Mulan (2020) [PG13]

All Image Credits : Disney

After several delays due to the COVID-19 situation, Disney latest live action movie “Mulan” is finally out in the movie theatre!! Woohoo!! For those who don’t follow Disney movies, there’s actually an animated version of this movie, way back in 1998. Between these 2 movies, the animated version of Mulan movie is more family friendly and funny to watch while the live action version of Mulan movie focused more on the fights and is rather serious for a kid to watch as per say. I have a 4 year old niece and it does not appeals to her at all. Despite the differences, the storyline of these 2 movies remain the same but with a change in some characters. Let’s get down to the movie review, shall we?

Storyline

I believed most of you guys out there have probably heard the famous Chinese folklore “The Ballad of Mulan” about a fearless young woman, named Hua Mulan, who disguised herself as a man to battle Northern invaders in China and saved her ailing father from serving in the Imperial Army. Wow! I can’t believe I just summarise the whole story in just one sentence. My apologies for those who have yet to hear about her story. While I hope there’s a small twist to the story, some stories are best kept as it is in order not to create the wrong impression about Mulan and ruined the entire heroic story.

If there was an ambassador for women empowerment in a male dominant society back then, I think Mulan would be the most ideal candidate to lead the women. Her story has been told many times in many various different media platforms, from storybook to the big screen, which just shows how iconic and famous this story is. I’m not sure if I would need to actually tell the story here once again but for the benefit of those who has no clue what I was talking about up till this point, I would just provide a short version of the story.

In this version of Mulan, the Emperor of China (Jet Li) has received news about the invasion of Rouran army, led by the Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee) and his mighty ally Xian Lang (Gong Li), who was a powerful witch with shapeshifting abilities. The Emperor decided to mobilize his troops via the conscription of one man from each household. Mulan’s father Hua Zhou (Tzi Ma) was selected to fight on behalf of his family despite his frail health. Now comes Hua Mulan (Liu Yifei) who stepped up and took her father’s place to fight the Rouran army. She faced many setbacks along the way but she managed to overcome these challenges and defeat the Rouran army.

Disney’s MULAN..Mulan (Yifei Liu)..Photo: Jasin Boland..© 2019 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

It’s a pretty standard storyline which was easy to follow and provided a glimpse of the rich Chinese history and culture to the audience. However, in terms of the storyline, I don’t feel Mulan was having such a hard time in this movie. She has martial arts background since young and possessed chi (气) , which is a circulating life energy that in Chinese philosophy is thought to be inherent in all things. She was already skilled and well-trained in the beginning of the movie, which made her stands out in the army when she joined the army. In addition, her gender troubles doesn’t seemed to be of a big issue for Mulan either as she did a wonderful job in disguising as a man. Overall, I felt that the story focused more on the fights and promoting Chinese Martial Arts rather than the hardship which Mulan been through.

Characters

Even though the story may not look attractive for audience who knew the story, the all asian cast filled with some big movie stars such as Jet Li , Donnie Yen and Gong Li, would definitely appeal to some of their fans. While their performance in this movie were top notch as expected, Liu Yi Fei’s performance as Mulan stood out the most among those movie stars as she made big sacrifices such as behaving as a man and performing impressive stunts. This may be her breakout role in her acting career thus far, as she joins the Disney family as one of the princesses.

From Left to Right : Emperor of China (Jet Li), Xian Lang (Gong Li), Mulan (Liu YiFei), Commander Tung (Donnie Yen)

Special effects

In the animated movie of Mulan, there is a cute small dragon named “Mushu”, who was Mulan’s guardian throughout her journey. However, in this action movie, Mulan has a guardian in the form of the Phoenix, who flew past her several times and providing her the emotional support she needs. The Phoenix was very stunning as it looks and the credits will definitely go to the special effect team. Other than the incredible looking Phoenix, the ice mountain in the middle of a dessert was also equally incredible looking as the Phoenix. Yes, there is a ice mountain out of nowhere but just remember, it is a folk tale. In conclusion, the fight scenes were great and stunning animations by the special effects team, which makes the movie more interesting to watch.

Memorable Moments

There wasn’t much memorable moments to pick out of this movie, as there wasn’t any plot twist in this movie. Therefore, I pick some interesting scenes that you can look out for when you go watch the movie.

