duelist" is its central core, which
is little more than a shallow, poorly conceived,
and utterly unconvincing Teen Romance between the
two leads. One could read more into this constant
tête-à-tête between Sad Eyes and Namsoon, but
then you would be reaching. A lot. The characters
are paper thin, a trait not helped by their overly
cartoonish nature. How an actor of Sung-kee Ahn's
caliber ever allowed himself to be talked into
playing such a goofball character (complete with a
fast, whiny pitch!) is beyond comprehension. As
for Ji-won Ha, she seems to have a predilection
for playing such roles, and it's open to debate
why, because the young woman has no comic skills,
and watching her do "comedy" is like
pulling teeth. With a sledgehammer.
The film's only point of
salvation are the visuals, of which Lee indulges
in so much that one almost believes he made the
film simply to show off, and not to make a
coherent or believable story. "The
Duelist" is almost always fantastic to look
at, and it's not hard to imagine Lee sweating
nights in bed and days on the set about getting
the color schemes and lighting of every scene just
right. The Koreans have always been adept with
film aesthetics, but the work in "The
Duelist" goes above and beyond the call of
duty. If you turn the sound off and fast-forward
through the comedy bits, "The Duelist"
is quite wonderful to behold.
Alas, you don't just look at
a movie, you have to listen and follow its
narrative, and that's where "The
Duelist" falls short. Painfully so, in fact.
The film is simply excruciating to listen to, and
the story is of a chaotic, "Let's toss in a
major plot point here because things seem to be
sagging" sort. How the cops ever linked Sad
Eyes to a major political figure is one of those
astounding leaps of logic that can only exist in
movies. But then again, who would ever make the
mistake of trying to link logic with "The
Duelist" after the nonsense at the outdoor
market set piece in the beginning?
I'm stopping just short of
saying that "The Duelist" is complete
garbage, because as mentioned, the film is
visually impressive, and the final 30 minutes is
an indication of what the film could have been.
Not surprisingly, the final 30 minutes is almost
entirely devoid of the forced comedy that has been
rampant throughout the movie, electing instead for
an operatic soundtrack that allows the visuals to
dominate every inch and moment onscreen.
At just under two hours,
"The Duelist" feels much, much longer.
Then again, it could just be the intolerable
"comedy" and see-through teeny bopper
romance that helped to destroy any sense of
wonderment the visuals should have inspired. To
compare, think of Zhang Yimou's wonderfully
lyrical and equally visually astounding "Hero"
as an adult movie, and "The Duelist" as
a film for the under-13 MTV "TRL" crowd.
There's that much of a difference. |
