I’m totally watching Saving General Yang for my Zai Zai, but lord knows I have to go in with an iron stomach. The well-known Song dynasty folk tale about the patriotic Yang family who had seven strapping warrior sons who went to battle and only one came home is a perpetual cinematic favorite for how it deals with filial piety and nationalistic fervor. This is one of those rare stories where it’s all about the men, though the Yang wives have their own folk tale that starts after six of then become widows overnight and are forced to hold up the family honor. But for the story proper, it’s always cool to have seven actors cast as the seven brothers, and this movie found Ekin Cheng, Yu Bo, Vic Zhou, Li Chen, Raymond Lam, Wu Zun, and Fu Xing Bo to update this classic band of brothers. The movie’s short running time means the ladies are getting shafted even more than usual, except to set the story in motion one wife needs to make an appearance for narrative sake. That would be future 6th wife Princess Cai, whose marriage contest is what gives ammunition to the evil villains in the Song dynasty in sending the Yang men to their deaths in a battle they cannot win. Ady An plays Princess Cai and I’ve always said she is one of those actresses that fits a period setting more than a modern one. She is paired up with Wu Zun and despite both acting in TW-dramas during the same window of time they have never been paired up before until now. I thought the stills of Ady and Wu Zun are very lovely but in this movie probably as cheesy as watching the animal cracker scene in Armageddon. But the 4th trailer released for the movie looks so awesome I’m not even worried about a bit of cheesy romance on the side.

The story goes that there was a wuxia stage battle for the hand of Princess Cai – she had met the 6th son and they fell in love but she knew the Emperor wouldn’t agree to the marriage so she devised this plan knowing he was the strongest unwed fighter in the dynasty (his five older brothers are all married) and therefore he would win. Except the evil villain’s son was planning to participate and Daddy Yang knew so he forbid his 6th son from participating so as to not deepen the animosity between the two families. In the end the 7th son goes to fight to win a bride for his brother, and accidentally kills the evil villain’s son. That dude complains to the Emperor and wants the Yang sons punished so Daddy Yang offers to go to the front lines of the battleground instead to atone.

Fourth Trailer for Saving General Yang: