28-04-2005, 02:22
The undisputed poet laureate of the genre, King Hu literally set the benchmark for what constitutes a great wuxia pan ("heroic tale") film with early works like "Come Drink with Me" and the original "Dragon Inn" (both 1966). "A Touch of Zen," a historical opus about a Buddhist scholar who will do anything to protect the fugitive woman he loves, however, is his masterpiece. While the fight scenes are spectacular -- especially the bamboo-forest sequence that inspired "Crouching Tiger's" similar set piece -- it's the details and atmospheric touches that make this film great. Those used to hearing the telltale thwacks and pings of kung-fu fighting will be shocked by how the quiet sound of a breeze only makes the film's mystical, superhuman battles all the more powerful. Or, when you consider the wanton use of violence in most action films, how devastatingly the scene of our hero wallowing among the victims of his carnage plays out. Its mixture of Saturday-matinee excitement and novelistic drama puts it in the same league as Akira Kurosawa's great works, and Hu's ability to emphasize the art in martial arts over the usual kinetic sound and fury has never been equaled.
There's no stoppin' what can't be stopped, no killin' what can't be killed. You can't see the eyes of the demon, until him come callin'...