“LET THE BULLETS FLY” 讓子彈飛 Movie Review. Good STUFF is surely WORTH waiting for.

“LET THE BULLETS FLY” 讓子彈飛 PRESS PREVIEW

Finally this one arrives.

It’s never too late and good stuff is definitely worth waiting for.

“LET THE BULLETS FLY” the made-in-China film that ate up a whopping production budget of 18 american million dollars, is one classic example.

It reaches our shores at a time when most Asian countries have already rested their mark.

If you are a Chinese mainlander, you’d surely love this movie with all its rhythms and tones, as you are its primary captive audience.

China men know when to pull their craft.

Yet outside this target bracket there will be a myriad of foreign followers too.

Reviews that poured in from countries where this film was screened recently were  overwhelmingly splendid – art, soul and everything.

Box office ratings were amazing, bestowing it as CHINA’s third top money grossers of all time.

So what does this Reviewer think?

Let’s start with the preamble:

It kinda is a crazy-hazy-days-of-summer comedic action adventure designed to keep you on edge and to tickle your ribs.

 Director Jiang Wen (himself as one of the three male leads) takes a divine stab at his version of Western genre spoof with his latest venture “LET THE BULLETS FLY”.

He treats it gingerly with a Robin Hood twist, pitched against the complex Chinese Warlord era.

The plot is set in China during the tumultuous 1920′s, “LET THE BULLETS FLY” stars a smart opportunistic mountain bandit by the name of Pocky Zhang (played by Jiang himself).

In the beginning he ambushes the local governor’s train, taking the governor’s advisor Tang and wife as hostages.

Zhang then hangs up his bandit’s ways and bring his gang into town, posing as the dead governor.

In this remote village called Goose Town, he sees wealthy opportunities and intends to stay.

Instead of getting rich by taxing the poor and then splitting the proceeds with the rich, he aims the other way round.

He decides to rob the rich and share the loots with the poor villagers.

He has found steadfast comrades (or so it seems) in his captives – Tang (Ge You) and his wife (Karina Lau).

However the trio finds unexpected retaliation in the form of a powerful county warlord named Huang (Chow Yun Fat) who had  previously assassinated five local governors.

Huang guards Goose Town zealously from a nearby fortified citadel.

Fiery confrontations leading to bloody gunfights, crazy exchanges and edgy battles of wit ensue in a comedic merry-go-round.

A bold, refreshing change in formula is director Jiang’s decision to smear this film with laugh galore, strewing the scrīpt throughout with dark humor.

A magnificent ensemble cast of established veterans reeks of an astounding “pow-wow”:

The powerful actors are Jiang Wen, Ge You, Chow Yun-fat, Carina Lau and Chen Kun.

 As with most of Jiang’s movies, he also ropes in family and friends such as Zhou Yun his wife, and brother Jiang Wu.

 There are “surprise” appearances from celebrated director Feng Xiaogang and Obama’s half brother Mark Ndesanjo.

It’s as good as you can get. And more.

Did this Reviewer observe raw touches in storyline of the recent animated movie RANGO?

Pure coincidence, naturally.

 ”LET THE BULLETS FLY” is a stark, witty comedy about how even the best-laid plans can go awry the moment you are starting to trust a new-found friend by overstaying your confidence.

For those who have a decent grasp of the Mandarin language, you can say that the scrīpt is wonderfully penned (reportedly amended 30 times during pre and post production stages for soulful perfection).

If you are one who depends on the subtitling to flow in with the story,

then you’d find that a lot of corny jokes in the true Chinese literary sense (you have to be fast to catch them) would have been lost in translation.

It has a mesmerizing musical score to boot.

  The plot is rife with screwball buffoonery and rapid-fire verbal exchanges.

Applaudable performances from an all star cast add a profound touch of poetic justice.

It’s one movie that might prompt you to return to the cinema for a second watch.

So there!