Plot: During the Chinese Civil War, General Lei sent his wife, Yufen, to Taiwan. There she moves into a house formerly occupied by Masako, a Japanese pianist. Before being forced to move back to Japan, Masako had an affair with Zekun, a Taiwanese doctor who worked for the Japanese army.
Watches
September 26, 2015
Splitting up movies is never the best idea, and Woo made it extra tough on himself by combining three somewhat distinct and unrelated stories into a single film. Yes, it allows you to make long films that are still decently paced, but it takes away so much focus that the runtime starts to feel excessive.
There are some decent war scenes, but nothing too out of the ordinary. The cast is good but a little too familiar, and the drama is nice, but not exactly subtle. There's enough quality and budget here to make sure the film is a solid watch, but it's far from Woo's best work, and I wasn't exactly yearning for the sequel once the credits started rolling.