Full River Red
The story serves as an explanation of sorts for why many Chinese people to this day can still recite 12th-century general Yue Fei's poem "Full River Red," which contains lines such as “we will feast on the barbarians’ flesh...we will drink their blood.” For the film's part, it's an often zany, slapstick whodunit with political intrigue and more twists and turns than the streets within the palace walls. It's easy to compare this to Knives Out, so I will.
An opening text sequence introduces us to the murder of Yue Fei, which isn't a focus of the movie but is a specter hanging over things. The prime minister Qin Hui, now considered a traitor for his part in the execution of Yue Fei, tasks his top officials with solving the mysterious murder of a visiting Jin diplomat and uncovering the contents of a secret letter. Our lovable "detective" of sorts is Corporal Zhang Da (Shen Teng), who is given two hours to solve the mystery or be executed and blamed for the murder.
Zhang Da runs back and forth around the labyrinth streets, uncovering clues and interviewing a wide cast of other officials, soldiers, prostitutes, stable workers and relatives. Just when you think you have a handle on who might be to blame, the story zigs and zags so violently that it's not always easy to keep track of who is who or what is even going on. The story is certainly bloated and beyond convoluted but depending on your level of engagement with these sorts of mysteries, you could argue it's a feature and not a bug.
There is a lot of good fun to be had from the interactions between characters, particularly involving two high ranking officials who are constantly scheming and plotting against each other. Zhang Da is very intelligent but a goofy bumbling sort, and often gets humorously caught in the web of other people's machinations before having to fumble his way out of trouble.
For an epic historical costume drama, there aren’t a lot of big action scenes or even sprawling set design, as the action is mostly contained within the shadowy brick confines of the palace streets. Director Yimou and cinematographer Zhao Xiaoding mostly keeps the camera close to our characters, excepting a reoccurring overhead shot gag of the detectives racing back and forth through the streets as a thumping hardcore track plays. The movie also employs the trick of trying to make it seem like it's dark out while clearly filming during the daytime, which puts a dark filter over everything that I find to be particularly ugly. It has some moments here and there, but for the most part I found it to be a rather unappealing movie visually, even if the choices were intentional.
Ultimately all of the plans are unraveled and the secrets revealed, and the true purpose of the story (and movie) becomes one of remembering and endorsing the contents of the "Full River Red" poem. The poem is proudly screamed and repeated by hundreds of soldiers while dramatic music swells, and the lighthearted thrills of the first two hours starts to feel like some sort of con to eventually lead the audience to this final message. Viewers from different parts of the world may certainly feel differently (and it's not like America hasn't cranked out plenty of their own nationalist propaganda films), but for me, it ended what was a mostly successful piece of entertainment on a sour note.
