Easily one of my favorite War dramas, or hell for that matter throw in “Romance Drama”, the story of Mulan in this 2009 version blew me away with the raw emotion that it provoked. Vicki Zhao Wei’s portrayal of the legendary warrior is flawless and commendable. While the source material is a poem that has been speculated on and claimed by different people, the movie is shot in such a way that one would think that the events were as real as life and death.
Although the case and cover art of Mulan will show her in her military garb and fighting, the movie is really about the relationship between her and her co-General Wentai (Kun Chen). The dynamic of their love is one of the most complicated and well played relationships that I have ever seen on film. Being that the mixture of brotherhood, respect and emotional love had me so worked up that I was wishing for the standard Western sexual release scene that normally comes with movies that have these relationships. Mulan suffers us no such release as we are made to respect her as a person, a General and a warrior all before praising her for being a woman in a military that swore to kill any woman found within its ranks. Think on that for a minute.
What the hell… who could mistake Zhao Wei as a man?
That last sentence in the above paragraph is one of my only gripes with this movie, given that Zhao Wei is drop-dead gorgeous. I mean you can ugly this woman up as much as you want and dress her like a man and I doubt that in 100 years you will find more than a few guys who would believe her not to be a woman. Just look at her:
Do you see my point? So watching this 2 hour drama based on the fact that this beauty hid within a company of men who bathed, joked and goofed around with one another was a tad bit hard to believe. But that’s the beauty of imagination right? I had to suspend belief and admiration of Zhao Wei to believe that for whatever reason, she could pass as a man amongst 20,000 men.
Choreography?
There are not many fight scenes in Mulan, but there are some very educational fight scenes if you aren’t a follower of military history. One scene in particular made me smile when the Wei archers measured their range by shooting blind arrows into the air which created a lined marker for their generals to gauge the first volley on the approaching enemy. No other movie that I have seen showed this, as we have always seen archers shoot blindly into a company of men hoping for their arrow to find it’s mark.
The hand to hand combat was really well done and for you Spartan marks who loved 300 so much, you should see the Wei soldiers and their metal shields move like a Phalanx as they take on armed cavalry, archers and bloodthirsty infantry. Outside of the dramatic scenes of sacrifice, brotherhood and love in Mulan, I really appreciated the demonstration of tradition spear/shield combat as it was done in those early centuries.
Mulan is easily a classic; I have been talking about how amazing Zhao Wei was but to be honest she would not have carried the movie well without the talents of Kun Chen as Wentai and Hu Jun as the rival General. Mulan’s childhood friend Tiger (Jaycee Chan) was a bit of a letdown, his growth as a soldier really touched me but his act was a tad over the top and typical for this movie. Everyone else seemed so believable and even but he stood out as a man that was trying too hard. It did not hurt the movie as his screen time was limited in scope but had he toned it down a tad and the direction been a bit tighter, this would have been a perfect movie.
The score was top notch, the cinematography better than passable; Mulan is one of those treats that regrettably will be ignored due to its sharing titles with a Disney cartoon and the fact that it’s subtitled. For those of you wanting to see a strong woman cast in a way to win the respect of her male counterparts through action over beauty, this is a solid movie for your collection.
Mulan is a beautiful and well shot military drama that can hold toe with many of the gory ones we all love so much. Check it out if you get a chance and trust that you will be in for a treat in both acting and in storytelling.
Cinephile and opinion writer, Greg Dragon has been a fan of movies since the 80's when Kung Fu theater was all the rage and Roger Moore was James Bond. As an opinion writer that has reviewed Box Office releases on a number of prominent websites, Greg is the founder and lead critic of Spicy Movie Dogs.
