Reel Hungry Far East Review: Saving General Yang 2013

Darn far east movies, these things take time to filter over and usually gets swept under the radar due to all the other blockbusters going on.

But I finally found my hands on two (Johnnie To's Drug War to follow) but for now, see how the Yang saga unfolds after the jump.

So we follow the tale of the Yang clan, most famously the story of Saving General Yang, I won't ruin the movie by telling you this, as the story has been told countless times in Chinese dramas and movies but suffice to say if this is your first foray then your in for a treat, as I had no idea who this Guan Yu impersonator was until I watched this movie.

The basic gist of it, is that General Yang gets trapped behind enemy lines and his 7 sons march off to rescue him, but don't take my word for it here is the synopsis.

Synopsis:
Saving General Yang is based on the legendary Generals of the Yang Family. An epic tale about the renowned Song Dynasty's military defense headed by the clan of Yang against the nomadic Northern nation the Liao, sometimes also known as the Khitans in accounts of ancient Chinese history. Head of the Yang clan is the charismatic old veteran general, Yang Ye, who is also the father of seven sons, namely Ping, Ding, Ang, Hui, De, Zhao and Si. The seven young men possess different temperaments and characters, but they have to join forces and wits when their father is taken by enemy forces.

Now as far as period movies go, the costumes and sets look sufficient with the basic grunts acting and looking like basic grunts. You do feel drawn in to this era, maybe not as well done as Red Cliff but close enough.

The pacing leading up to the sons departure to save their papa, contained enough to get you going and Adam Cheng does embody the father figure of General Yang very well and commanding the screen where he can.

The stand out actors here really are Shao Bing as the villain, his quest for vengeance and the way he carries himself shows off his "I'm not doing this because I hate you, I'm doing this because you made my mother suffer" personality.

The sons also have moments that help them stand out but no one really captures the screen to the level Ekin Cheng does as the eldest brother, although Vic Chou, the third son (the archer) does well with the little lines he has and performs well during the action scenes.

But end of the day when your Dad looks like Guan Yu, even you'd want to save him.

Final thoughts and Score
Saving General Yang is a well thought out, simple depiction of this critical Yang family moment but ultimately falls short of anything you'll remember after 2 months. It delivers on each key point but if I had known the story of Saving General Yang before watching this I'd be less than impressed.
There needed to be more, be it fight scenes, dramatic build up with the son and General Pan or the sons and their father General Yang as you kind of lost interest whenever they weren't fighting or fleeing from the enemy.

I'll give it this much, if this is your first time learning or watching something about General Yang, then this is one of the better retelling's, but if you've seen this tale before I'll be impressed if you don't just skip to the war scenes, which have some very nice and some bloody moments.

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