1. Matchmaking scene for Mulan, (Capturing the Spider)
2. The invasion of Rouran Army (Xian Lang vicious attack)
3. Sword display performance by Commander Tung
4. Landslide scene during the battle between the Rouran Army and the troops of China
5. The rescue of the Emperor of China

Overall Movie Rating : 3.5 / 10 ( Simple storyline supported heavily by big movie stars and wonderful special effects. Too much emphasis on the actions and fight scenes which doesn’t brings out the hardship that Mulan was going through. Mulan was already a skilled woman before joining the Army to fight the Rouran, which gave her huge advantage and respect from her fellow army buddies and commander. Hard to tell if this was a Disney movie without the initial introduction as it doesn’t seemed to cater for the younger audience.)

Movie Duration : 2 hours

#Disney

#Mulan

Black Panther Review (2018) [PG]

I have been wanting to do this movie review for awhile back, but couldn’t find the time to do it due to my school’s projects and stuff. However, due to recent passing of Chadwick Boseman, the main actor who played Black Panther, I would like to pay tribute to him by reviewing one of his iconic movies which brought him to stardom, entitled “Black Panther”.

Storyline

The movie starts off with the introduction of origin of the Wakanda, the nation which houses the strongest metal known to Earth as Vibranium. For those who has not idea how powerful this metal is, this metal is the same material used to make the Captain Amercia’s Shield. Anyway, fast forward to 1992, the Wakanda’s king T’Chaka (John Kani), father of T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), visited his brother N’Jobu (Sterling K. Brown) during one of his undercover operation and accused him of stealing Vibranium for a black market arms dealer Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) and was exposed by his partner Zuki (Forest Whitaker).

Back to the present day, T’Challa returned to Wakanda to take over the throne as the King of Wakanda, following his father’s death. He wanted to bring back his ex-lover Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) who is on an undercover mission, to Wakanda for his coronation ceremony. With the help from Okoye (Danai Gurira), the leader of the Dora Milajia regiment, they were able to bring back Nakia and attend his coronation ceremony, along with his mother Ramonda (Angela Bassett) and his sister Shuri (Letitia Wright). During the ceremony, there is a tradition where anyone in the nation can challenge the soon to crown king in a ritual combat. M’Baku (Winston Duke) stepped up for the challenge but eventually lost to T’Challa. Hence, the reign of the new Wakanda King, also known as the Black Panther, began. His first undercover mission as the Black Panther was to track down Ulysses Klaue, after he stole a Wakandan artifact from London museum. Will he succeed in his first mission as the Wakanda king? Watch the movie to find out.

Overall, this movie shows how he grew to become the true king of Wakanda and conveys a clear message of courage and perseverance to the audience. There was one major plot twist which I believed die hard Marvel fan would see it coming but for those who doesn’t follow the Marvel Comics, this may come to you as a surprise. Among the solo Marvel superhero movies that I have watched, Black Panther is probably my top favourite solo superhero movie thus far, followed by Ironman and Thor.

Characters

In the first Marvel film with a predominantly black cast, all the characters were very powerful and intelligent, which alleviated the whole intensity of the fights in this movie. T’Challa, the Black Panther himself, had some pretty intense fighting scenes with his opponents, be it Ulysses Klaue or Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan). The movie has placed a lot of emphasis in building this powerful character to earn his rightful place in the Avengers. Yes, Black Panther is part of the Avengers if it is not obvious to you yet. He faced several ups and downs throughout the movie He was in fact at rock bottom both literally and figuratively at one point in time. However, he was able to pick himself up and be the strong and courageous Black Panther we knew today. I don’t think there will be another actor who can be as good as Chawick Boseman in portaying Black Panther.

From Left to Right : Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) and Shuri (Letitia Wright)

The Black Panther’s journey has been difficult and intense but with the help of the other characters, the whole movie had some sort of balance which makes it interesting to watch. Take for example his sister Shuri, she is a wacky but yet super smart as she was the brain behind all the cool gadgets that Black Panther used during his fights. She was of great help during those fights which gave Black Panther the slight advantage that he really needs. As for Okoye who serve T’Challa’s as his bodyguard and right wing woman, she was a loyal and fierce character whom T’Challa trusted and respected. I believe it would be much harder for T’Challa to make his comeback without the help of these characters.

Special effects

As mentioned earlier, T’Challa was a very powerful character during combat and every kick and punch had a strong impact, all thanks to the special effects team. Some of the fights in the movie occurred at night which made it hard for audience like me to see the physical fights, but I was still able to feel the intensity of the fight through the wonderful sounds effects made by the sound effect team.

Marvel Studios’ BLACK PANTHER L to R: Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) and T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) Ph: Matt Kennedy ©Marvel Studios 2018

The idea of Vibranium being the strongest metal on Earth was also made possible with the help of the team through the cool gadgets made by Shuri. Therefore, it was very pleasing for me both in the form of visual and audio.

Memorable Moments

This is my list of memorable moments in this movie and if your favourite scene is similar to any of the scenes listed below, please do leave a comment below and let me know.

