The Taking of Tiger Mountain

A rollicking, ridiculous action movie. Heroic, crazed and great fun. Not to be taken seriously in any way. The second ending is way more fun. Stay the distance. A Tiger's tail/tale.

I am not a fan of these oriental action films, it is hard to like an action film, when the script is not very interesting, it complicates a little more, totally discouraging ... Unfortunately, I didn't win ...

The best scene for me is the tiger attack, matches by the skills of Zhang. I rewatch it a few times, and begin to notice some 'unlikelihoods'. Even if the camara shots are breathtaking, the riffle of Zhang is a mechanism action, so you have to reload after each shot even if the chamber contains 5 cartridges (like a Muser use in WW2). During the tiger last jump, Zhang load a cartridge but fire 4 bullets, without using the action 'mechanism' ...like an automatic riffle. Zhang can go up and down the tree like an acrobat, sometimes, without even using his legs, but the tiger in unable to climb with his powerful claws. The size of the dead tiger lying on Zhang is quite exagerated... But this is OK from a cinematographic marketing. For the rest of the movie, it will be a lot greater if you keep it simple Mr Director, I mean without the theatricals and too much makeup :)

Positive: Good CGI, enough to make it a barely believable background and action scenes, but not great. Loosely based (meaning embellished for entertainment purposes) on post WWII varying factions vying for power in China as Japanese occupiers were being driven out.

Neutral: Interesting tie in with contemporary descendant revisiting and re-imagining that period. Acting, dialogue, script, filming, all acceptable and pretty standard, straightforward, but nothing jumps out as being incredible. It almost felt as if it was a Communist Party sponsored politically correct promotional film. Rather than being a serious historical docudrama it seemed more like a lighthearted fantasy story.

Negative: If looking for historical accuracy, then other than someone infiltrating a gang to spy with some sort of positive outcome for his efforts, it came across as an imaginative fantasy which may be all that a viewer is interested in. Misleading cover art.

Epic adaptation of a classic from Chinese literature, then from Peking Opera Troupe of Shanghai, based on the real-life story of the Battle of Tiger Mountain in 1946.