Xie bu ya zheng

A real man never boasts, but speaks from the heart. 100 years ago a young man, Li, who follows this advice, narrowly escapes being shot, a burning home and certain death. Unfortunately his relations are not so lucky. Adopted by an American father and raised to be a fighter and spy, Li relishes the chance to return to China and avenge the murders. It is the 1930s and the situation is made more complicated by the Japanese occupation. While Li speaks from his heart and is a good man, it is not certain - even to him - where his loyalty lies; to mission, vendetta or, upon meeting beautiful women, love.

Hidden Man is fast paced, funny, creative, playful, romantic and sexy in addition to being an martial arts action film. The stunts and twists in the plot are varied and unexpected. The creative, refreshing and ingenious film makers employ decoys, historical touchstones, competing interests, biking on rooftops, prominent roles for women, grenades and other surprise weapons, medical references, throwbacks to classic action films and more. Despite showing marks of censorship (hardly showing any skin, for example) and proceeding too fast at times, Hidden Man is thrilling and fun to watch. It is the final film of a trilogy. Seen at the Toronto international film festival.

The director want to say too much, but he don't want the audience to understand. There's too much drama on the roof and it doesn't make any sense. Some of the first passages are quite good, but the latter is pure self-liberation. Audience? It does not exist.

This is a very solid neo-western. Jiang Wen, once again, proves that he is the most talented filmmaker in China. The tension arises right from start, and does not end until finish. The length of this film is 137 minutes, but you never feel it that long, as it is rather compact, fast-paced and intense. The multi-angle, quick-cut editing, which used to be a trademark of Stanley Kubrick, appears frequently in this movie. The inherent strong violence is neutralized by the underlying sly humor to a large extent, and this characteristic was the signature of Quentin Tarantino.

Liao Fan, who had been underrated for a long time, proves again to be the best actor of his generation. His performances are just impeccable that he is simply unrecognizable for his particular role. The production design, I have to say, is unique, with many of the scenes set on the roof. The sound editing and cinematography are also noteworthy.

As usual, Jiang Wen served as the director, screenwriter, and actor of the film, but this time he seems to have lost focus. Occasionally, the aura is reminding the audience from time to time that the movie is relatively safe and relatively interesting. The lantern-style character rushed to show the world view to the audience, so Jiang Wen's quick editing with full tension turned into a rush in the film. Seeing the end, I feel that it is a sloppy ending in the sense of reason, and the sensibility feels "finally over."

This movie tells two stories: the revenge of a boy, and the revenge of a man. In my point of view, that man who got all his teeth extracted is the true hero of this movie.