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E D I T O R I A L
Monday, October 30: Did you want blood with that?
Watching Swordsman II again, at the suggestion of a friend, made me reconsider my view of the film. Part of what threw me off the film the first time through was (SPOILERS AHEAD) an early beheading and the slicing in half of a beloved horse. I must admit that I am a bit squeamish about violence. Of course, there's plenty of blood and guts in many HK films. A crucial point for me is how and why the violence is used.
One of the first HK films I saw was Hard Boiled. What shocked me during my first viewing were the many shots of close gunshot violence -- in the opening sequence, for example, the way guns exploded into bodies just inches away and the resultant spattering of blood. It makes sense, though. After all, if you're determined to kill someone and you've done it before, you should have no hesitation to stick your gun close enough to make a big bloody hole -- none of this long-range sharpshooter / tiny little bloodless hole nonsense of so much American television. The total disregard for the safety of bystanders also told the viewer something about the ruthless characters on both sides of the law in that film.
In the more recent Running Out of Time, Andy Lau's periodic spitting out of blood (as a condition of his terminal illness) was a forceful reminder that the title applied directly to his character and tended to make the film's romanticism bittersweet. An entirely different use of blood was evident in Help!!!, where the occasional geysers of blood or the badly disfigured and burned face of a lightning-strike victim were exploited for black comedic effect (or lack of effect, depending upon your reaction to the film).
Many historical HK films would not be faithful to the period without showing the gory results of a more savage and bloodthirsty era. I suppose the non-HK equivalent would be something like Braveheart. Plenty of films do not resort to the explicit depiction of violence and are still very effective (quickly coming to mind are Fong Sai Yuk and Iron Monkey, neither of which strikes me as excessively bloody). But even The Legend of Drunken Master looks more violent to me on the big screen than it did on the small screen (this despite the fact that only one person's death is readily apparent).
My early impression of HK films (before I really saw much of anything) was that ALL the films, in general, were ultra-violent (the view of some American filmgoers was probably influenced greatly by the John Woo canon). Of course, that's a bunch of uninformed hooey (is that a word?). Fortunately, a wider exposure has shown me an incredible variety -- and even a few that don't feature a beheading!
As usual, please feel free to send feedback, criticisms, etc.
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