1. Ritual Combat between T’Challa and M’Baku
2. Car chase at South Korea, especially the virtual driving control by Shuri
3. The arrival of Erik Killmonger
4. Second round of Ritual Combat between T’Challa and Erik Killmonger
5. Final battle scene between T’Challa and Erik Killmonger

Overall movie rating : 10 / 10 ( Marvelous Superhero movie which builds Black Panther to be a worthy Avenger. Chadwick Boseman’s performance as Black Panther was wonderful which left a very deep impression of him as the Black Panther till this day. Other characters also contribute significantly in terms of their performance which made this one of the must watch Marvel movies.)

Movie Duration : 2 hr 15 mins (One end-credit scene)

#BlackPanther #RIPChadwickBoseman

Unfriended Review (2014) [NC16]

Disclaimer : This movie is rated NC16 for Violence & Coarse Language.

Do you believe the power of the Internet is so powerful that it could take someone’s life? If you don’t, then you have to watch this supernatural horror movie entitled “Unfriended”. This movie made use of the Internet as a platform to terrify 6 friends who were involved in the death of Laura Barns. Even though there was very little use of jumpscare, the idea of playing a mind game with the 5 guilty parties was definitely worth a watch to uncover the truth behind Laura Barns’s death. Let’s get to the movie review.

Storyline

Blaire Lily (Shelley Henning) and Laura Barns (Heather Sossaman) were very close friends at High School. However, Laura Barns committed suicide one year ago after a viral video of her passing out and making a mess at a party was posted. One year later, I was introduced by a lovely couple of Blaire and Mitch Roussel (Moses Jacob Storm) who shared everything about each other. They were having a chat with her boyfriend via Skype, an online video chat platform. As they were joined by the other 4 friends Jess Felton (Renee Olstead), Ken Smith (Jacob Wysocki), Adam Sewell (Will Peltz), the whole atmosphere between the group of friends became lively and fun. Everything changed when an anonymous user named “Billie227” was added. Secrets among the group of friends began to reveal and the atmosphere in the chat group began to be tense and uncomfortable. The mind games that the unknown user played and the confession among the group of friends broke those survivors emotionally as fear overcame them. A sense of despair and desperation began to seep in for Blaire as she saw each of her close friends began to leave the chat group for good. How will the fate of the 5 friends turn out in the end and who is behind the anonymous account “Billie227”? Uncover the truth behind Laura’s death and the deep dark secrets between the 5 of them as you watch the movie.

Overall, it was a straightforward revenge storyline as the entire movie was viewed through the first-person perspective of Blaire’s laptop monitor. I liked how the anonymous user played mind games with the 5 of them and how the user was able to stay in control of the 5 of them despite the numerical disadvantage. The movie sents waves of terror as each member of the chat group confessed about the unfortunate accident which led to their retribution. There wasn’t much of a surprise in this movie but addressed an important social issue of cyberbullying which affects everyone, especially teenagers.

Character Development

Each of these friends reflected a different character of typical teenagers in the modern-day world. However, one thing in common among the 5 of them was that they were all cyberbullies in one way or another. It does not matter whether they were directly involved in Laura’s suicide, the audience, including me, were certain that they did not offer any help or concern back when Laura was facing all the negative remarks on the Internet. As the role of each member involving the viral video incident was revealed one after another, I could not help to feel disgusted by the members’ actions and sympathize with Laura. I felt the breaking point where the group of friends began to get serious and panicked was Ken’s death. It was gruesome and bloody which I believed some would have seen it coming.

Memorable scene

In this movie, the anonymous user was the biggest cyberbully among the group of friends and did many terrible things to the members in the Skype group chat. One of the most memorable events that happened to the group of friends was when Blaire and Adam each received an email and were required to print it out. They were supposed to flash the paper containing an instruction to Mitch and Jess who had no idea of the content. However, both Blaire and Adam were very reluctant to reveal the instruction as it involved someone’s life. It was the dilemma between Blaire and Adam that got me curious and anxious. At that point, they were manipulated by the anonymous user and had to follow the instructions at the risk of someone’s life. It was the element of surprise and shock that got me when the context of the paper was revealed and hence, left a deep impression in me.

Movie rating: 3 / 10 ( Unique horror movie with a little bit of gore and violence. Address the issue of cyberbullying which can affect anyone, especially teenagers. However, the horror scenes were limited to the events that were shown in Blaire’s monitor. The build-up to the finale was slow and could get boring at times which was filled with conversation between Blaire and Mitch.)

Movie duration: 1 hr 23 mins

#Unfriended #Cyberbullying