Saving General Yang (2013)

A man's temperament determines his fate

Saving General Yang is based on the famous story of General Yang Ye and his seven sons during the Song Dynasty. A better than average film that martial arts movie lovers should enjoy.

The Yang family's fate was thrown into turmoil when the youngest son killed a rival family's son in a tournament to win the princess' hand in marriage. As the Pan family was demanding justice the Khitan army attacked. Lord Pan was chosen as the supreme commander of the army who took the opportunity to betray General Yang and his men during a vicious battle. Yang was hit with a poison arrow as Pan's troops retreated leaving him and his men at the mercy of the cruel Khitan general Yelu Yuan. Yang and his men were allowed to live in an old ruins setting a trap for his sons. Out of love and loyalty his sons set out with a small band of men to rescue their father. A seer gave their mother a dire warning, "Seven sons will go out, six will come back". Interpreting soothsaying can be tricky.

The cast was huge and with the movie clocking in at a scant 100 minutes there wasn't much time for character development. Director Yu threw in a few flashbacks and enough comments to glean the bare basic characteristics of each brother. The brothers were led by the stalwart eldest, Ekin Cheng. Vic Chou played the supreme archer of the group and Wu Chun played the pivotal 6th brother. Adam Cheng did well as the stoic and loyal general resigned to his fate. Shao Bing gave enough menace to his vengeful general to make him a proper threat. And Bryan Leung ("Beardy!"), familiar to martial arts movie fans, rounded out the male cast as the treacherous Pan Ren Mei. Xu Fan as the General's wife and Ady An as Princess Chai Mei Rong were the small female presence in the movie.

This was not a personality and character driven movie, though stylish, it lacked in substance on occasion. This was bloody battle upon bloody battle as the brothers fought their way into enemy territory and then turned around to fight their way out. A devastating catapult/trebuchet assault and a thrilling archer battle in the tall grass were two of the creative highlights. Even with the modicum of character development I admit to getting choked up in a few scenes.

The costumes, sets, and CGI were all stellar. The battles contained the right amount of gravitas and high stakes. Stephen Tung Wai choreographed some amazing and cruel fight scenes. The brothers were outnumbered in every fight and the choreography showed the brutal reality of close quarters confrontations with sharp weapons complete with heroics and desperation. Wu could lay the family fidelity and heroism on a little thick at times, but given their dire situations and commitment to each other, I could overlook some heavy-handed moments. There were a couple of scenes that didn't work very well, but for the most part the movie flowed and usually at breakneck speed. The OST bordered on over-wrought but for me managed to err more on the side of rousing.

Saving General Yang would have benefited from greater character development, but as a perilous story of 7 brothers facing overwhelming odds to bring their father home, it mostly succeeded. Not everyone will like this movie, but I found it gripping and entertaining.

7/19/22

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