Film review: Gone with the Bullets - Jiang Wen tries too hard
It was a tall order for Jiang Wen to replicate the acclaim of his satirical comedy Let the Bullets Fly (2010). With this second entry of his early republican China-set trilogy, the actor-director gets mixed results from an eccentric tale of obsession, wealth and power.
Starring: Jiang Wen, Ge You, Zhou Yun, Shu Qi
Director: Jiang Wen
Category: IIA (Putonghua)
It was a tall order for Jiang Wen to replicate the acclaim of his satirical comedy Let the Bullets Fly (2010). With this second entry of his early republican China-set trilogy, the actor-director gets mixed results from an eccentric tale of obsession, wealth and power.
When a warlord's spoiled seventh son, Wu Qi (Wen Zhang), looks for help in laundering his father's military budget — which was once dismissed as "new money" — fixer Ma Zouri (Jiang) and his corrupt cop pal, Xiang Feitian (Ge You, pictured right, with Jiang), produce a lavishly staged, internationally represented beauty pageant for Shanghai's escorts.
In a rigged vote, the courtesan Wanyan Ying (Shu Qi) takes the crown. But things take a turn for the tragic as the love-struck Wanyan is found dead after spending an opium-fuelled night with Ma.
During Ma's fugitive years, Xiang rises through the ranks in the French Concession; the warlord's film-obsessed sixth daughter, Wu Liu (Zhou Yun, Jiang's current wife), falls for Ma while preparing a project about his impending execution; and a stage actor, Wang Tianwang (Wang Zhiwen), drives Ma over the edge with a sensationalistic play about his case.