It
is one of the most famous lodging house in motion picture history—and also one
of the most remote. It was not a particularly comfortable place to stay, but
not due to any shortcomings of the staff. Rather, it is the large party of Eastern
Chamber agents loyal to the tyrannical Eunuch Cao Shaoqin quartered there that makes the place
feel so inhospitable. When a handful of principled adventurers check in there
is bound to be conflict in King Hu’s digitally-restored wuxia smash hit Dragon Inn (trailer here), which
re-releases this Friday in New York.
Having
consolidated his power behind the throne, in a virtual coup d’état, Cao
executed the honorable defense minister Yu Qian and banished his children to
the hinterlands. Belatedly realizing the long term potential danger they
represent, Cao dispatches agents to assassinate the Yu children. After one
attempt fails, Cao sends his top commander Miao Tian to head them off at the
pass—or more accurately the inn at the pass.
However,
unbeknownst to Cao, Dragon Inn is owned by Wu Ning, Gen. Yu’s former
aide-de-camp. As luck would have it, Wu’s insouciant swordsman friend Hsiao
Shao-tzu choses to pay a visit at precisely this time. He takes an instant
dislike to Miao’s men, possibly because one of them tries to poison him. When Miss
Chu Huei, a lethal swordswoman traveling in the guise of a man with her slightly
oafish brother shows up, it further complicates matters. Hsiao does not get on
well with the brother, but he has instant rapport with the sister. Together,
the ad-hoc band of virtuous swashbucklers will face the full force of the of
the Eastern Chamber. Yes, it is definitely on.
The
broad strokes of Dragon Inn will
sound familiar to those who have seen Raymond Lee’s Tsui Hark-produced remake [New] Dragon Inn or Tsui’s own
sequel/remake/reboot/riff The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate. Yet as soon as Hu’s Dragon Inn starts viewers can immediately tell it has the air of a
classic. Action director Han Ying-chieh (who also appears as Miao’s lieutenant)
stages some massive melees, but also integrates humor into the earlier fight
sequences in ways that are clever rather than slapsticky.
If
you watch Hu’s freshly restored Dragon
Inn and A Touch of Zen in
relatively short succession, Shih Chun is likely to become your new favorite
actor. He has been choosy about movie projects over the last three or four
decades, but he remains a revered figure in Taiwanese cinema. As Hsiao, he is
wildly cool and roguishly charismatic. Some consider his portrayal a deliberate
attempt to create an Asian alternative to James Bond, which seems like a bit of
a stretch.
Regardless,
he certainly inspires confidence and forges some relatively subtle but undeniably
potent chemistry with Polly Shang-kuan Ling-feng’s Chu. Although still just a
teenager, Shang-kuan exhibits impressive action chops that she would further
refine as a martial art star in her own right. To counterbalance them, Bai Ying
gives a suitably ostentatious yet weirdly twitchy performance as the villainous
Cao.