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Released by: Well Go USA
Released on: March 19 2013.
Director: Tung-Shing Yee
Cast: Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Daniel Wu, Ching Wan Lau, Zhou Xun
Year: 2011
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The Movie:
Tung-Shing Yee's 2011 film The Great Magician takes place just after the fall of the Qing Dynasty. Here we meet Liu Kunshan (Wu Gang) whose job is to frighten prisoners into enlisting in the army of his employer, Bully (Sean Lau Ching-Wan). Meanwhile a beautiful woman named Liu Yin (Zhou Xun) lays imprisoned in one of Bully's cells where he hopes she'll eventually give up hope of her freedom and marry him just to get herself out of prison. Given that Bully has had six wife's before her, and the fact that he lives up to his namesake, she's none too keen on this idea and eventually, after they have a bizarre kung-fu showdown, she tells him she won't even consider his offer until he does her a favor: find out what happened to her father, a magician named Liu Wanyau (Paul Chun).
With that plot in motion, we segue to the arrival of a new magician in town, a dashing and handsome man named Zhang Xian (Tony Leung) who instantly impresses the townsfolk by duplicating the trick of a local magician held in high esteem. Chang's arrival in town isn't intended only to impress its populace though - he's actually here to save his old flame, Liu Yin. While all of this is going on, Japanese spies sneak in and out of the storyline and a crazy guy played by Tsui Hark shows up to get his hands on a secret formula.
There's a lot going on in this story, too much, really. The plot is occasionally convoluted and characters pop in and out without always much of a reason. The main storyline flows fairly well and is effective enough but because of all of the various subplots the story often times feels pretty disjointed. That's not to say that there isn't a fair bit to like about the movie, because there is, but only to say that some more judicious script editing would have gone a long way towards improving the movie's biggest problem - the flow.
Tony Leung does a great job as the male lead and Zhou Xun is pretty much gorgeous. They make for a pretty great team here while Sean Lau Ching-Wan as the main heavy steals a few scenes himself. It's amusing enough to see Tsui Hark pop up in a small role and Paul Chun as Liu Yin's father is pretty good here even if he isn't given quite as much to do as some of the other performers. Where the movie really excels, however, is with the visuals. This is such a beautifully shot film that it's all too easy to get lost in it. As such, some may not mind the fact that the story bops around all over the place and often times doesn't actually go anywhere. The use of color is phenomenal and the attention to period detail allows for plenty of lush hues to make for some truly eye catching sets and costumes. Some effective moments of humor (a performance Tony Leung's character gives towards the end of the movie stands out) add to the film's roster of pros versus cons and some interesting 'effects' shots are cool to see. Ultimately this is one worth checking out for fans of any of the leads or those who appreciate who fantasy and mystery can blend together in interesting ways. It's just a shame that the script itself wasn't a little more refined and streamlined.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The AVC encoded 2.35.1 widescreen 1080p high definition picture on this disc is excellent. Detail is strong, colors are reproduced naturally and without having been artificially pumped up and black levels are nice and deep throughout the presentation. Some questionable use of CGI looks a little off, but that's an issue with the effect itself and not the transfer. There are no issues at all with dirt, debris or visual detriments of any kind and the disc is well authored, showing no noise reduction or heavy edge enhancement. Outside of some slight shimmer here and there, the movie looks excellent in high definition.
Chinese language audio options are provided in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with removable subtitles available in English only. An optional English language dubbed track is also provided, but really, the only way to watch this movie is the lossless option, as it's an impressive one from start to finish that does a remarkable job of putting you right in the middle of the action. The score is spread around perfectly with some nice pans thrown in for dramatic effect while bass response is consistent in its power but never to the point where it buries anything that it shouldn't. It's hard to think of anything negative to say here, this is pretty much a reference quality mix.
The main extra on the disc is a thirty-eight minute long making of featurette that is made up of a mix of cast and crew interviews and behind the scenes footage. It's fairly promotional in nature, at least in terms of the interviews - everyone is quite enamored with the project and had a great time making it - but the behind the scenes footage is pretty cool and makes it worth watching. Aside from that we get a trailer for the feature and trailers for a few other Well Go USA properties, animated menus and chapter selection. All of the extras on the disc are presented in high definition.
The Final Word:
The Great Magician almost completely succeeds on the strength of its visuals alone. The movie is just so beautiful to look at that it's easy to get swept up in al of the period detail and the splendor of the colors and the set design. Once you start paying attention to the actual story, the plot meanders and goes off in odd directions without much need or consequence - but damn does it ever look great! Well Go USA's Blu-ray looks and sounds excellent and contains a couple one extras of note. Worth seeing if you're a bit Tony Leung fan or if the plot sounds up your alley, but not the modern classic you might hope for.
