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Taking of Tiger Mountain (The) AKA Zhě qu weihu shan (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Well Go USA Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (15th June 2015). |
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The Film
 1946: Upon resumption of the civil war in China following the Japanese surrender, rival gangs of bandits have laid siege to the villages of Northeast China along the Russian border; the most formidable of which is the one-thousand strong army of Lord Hawk (Tony Ka Fai Leung) who is vying with the Big Stick gang for the favor of the Chinese Nationalist Party by tamping out dissent and fending off the People's Liberation Army. Commissioner Hou (Yitian Hai) holds in his possession the Advance Map which contains the location of reserve forces still stationed in the mountains as well as eighty-thousand dollars in gold to buy additional armaments. Lord Hawk has already seized a considerable Japanese armament left behind when they surrendered, and the additional resources could guarantee him control over the area; but Hou is only willing to let Hawk go so far and really has no intention of giving him the map, content to let the two gangs fight it out. Former Big Stick member Luan Ping (Yiheng Du) manages to get ahold of the map and intends to sell it to Lord Hawk but he is captured at the bandit trading post in the village of Leather Creek which has been infiltrated by a PLA unit lead by Captain 203 (Kenny Lin) tasked with wiping out the bandits. 203 and men set up defenses around the village, including makeshit cannons out of oil barrels, but he has no idea how to storm Lord Hawk's Tiger Mountain fortress. He is distrustful of expert investigator Yang (Hanyu Zhang) newly arrived with field nurse Comrade Bai (Liya Tong) when he suggests posing as a bandit to join Lord Hawk's gang and using the Advance Map as a tribute but relents after making a copy of the map for HQ. Yang lets himself be captured by Lord Hawk's men and presents himself as Big Stick's little-seen horse master Hu, knowing that Lord Hawk will not verify it and is able to divine the tests of his loyalty. With no further intelligence from the spies in Leather Creek, Lord Hawk sends down an army of three hundred men and the PLA unit will have to use strategy to keep the bandits ignorant of their small number. Luan is able to escape in the fray and could exposes Yang if he makes it to Tiger Mountain. Based on the novel "Tracks in the Snowy Forest" by Bo Qu previously adapted in 1970 as the musical comedy Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy The Taking of Tiger Mountain is an assured return to epic form, yet the ease of digital technology somehow cheapens the execution of director Tsui Hark's visual sense from the CGI projectiles and blood splatter to Lord Hawk's pet and the well-realized but never truly menacing tiger (as well as shots and sequences where the digital augmentation is minimal). While loosely based on a historical event, the film's tone is largely fantastic in the comical villainy and truly spectacular battle set-pieces both about fifteen minutes each with the usual bullet dodging acrobatics, impossible gunshots, and explosions that are first shown in reverse to reveal the projectile and then forward to show its shrapnel scattering the bandits. Yang's ability to maneuver himself out of sticky situations with words is not as overtly comic as it was in the 1970 version but still humorous even though we know someone is going to get a bullet to the head; and yet, the verbal sparring with Lord Hawk does not engender as much suspense as when Yang is facing off against less eloquent bandits. Comrade Bai, dubbed "Little Dove" by the men, provides some requisite female badassery during the attack on the village but her presence and that of orphaned Knotti (Yiming Su) as well as his mother Ma Qinglian (Nan Yu) held captive as Lord Hawk's mistress all feel rather extraneous, added for the "aww" factor. The pace is fast enough over the near two-and-a-half hours that it matters little, and without these requisite heart-tugging elements it might have been a rather stolid film since 203 and the PLA men are little more developed and distinct than Hawk's primary bandits. The wraparound sequence featuring Geng Han seems to exist only to be able to include the more exciting alternate climactic showdown (heavily excerpted in the trailers for the film) between Yang and Lord Hawk which would have cluttered the finale as well as to show a clip from the 1970 musical adaptation. Although The Taking of Tiger Mountain feels like a rousing return to form for Tsui Hark since the Detective Dee films have not made much of an impact over here one cannot help but pine for the more technologically primitive days of HK action cinema (although there are almost certainly safer conditions and fewer crew injuries and fatalities nowadays).  
Video
Well Go USA's dual-layered Blu-ray features a spectacular 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen transfer of the film's 2D version (it was shot with Red cameras using dual-strip 3D method in 5K). Detail is rich from the snowy landscapes, exploding projectiles (splinters, pottery, shrapnel), the fur coats, and the details of the Tiger Mountain fortress set while the colors are often richly saturated.  
Audio
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is also a stunning experience making full use of the front and surrounds throughout when it comes to music, gunfire, explosions, and music (a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track is also included, although it's not quite as enveloping an experience).  
Extras
Besides the film's trailer (1:29) and other previews - including Jackie Chan's own comeback Police Story: Lockdown - the only extras are a series of quick sound-byte interviews (21:09) with Hark and the major cast members Leung, Hanyu, Liya, Gengxin of little substance and interest.  
Overall
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