When I was in Asia last week, the entertainment shows were all covering the expanding barrage of press material and activities associated with the upcoming period wuxia movie Saving General Yang. It premieres early April worldwide which is a pretty ballsy movie for a HK flick. Starring Adam Cheng, Ekin Cheng, Wu Zun, Vic Zhou, and Raymond Lam, among others, this is yet another take on the famous Song dynasty folklore about the loyal and righteous Yang sons who protected their country against invaders. They faced internal obstacles as their political rivals in the Song court worried about their power and esteem among the commoners and in one epic battle, the Yang daddy and his 7 sons went to war and the Song court delayed sending reinforcements. As a result, I’ll drop a hint for those not familiar with this story, the ending is that only 1 son returns home. If you need a more obvious hint – this does not conversely mean 6 sons die. This particular movie is centered around an expedition to save their patriarch General Yang, but I’m pretty sure we’re going to head down a rocks fall down ending. The cast was in Taiwan last week promoting the movie since two of the leading men, Wu Zun and Zai Zai, are Taiwanese actors. The movie production has released the first batch of official stills and character posters, as well as the domestic trailer (which differs from the international trailer that was released 2 months ago). I love how the movie finds a way to get muscly Wu Zun to strip down in a scene, and Zai Zai’s character seems like the type who broods and doesn’t talk much, which is totally fine by me. The movie is directed by Ronny Yu, whose last Chinese movie was Fearless with Jet Li, though he’s also made name for himself in Hollywood directing schlocky popcorn fare such as Freddy v. Jason and Bride of Chucky. I actually think he’s a pretty decent director and the action scenes for this movie look pretty fast-paced and snazzy. I’ve been waiting for this movie for over a year to check out Zai Zai in his first period wuxia role. Please don’t disappoint me! Continue reading →