My Kingdom opened in theatres on September 12, 2011 with a name that didn't give a hint as to the plot line. The plot line is...a shamed master opera warrior's protege's go to Shanghai to reclaim their master's honour and things happen from there. I would never have imagined that that would be the plot line. Opera warriors.
The protege's (Hangeng and Wu Chun) go to Shanghai to opera duel the man (bad guy) who defeated their master. Hangeng and Wu Chun have an epic martial arts fight on the opera stage with said bad guy, with hundreds of people watching...in costumes. They win and instantly get high paid careers as opera stars. Hangeng is interested in the female lead (Barbie Hsu) right away. Wu Chun goes after married ladies instead. Hangeng decides that now he has a high paid career, he can seek revenge on the prince regent for the slaughter of his entire family. Thus, he goes off and assassinates people. But wait! The police suspect who is doing the assasinations and try unsuccessfully to capture him. He then discovers that Wu Chun, his childhood friend and 'brother' is the prince regent's son and thus must die. Wu Chun also knows this and they are both very sad until they have an epic fight (Two popstars in a sweet action scene. Didn't expect that.) where Hangeng cripples Wu Chun. Wu Chun disappears from the story. Hangeng creeps on Barbie and finds out that she had an affair with the bad guy that he and his 'brother' dispatched so long ago. She attacks him with some scimitars and then they do the implied nasty. This leads to my least favourite part of the movie. Cue naked chested sweaty Hangeng (EEEEEWWWWWWW!). "I love you". And then she's all like, 'Oh there there. Shush. Don't speak.' The next day he retires so that he can marry her but she tells him to forget it and, GASP, he has been poisoned so he looses his voice. Thus he and Wu Chun are reunited and go off on a train together reflecting on the bad decisions they made in life...or not reflecting on them. Either way.
The good things.
The fights in this movie were mostly spectacular. The costuming was good, the choreography solid, and the general tone dynamic. Everyone involved could act and you believed that they wanted to hurt/not hurt each other.
The movie was intriguing. I had never heard of opera warriors and still question their historicalness (not a real word), but the concept is cool. A martial artist who sings and dances upon the stage. Cool!
Although though the pacing went from slow to fast and back again I don't ever remember being bored. The plotline was intriguing with its various twists and turns and focuses.
Even though Hangeng was very handsome and lovely to look upon, Wu Chun was even more attractive. The movie even succeeded at making them look related.
And the not so good (bad) things.
The movie was depressing. Most of the plot points weren't sad, but the intensity of the storyline/acting/scenes made the movie almost overwhelming and thus depressing.
Implied naked sweaty Hangeng. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. That was one scene I didn't want to see, and it is stuck in my head tormenting me.
I give this movie a 3.75 out of 5. It's not quite a 4, but it's better than 3.5 and I'd definitely watch it again, as long as I could skip the half naked Hangeng part.
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