THE TAKING OF TIGER MOUNTAIN debuts today on BD, DVD, digital HD

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The Taking of Tiger Mountain / Zhì qu weihu shan

Directed by Tsui Hark

China, 2014, 143 minutes

The Taking of Tiger Mountain, an action-adventure film from legendary Hong Kong director Tsui Hark, debuts today, June 2nd on Blu-ray™, DVD and digital HD from Well Go USA Entertainment. This review is based on the Blu-ray version.

The film is has its roots in the novel Tracks in the Snowy Forest by Qu Bo. During the Cultural Revolution the book served as the basis for Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, one of the eight model operas produced during that period that was also made into a film in 1970.

Bracketed by scenes set in 2015 that seem intended to make the story relevant to contemporary audiences, Hark's film is set in north-east China in 1946. At that time the area was victimized by rampaging bandits. One powerful gang was led by Hawk (an unrecognizable Tony Leung Ka Fai of Tai Chi Zero and Tai Chi Hero, who is made all but unrecognizable by wonderful make-up). His gang consisted of over 1,000 bandits and was based remote and well-defended Tiger Mountain.

Captain 203 (Lin Gengxin,), left

A People's Liberation Army (PLO) squad of thirty-some Communist soldiers are led by a captain code-named 203 (Lin Gengxin, Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon) with the objective of subduing Hawk and his men. .Joining them are Comrade Yang (Zhang Hanyu, Special ID, Back to 1942), a political division scout sent by the Hejiang Military District and field hospital nurse Comrade Bai (Tong Liya), called Little Dove by the troops.

Yang, with 203's reluctant acquiescence, enters hawk's lair as a spy in order to provide a means for the PLO squad to attack the fortress. Little Dove, along with one other female character, provides a touch of estrogen in this otherwise testosterone-laden war movie.

Comrade Yang (Zhang Hanyu)

The film, originally shot in 3D, clearly has some scenes that were intended to produce an "off-the-screen-and-into-your-face" effect. But they in no way suffer from transference to 2D. There are lots of digital bullets, knife blades, blood, flying hawks and debris from explosions. Also one very convincing and ferocious digital tiger. (Where would a movie with this title be without at least one tiger?) The considerable CGI, which is very well done, contribute significantly to the more than seven minutes of credits at the films end.

Despite it's rather epic length of nearly two-and-a-half hours, the film moves along nicely. To his credit, Hark claims to have eliminated some of the sermons from the source material. While I'm not familiar with Qu Bo's book, nor with the opera or 1970 film based on it, I think it's safe to say that while a degree of patriotic pride still remains in his film, it's probably not nearly as preachy and stilted as the source material.

Comrade Bai (Tong Liya) reports for duty

So what we have is a brisk, entertaining action-adventure film set in the period in which the Chinese Communists under Mao Zedong (spelled Tse-tung in my 1966 first edition "Little Red Book") fought to consolidate control over all of China after the Second World War.

Disc Specs:
- Audio:
  - Mandarin 5.1 DTS HDMA
  - Mandarin 2.0 Stereo
- Subtitles: English / Off

Bonus Features:
- Interviews with:
  - Tsui Hark (Director)
  - Tony Leung Ka Fai (Hawk)
  - Zhang Hanyu (Yang)
  - Tony Liya (Little Dove)
  - Lin Gengxin (Captain 203)
- Trailer

AsianCIneFest Rating: 3 out of 4 stars; a good film, solidly recommended