Rating of
1.5/4
"Confucius" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 09/27/12
Confucius was a statesman and philosopher during the Qin dynasty who championed education and fair government in favour of constant war between the ruling nobility and is one of the most revered figures in Chinese history. The idea of a big budget epic based upon the life of such an interesting figure played by Chow Yun Fat really appealed to me but unfortunately the script writer fell foul of a serious case of Braveheartitus and delivers a sloppy, unfocussed tale that holds its protagonist in such reverence as to render him completely two dimensional. Confucius is presented as a kind of cross between Gandhi and Robin Hood who speaks in one line fortune cookie aphorisms and every plot development is signposted with clumsy exposition, underlined with ham fisted dialogue and double underlined by the overbearingly schmaltzy soundtrack. But at least during the first half as he attempts to civilise his birthplace of Lu there is some narrative momentum; the second is just a series of context-free meanderings that's plagued by so much saccharine it would make Augustus Gloop balk. Basically this film is guilty of the same flaws of its Hollywood counterparts; too much concentration on visual set pieces and sentimentality at the expense of drama and characterisation making Confucius a great disappointment and a wasted opportunity.
