By | Published January 4, 2010

Australian-born, Chinese-based filmmaker Antony Szeto is working on a new concept for a movie that will mix strong Western sci-fi themes with wushu action. Szeto, who is best known for directing animated martial arts feature DRAGONBLADE and martial arts drama WUSHU, has unveiled test footage for his latest project, VELA 734.

Featured is emerging wushu star Wang Wenjie (SEVEN SWORDS, BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS) as a wushu-fighting hero battling laser-blasting robots with a light saber.

Again, this is test footage and not actual film footage. I’m guessing that Szeto is using this clip to lure investors to fund better visual effects. It has a really strong STAR WARS vibe at this point that I’m hoping it can shake. Still, it looks promising and quite different from anything that has come out of China or Hong Kong in the past.

All we know at this point is that Wang, who also starred in WUSHU, has been picked for the lead role and Szeto will direct. We’ll keep watching for updates on this project.

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  • Man

    Looks horrible. Bad acting

  • dartvader

    Whoops!

  • http://www.wirthconsulting.org Kraak Mo

    I'd be happy with something along the lines of SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO but keeping my fingers crossed on this one!

  • Bill Mills

    mmmm… not very impressed. Just EXTREMELY derivitive. Couldn't he at least have changed the color of the Jedi and Sith swords?

  • rob14

    Thank god they've finally got someone who actually knows how to use a sword to do these things. I do love star wars, but I can't help rolling my eyes when I see those actors hamming up the light sabres.

  • simian33

    this looks bad and when hong kong tries to produce films that are CGI driven they turn out horrible. i am sick and tired of hong kong trying to imitate hollywood, kungfu cyborg turn out to be abysmal, one of the worst i have seen in ages, and this looks like it is going to follow the same path.

    hopefully im proven wrong.

  • antonyszeto

    Thanks for the article Marina.
    I shot this footage in two days in a studio in China, then worked with their CGI team there to see if they can pull off the technicals. Looking at the footage they apparently did.

    Sorry for the obvious Star Wars reference, but where I was in China I could only find red and blue reflectors for the swords. And I admit that the acting leaves much to be desired, but the girl and “bad guy” aren't actors, and they were there to kindly help out with a small crew.
    I'm collecting everyone's comments now (good and bad), so thanks to all you out there who've left their thoughts here, and please feel free to leave more. It will help me in writing my script and shaping the final look of this film!
    For all you who are wondering, Vela 734 will be a sword fight-fest about a monk who is charged with rescuing a princess from a penal colony only to find out that they are pawns in a plot to start a war between rival sets of planets.
    And I agree with you simian33, so I'll keep with it being fight-full and CGI light.

  • disaster

    simian i like your point about hong kong films and cgi, this is something that hasn't been done well so far and needs to be used in moderation, rather than overused… hong kong films speciality are the great fight scenes and they need to combine these fight scenes with cgi in a way that doesn't look stupid, also they shouldn't try to imitate hollywood they have already been doing that for the past decade by trying to use pop singers to play martial arts roles. that's expected from hollywood to use non martial artists for fighting roles, but in hongkong they seemed to have followed that trend with disasterous consequences:(

  • disaster

    antony, the fact that you are using wang wenjie as a lead is a very good thing, i just hope you can score a hit with this project as it would be great to see wang wenjie be able to be recognised more. of course he may need to work on his acting skills but since he's from a wushu background i hope his wushu skills will give him the plaudits he so deserves. though you do have a lot of work to do, but for using wang wenjie i hope you succeed in making him a star he so deserves to be

  • Cluff-Daddy

    Yeah, CG won't stand out as much as good art direction, you could easily frame & block everything like it was anime. The first shot of the villain in the doorway is halfway to looking like it was drawn with that stark colour scheme. Even the yellow/ blue thing the hero has going on is really striking and stylistic.