Movielogr

Rating: 4.5 stars

All movies seen on 08/15/2012

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Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale - Part 1: The Sun Flag (2011)

Directed by Te-Sheng Wei

Adventure | Action | History

Overview

An indigenous clan-based people living in harmony with nature find their way of life threatened when violent interlopers from another culture arrive, intent on seizing their natural resources and enslaving them. Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale - Part 1: The Sun Flag is Part one of the two-part, four-hour Taiwanese edition of the film Warriors of the Rainbow.

Length 144 minutes

Actors

Lin Ching-Tai | Umin Boya | Masanobu Ando | Sabu Kawahara | Vivian Hsu | Irene Luo | Landy Wen | Da Ching | Pawan Nawi | Yakau Kuhon | Lee Shih-chia | Chow Ging-Fai | Chi-Wei Cheng | Yi-Fan Hsu | Soda Voyu

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

Part I:

Being produced by John Woo as well as being the most expensive Taiwanese film ever made, WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW has a lot going for it.

Following the lead of RED CLIFF, it was released in the International market as two parts, equalling a sprawling 4.5 hour epic. I’d suggest you watch it the way the filmmakers intended and avoid the butchered 2.5 hour condensed US version.

Part One is based off the historical Wushe Incident tremendous is scope and rich in character. It sets up early Taiwan, it’s head hunting tribes and the invasion of Japan perfectly. The battles are engaging and brutal.

My only criticism would be some shoddy CGI, but that’s easily forgivable because the story and characters are so engaging. Also, the final 30 minutes of Part 1 are thrilling and nail biting.

Part II: After a thrilling Part One, Part Two of WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW gets a bit jumbled and repetitive. Still, most everything that is set up in Part One pays off, even if it can be frustrating.
The final battle pretty damn incredible.

The main problem of the story as a whole is that, unlike BRAVEHEART, the main character chief Mona Rudao isn’t as engaging. A badass for sure, it’s just unclear why the other tribes rally around him.

I still maintain that this story probably fails in the 2.5 hour US cut. Over the scope of two films the dramatic elements feel organic and have room to breathe.

Worth checking out. I’m now fascinated with this moment in Taiwan history and will be reading up on it for months.

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