Confucius

Who doesn't know who Confucius aka ZhongNi 'Johnny' Kong Qiu is?

But I am utterly disappointed with this film about Master Kong. It's so crude on too many levels.

Firstly, it is yet another Made-in-China film on 'patriotic steroids' and huge budget. Starting with 投名状, these films have many features in common:

• Period China with dirty-looking down and out men moping around in dark rags and armour
  
• War/fight scenes - Chinese fighting Chinese
  
• Self-sacrificing hero(es) who saves the day
• A-List Hong Kong actors with PRC starlets

The objective of these films is to take advantage of the large market of patriotic PRC movie-goers. And of course... these films make their way into our cinemas...

Secondly, the film is full of unnecessary distractions.
While the little side story about Confucius and the chick lasted like 10 minutes, she's on the film poster. The introduction of her character was a total mess, with her running around in the grass with dishevelled hair and barefoot. Then suddenly, she becomes this conniving bitch queen, yearning for an intelligent man. The director explains in the extra scenes that the chick was meant to be pure (hence the running around in the grass), yet she's this and that... then went on blah blah-ing about how elaborate her costumes were. It's like the film had every soundbite an Oscar Best Picture would have, but still couldn't come close. O_o

And I never knew Yan Hui would die like Jack did in Titanic. This was totally made up for dramatic effects. The real Yan Hui returned home to Country of Lu.

Lastly and most unfortunately, the film made Confucius look really useless. =_=
In the first part of the film, because of the multiple war scenes, I kept having to remind myself that I was watching Confucius, and not Zhu Ge Liang in the Red Cliff. As Confucius the Master embarked on his walkabout, I started to remind myself that I was not watching Journey to the West, and Mr Kong was NOT the weak Tang San Zang, always in need of help from his entourage and experiencing fatigue + hunger. Very confusing.

If you are vaguely interested in Confucius aka ZhongNi 'Johnny' Kong Qiu, please read up on him via Wikipedia. Weird that it takes an American product to present a more objective introduction to one of the greatest Chinese philosophers in the world.

It's a shame that this film about Confucius is so poorly made. I was disappointed by Hua Mu Lan too. These classics... I hope they will be remade to their cultural worth in the future. Meanwhile, I hope no more Chinese classics will be diminished by such poor taste.