REVIEW: ‘The Banquet’ (2006)

THE BANQUET is mainland Chinese director Feng Xiaogang’s first foray into wuxia territory and a very ambitious one at that. Not content to simply lens another swordsman saga, he chose to adapt William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” into a Tang Dynasty-era tragedy complimented by swordplay. It is a success artistically where the dance-like wire-work choreography of Yuen Wo-ping, the stunning art direction of Timmy Yip and another elegant score from Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun cover miscasting and a lightweight adaptation with a very palatable veneer.

The film begins shortly after the death of the Tang Emperor. His son Prince Wu Luan (Daniel Wu) survives an attempt on his life by assassins in a gorgeous and very arty opening action sequence. The man responsible for ordering the assassination is Wu Luan’s uncle Li (Ge You) who killed his own brother and is usurping the throne by marrying Empress Wan (Zhang Ziyi). Li rightly fears Wu Luan, an accomplished swordsman and rightful heir to the throne.

In a turn that dramatically steers the film away from the original play, Empress Wan is a much younger woman who has always loved Wu Luan and yet was forced to marry Wu Luan’s father and now his uncle. This alteration was apparently the result of a late rewrite of the script when Zhang Ziyi was cast in place of Gong Li who had originally been considered for the role. Gong Li starred as another Tang Empress in CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER instead.

Another change from the source material is that Wu Luan (aka Hamlet) is not the central figure and is not the one driving the story forward with his attempt to prove that his uncle killed his father. Also missing is Wu Luan’s faked madness. Instead, the movie is chiefly propelled forward by Emperor Li’s desire to get rid of Wu Luan and Empress Wan’s secret desire to get rid of Emperor Li.

Yet another change is that Qing Nu (Zhou Xun), the character representing Shakespeare’s Ophelia is now the “other woman” who gets in between the murky relationship between Wu Luan and the jealous Empress Wan. Qing is a handmaiden to Empress Wan and daughter of Minister Yin (Ma Jing-wu). Yin is an elder courtier once loyal to the dead Emperor. He is soon to plot to have his son General Yin (Huang Xiao-ming) take the throne by force. Qing never goes mad and kills herself as Ophelia did. Her only rather passive motivation in the film is an undying love for Wu Luan.

Although the love triangle plays a key role in the story, the film never makes it clear who Wu Luan loves more. This is where director Feng Xiaogang loses some of his grip on the narrative and lets the movie spiral into box office-driven conventions. Looking at filmmaking trends in both Hollywood and Asia, I partly blame this ill-defined, yet dominate love story on a media obsession with stereotypical romance as a plot device. Feng puts too much emphasis on defining Wu Luan through his relationship to women and this in part hijacks the character’s motivation to avenge his father’s murder.

What is just as flawed as the script’s pop-culture romanticization of “Hamlet” is the mostly poor casting. Ge You is solid in his role as the paranoid Emperor Li, as is Ma Jing-wu as his chief Minister. Zhou Xun performs very well within the constraints of her role. But the two most important roles are completely miscast. The concession of casting Zhang Ziyi as a younger Gertrude is just wrong. Zhang puts in a valiant effort, but isn’t ready for a role that demands more stature than she can muster. She still looks and acts just like the petulant Jen Yu from CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. Feng should have waited for Gong Li who gave a superior dramatic performance in CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER. I hate to say it but I’m growing tired of Zhang Ziyi in these period drama roles. She’s been essentially playing the same character for seven years.

I realize this is supposed to be a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, but Daniel Wu makes a poor Hamlet. His entire performance rests on a series of steely stares and contrived bouts of teary-eyed anguish. The script strips his character bare, which leaves him with little to work with beyond nuance and it’s just not there. I’m more disappointed with the scripted interpretation of Hamlet than with Wu’s performance, yet he doesn’t have the presence to make the most of what little he has to work with.

On a more positive note, Zhang Ziyi and Daniel Wu both perform their action scenes very well which is not a surprise at all. At one point the two actors engage in a play fight that is more foreplay dance than combat. It’s beautifully shot, as the whole film is.

I have to say that as action choreographer, Yuen Wo-ping still surprises me. He could easily rest on past ideas but with each new director he works with he continues to innovate and evolve his style. In THE BANQUET, Yuen delivers some of his most majestic and artistically challenging choreography to date. His team’s wire-work is extremely smooth and natural. The exception is with the aerial stepping of characters that to me has never looked appropriate because it suggests that a fighter can literally step through the air, yet the speed never matches the motion of their legs. So it looks like someone flailing their legs while being swung forward on a cable, which in fact is exactly what is happening.

Daniel Wu wields a very interesting weapon in the movie. It looks like a thick and heavy, unrefined blade missing its hilt. At one point he has it attached to a rope and wields it like an oversize rope dart against multiple attackers. This sword has significance in the movie that I’m not sure I understand entirely, but I would guess is meant to represent the spirit of Wu Luan’s dead father. He never makes a ghostly appearance but the slightly supernatural ending could be interpreted as the Emperor’s revengeful spirit using the blade to get his final revenge.

It should be noted that the often slowed action sequences are definitely exaggerated here and not in the typical Hong Kong style. Feng’s influence as director can be seen in how the action serves to accentuate the feeling of a stylized theatrical performance. The best example is right at the beginning as armored soldiers charge into an outdoor theatre and begin cutting down masked performers who continue to act as if the fight is part of an interpretive dance. Honestly, it turned me off at first. It looks interesting, but turns the fighting into a dream-like sequence where consequences, while still bloody, seem inconsequential. Yet it soon becomes clear that the entire film is structured this way to a degree, from the elaborate costumes and richly-detailed sets to the stiffness of the acting. Nothing in the movie seems quite natural or real. It’s all a staged performance and seems to be Feng’s nod to his source material. The consistency of this vision is carried through all aspects of the film and becomes one of its biggest assets.

In short, THE BANQUET looks like a carefully crafted and uniform work of art from start to finish. It’s also done in a less annoyingly gaudy fashion than CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER. The costuming in particular is very cool. I just wish that the core of the movie, its interpretation of “Hamlet” was as dense and forceful as the visuals and stylized action. Nevertheless, Feng Xiaogang, who previously struck gold with A WORLD WITHOUT THIEVES starring Andy Lau, continues to display very capable directing skill. It may not suit his tastes, but I would love to see Feng tackle a more pure wuxia movie. I bet he could do wonders with a Gu Long or Louis Cha story.