Mulan: Rise of a Warrior (2009)

Best movie of this year hands down!

The acting in this movie is really good.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

By all rights, MULAN should be THE definitive retelling of the story about the famous woman warrior: it's a big-budget Chinese historical war film, made with a huge crew and cast, actors who have previously excelled in other movies, and a thoroughly serious look at a woman out of place in a man's world. Yet it turns out to be a total flop.The blame should be laid at the door of scriptwriter Ting Zhang, whose leaden and obviously obvious attempts at emotion and characterisation drag this one into the mire from the very beginning. Unlike recent, rousing fare from China such as RED CLIFF or THREE KINGDOMS, MULAN is a maudlin and pondering exercise in narrative that doesn't really seem to be about anything. Those hoping for spectacle and battle will be sorely disappointed, as Jingle Ma's appalling direction sees the war scenes glossed over and dealt with in a purely defunct way.Instead, at least half of the (oh so lengthy) running times chronicles Mulan's descent into an endless depression as she laments a lost love and wishes she were elsewhere. The viewer will sympathise. Zhao Wei's acting can't be faulted, but the attempts at character and personality are so poorly conceived that the audience couldn't care less about any of the characters, from Jaycee Chan's irritating attempts at a buffoon to Kun Chen's bawling crybaby.Although the cinematography makes this film look good, it's far from entertaining. The dull-as-dishwater storyline means there's no decent action, the choreography is frankly terrible, and aside from a thirty-second segment at the climax, there's no excitement or suspense to speak of. MULAN should be an instant classic; instead it's a crashing bore.

It is probably not all that strange that there is a Joan of Arc legend coming out of China, and when one considers it, there are probably a few stories floating around where somebody rose above their disabilities to become great. I say that because in these times women were supposed to stay at home in the villages while the men went to war, this was the case in 16th Century France as it was here in China. Okay, Joan was considered touched by God as it was a vision that made her take the fight to the English, where as Mulan did it out of a sense of honour.The period in China in which this story is set is quite vague. China has, for most of her history, pretty much dominated the region that it dominates now. China was never a collection of countries fighting against each other because once the Chin' reached dominance, despite the empire waxing and waning, it has always mostly been China. However, at the time of this movie, the Wei people were under attack from roaming bandits, but these bandits had decided that raiding wasn't as good because when winter comes they always had to return home, so they decided to invade and stay.The people of Wai thus had to go to war, and as was expected every family was to put up a male to join the army. With Mulan's family, a family with a long tradition of warriors, this was not possible as there was no males. So, instead of her elderly father going to war, Mulan disguises herself as a man and goes in his place. Though a lot of fortune, Mulan finds herself at the head of the army and she goes down in history as a great warrior.This movie isn't so much about how she hides among the men. It seems that it wasn't all that difficult. Chinese people don't grow facial hair like we do, and their hair was long, so as long as she remained clothed, she was safe. However she is caught out, but the person who catches her is on his way up anyway and decides to protect her, but as he goes up the ranks he brings Mulan with him.One of the things that made me think while watching this film is whether there is any incidence of grace or self-sacrifice outside of the Christian sphere. That is a very debatable point. Now, we see examples of this in this film, such as when the prince offers himself up to save his troops, or when Mulan takes her father's place, or even when she claims to be the thief of the prince's Jade card. However, this is a modern rendition of the story, so it is difficult to pull these ideas out of a modern mind set. In those days it was all about honour. If one's family is dishonoured, then you go an deal with it, violently or not. There is discipline, but this is something that is enforced to make a good army, not to show the graciousness of the human heart.Anyway, this film was okay. Not strictly an autobiography since Mulan seems lost in the mists of legend (unlike Joan of Arc) and her story comes down to us through a Chinese poem that has survived. However it is interesting to see a similar theme playing out through human history, and that of the person overcoming prejudices to succeed.

I wasn't really sure what to expect, when watching the movie. The only thing about the story of Mulan that i knew, was what i learned from the Disney version. But i'm pretty sure, people who watch this movie wouldn't actually (and rightfully) expect there to be much similarity between the two.One thing that i think is important about this movie is, do not see it expecting to see things you've seen in "similar" movies. You might be disappointed. Because if you expect this to be anything like the classic martial arts movies, that it is most certainly not. Even Warlords, which at least to me felt quite authentic, was more exaggerated in its fighting scenes. And yes, this is also a love story, but just like the fighting and everything else, to me it seems that the people who made this movie gave a lot of thought to how much romance would be possible under the circumstances. Of course there were things that bothered me, too, but i think they were pretty much neglectible. For example i don't know how the character of Wude (played by Vitas) actually fits into the story, he feels slightly out of place. There was one scene that also seemed strange because it was really out of nothing, i don't see this as a spoiler because its not really of any importance to the story, but there was a sandstorm and they called it something like poison dragon. I did some research and it seems there is a legend about the region of Sanweishan that mentions sandstorms as the breath of a dragon, that seems to be a good explanation but someone who isn't familiar with Chinese mythology as i am (and probably most westerners) wouldn't know that and it might be confusing. Also it didn't seem like miss Zhao didn't put in much effort when Mulan pretended to be a man. But personally i don't really mind, actually appreciate it in a way. I think it would have seems a little ridiculous, and this movie is by no means meant to be comedic. The viewer knows she's pretending to be a man and that nobody notices it, there would be no point in having the actress try to talk with a deep voice or even choosing a different actress who is more masculine. That's simply not what the movie is about.If you like, you might see this movie as biographical, maybe even historical as far as that's possible for a legend. All in all i think this movie is absolutely worth watching if you're not too focused on any aspect of Chinese cinema, but even then it might well be worth your time!

Hua Mulan is the most famous Chinese folklore. Thus, there are many versions of this classic story. Sad to say, this isn't one of the better ones. Vicki as Mulan was not a wise choice. She doesn't look like the type of responsible, mature girls. She's more of the impulsive wild child like Sun Shang Xiang. Although both Sun and Hua are women fighting in a war, they differ. Sun is royalty who fights with no risk of being discovered she is a girl. Hua is disobeying the capital rule of fighting as a girl. I was so disappointed with mulan. She is no way a drunkard, or desperate lover. Sure, Vicki did well in the fight scenes, but the emotional parts are too boring. Chen Kun can't act. He looks ugly, not as handsome as his character in Painted Skin. The storyline is borderline trash. Vicki masquerading as a servant to get close to Chen Kun? White man Vitash seems to join in the fun somehow. Chen Kun turned out to be a prince. Vicki got discovered so early. None of these is really historically accurate. Sure, you can take some creative liberties, but this is STRETCHING the truth.