Mini-Review: The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978)

I've often said the difficulty in going back in cinema viewing is that you are conditioned through years of experience in the present. All our time watching countless movies built upon the shoulders of giants. Those who saw potential in what we see as generic. Those who created grandeur through what we would now call old. And so when going back to see a movie whose influence can neither be denied or quantified, I try my best to keep that in mind.

Luckily enough, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin needed no help from my calculating mind at all. Over the top in cheese, awesomeness, and obsessive self-idealism, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is entertainment in its purest form. A mild moral tale mixed in with a fantastical styling, wrapped in the comfort of action, under the dark tent of vengeance. It's the kind of movie you kind of wish was dubbed just to increase its magnificence ten-fold. And yet even that wouldn't begin to compliment it.

Now, I'm not saying it's one of those movies that every human being should watch before they die. I'm just saying it's one of those movies every human being should enjoy when they do; watch it, that is. The movie brings to light some of the most mentally staggering questions in history. Questions like "just how many wise old Chinese kung fu monks does it take to train a hothead?" Answer: In and around a baker's dozen. And I take no shame in saying each one is as equally awesome as the last.

That's really the kind of movie this is. Sure, there's the generic young idealist becomes kung fu master arc that has been featured so dominantly throughout the years. But that's just a component. It's the base element, from which the movie derives such an intense sense of awareness. Not afraid to be comical, self-mocking, and confident all at the same time, it imposes an enchanting charm onto the viewer. Glazing over their worries of cliches by standing steadfast alongside them. And in doing so it creates a tale worthy of those who seek out the opportunity to view it.

OVERALL RATING: 8.50/10

Recommended By: Silver Emulsion

Edge of Darkness (2010)

EDGE OF DARKNESS

DIRECTED BY: MARTIN CAMPBELL
WRITTEN BY: WILLIAM MONAHAN & ANDREW BOVELL
OVERALL SCORE: 4.75/10

After his daughter his shot down in front of his eyes, Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson) questions whether or not that shot was meant for him, or his daughter. As he begins to investigate the circumstances, he uncovers a secret far worse than he could have imagined.

So, you've got a quality director, right off one of the biggest hits of his career (publicly and critically). You've got a writer right off his first Oscar win. The return of Mel Gibson, the ever reliable Ray Winstone and Danny Huston supporting, and yet the entire time I found myself stuck on one burning question: where did it all go wrong? Edge of Darkness is by no means a "bad" movie, if anything it's a movie that seems to just lack anything good. So weighed down by plot contrivances, off balance acting, and misdirection, it's the sort of movie you watch, and never understand how they just couldn't get it right.

Gibson's performance wanders around, never really grounded, and is more of an accent than it is a performance. He seems to overact the emotional moments (as evident by the disappearing accent trick - take that, rabbits). While Ray Winstone seems to be playing your basic unemotional gun for hire, in the back of my head I was stuck with a burning question: what is the point of him being there? This only gets worse with Huston as the sick (mentally) head of the (evil) corporation Craven's daughter was working for. Huston has all the talent in the world, but here it felt like the character's actions were always out of place with the scene (even if deliberate, it irritated me to no end). Once you get out of these three though, the performances go off the cliff in a hurry. With bad direction and writing each scene with these supporting players feels like an exercise in over acting. Forced aggression, and indiscernible fear, never adds up to the shining 5 minutes they're asked to take over for.

Still for all the problems with the acting, much of this film's problems I leave at the foot of Campbell, Monahan, and Bovell. The script is repetitive, and unfocused. Weighed down by trying to be both a political and a corporate corruption attack, neither of them seems planned out, and the plot points are far too weak to really carry any impact or surprises. Worse yet, I could never shake just how "bright" this movie is. For a movie about going to the "edge of darkness," I wonder Campbell and crew found it apropos to go to the edge of lighting. All of it just combines into a mix mash of mediocrity and a depressing lack of cohesion. It forces upon the viewer a general lack of care for our characters, and how they manage that with 30+minutes of somber moments.... well, that's beyond me.

While it's not the worst film you could see this year, Edge of Darkness is a mediocre film weighed down even farther by some horrid secondary performances, and an uninspired behind the scenes effort. I still love many of those involved... let's just hope this is more of a failed attempt than a sign of things to come.