First chapter of John Woo’s The Crossing high on human drama, but war scenes still reign
Since returning to Asia after a Hollywood stint that saw him go from working with Jean-Claude Van Damme (Hard Target) to directing bigger name such as John Travolta (Face/Off) and Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible II), John Woo Yu-sam has focused on historical epics so vast that they have merited being split into two movies.
THE CROSSING
Starring: Huang Xiaoming, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Song Hye-kyo, Zhang Ziyi, Tong Dawei
Director: John Woo Yu-sam
Category: IIB (Putonghua, Taiwanese and Japanese)
Since returning to Asia after a Hollywood stint that saw him go from working with Jean-Claude Van Damme (Hard Target) to directing bigger name such as John Travolta (Face/Off) and Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible II), John Woo Yu-sam has focused on historical epics so vast that they have merited being split into two movies.
First up were Red Cliff (2008) and Red Cliff II (2009), films recounting momentous events in China’s history, including the legendary Battle of Red Cliffs waged near the end of the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). And now we have The Crossing I, whose second part is not due out in cinemas until May 2015.
Often billed as “The Chinese Titanic”, Woo’s latest mega-production revolves around a number of people on board the Taiping passenger steamer that collided with another vessel on January 27, 1949. But although The Crossing I opens with a view of wavy waters under a cloudy sky, the bulk of the action in this first chapter of the historical saga takes place on land – particularly godforsaken battlefields onto which much blood flows.
This instalment’s identity as a war epic is made particularly obvious by its protagonist being a military officer who is more frequently seen with his troops than with the woman he loves. Lei Yifang (Huang Xiaoming) is a courageous – but under no illusions – Nationalist Army general who sends his Shanghainese wife, Zhou Yufen (Korean actress Song Hye-kyo), to safety in Taiwan while he goes off to fight against the communists.
On the island, Yufen meets Yen Zekun (Takeshi Kaneshiro), a doctor who had been drafted into the Japanese military during the second world war, but had since returned to his previous life as a small-town’s respected medico – and who, like all of this film’s main characters, lives apart from the love of his life.
There’s also Tong Daqing (Tong Dawei), a soldier who derives much pleasure from his rose-coloured memories of a brief meeting with an illiterate and impoverished woman named Yu Zhen (Zhang Ziyi).
Though there’s a sense that everything here is a mere prelude to the main action that’s to come in the next film, there’s enough story here to help audiences resonate with these characters. Nevertheless, some of these personalities could be fleshed out more. (In addition, it will be interesting to see if Japanese actress Masami Nagasawa has a bigger part to play than the periphery one she has in this film.)
Still, despite all the characters and their drama, it’s the battle scenes involving hundreds, if not thousands, of men that make the most emotional impact, due in no small part to the sense of realism and the impressive scale that pervade through these scenes – showing the terrible violence that humankind is, sadly, all too capable of wreaking.
The Crossing I is now playing in cinemas
