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Review: The Silent War (聽風者) (2012)
Uhh I didn't really like this movie. It was uninspired and the tone was all over the place.
Spoilers.
Story
The movie began with Zhang Xuening being a badass spy. The problem was she was very soon shafted for the "real" main character He Bing.
Originally I thought He Bing just had excellent hearing but both English and Chinese versions of Wikipedia tell me that he actually had ESP.
Then the movie went through a training montage where He Bing learned all the tricks of the trade and restored all 120 radio stations and the way that was portrayed was just so...uncomfortable. It was portrayed as a very triumphant moment with symphonic music. But that scene just did not hit for me. It was portrayed like a personal triumph for He Bing which it was, but we're still in wartime.
The next part of the movie was supposed to highlight romantic tension between Zhang Xuening and He Bing, but soon He Bing turned to Shen Jing. Meanwhile, Zhang Xuening went on a mission of her own.
After He Bing regained his sight through surgery he found his ESP failing and because of that, he made a mistake which got Xuening killed. I don't still quite understand the details because I was relatively checked out of the movie. But He Bing was very torn up over this that he hurt himself to remove his eyesight so he could regain his ESP and track down Zhang Xuening's killers.
This story line just did not hit for me. Like I said, Xuening became a total side character after all the movie did to set her up. She did not have anything to do after that other than loitering.
As for He Bing, he was an everyman but in the bad way. I did not have any feelings for him.
The dialogue itself was also not very interesting. The meeting between He Bing and Xuening was supposed to be the "fun" part and yet I found none of their interactions fun. As well, there was a lot of exposition dialogue, reciting people's entire history. It happened when Xuening recited He Bing's history, and when she recited Shen Jing's history. It got real old. We get it, you know how to find information. Stop sounding like an encyclopedia.
So overall I found this movie not very well written.
Production
While technically speaking the movie looked fine, I think the direction was poor. The dubbing took away a lot, particularly from Tony Leung; his person and his voice just felt like two different people. And I know Zhou Xun is a good actress, but some of the pacing in the conversations in this movie just made it feel like a B-grade drama at times. Waste of two good actors.
In my opinion, Tony Leung (Chiu-Wai) as He Bing was miscast. He Bing was supposed to be a bit of a rough guy who found his calling in the spy business. Sorry, but Tony Leung did not deliver. I could not take him seriously as a rough guy and like I said, the dubbing made his character feel incoherent.
Zhou Xun...she did what she could with the character which was not much. Her only time to shine was when she was apart from He Bing, which I would say was when she went on the solo mission posing as Miss Ye. She actually got to act then. But it was short-lived.
Characters
He Bing was the real main character of the movie. Like I said, he was uninspiring. He was meant to be a rough kid, which I did not buy from Tony Leung. Maybe it's because I've seen him in other movies? Maybe because of his age? I don't know. It just didn't suit him. He was supposed to grow as he learned more about the spy business. But how did he grow? I couldn't say. The only way in which he grew was that he was able to help the spies and also that he built a relationship with Xuening. I couldn't say what his character arc was. There wasn't one.
Zhang Xuening was the secondary character, probably implied to be a love interest. I had hoped that she would be a main character just as important as He Bing and was disappointed to see that was not the case when she died relatively early on in the movie (all things considered). She was portrayed as a very capable spy, and yet we rarely got to see it, as much of the movie was spent on her taking care of He Bing. She did rise through the ranks, but that was internal, and she was later killed.
Shen Jing was one of the codebreakers who He Bing eventually married. She was mostly just the "good wife" character, who also acknowledged He Bing's good relationship with Xuening. Otherwise she did not have a big role. She really only had lines when Xuening asked her about her intentions towards He Bing, which again comes back to He Bing.
Overall
Not a good movie. Disappointing, given the cast. Would not recommend.
Spoilers.
Story
The movie began with Zhang Xuening being a badass spy. The problem was she was very soon shafted for the "real" main character He Bing.
Originally I thought He Bing just had excellent hearing but both English and Chinese versions of Wikipedia tell me that he actually had ESP.
Then the movie went through a training montage where He Bing learned all the tricks of the trade and restored all 120 radio stations and the way that was portrayed was just so...uncomfortable. It was portrayed as a very triumphant moment with symphonic music. But that scene just did not hit for me. It was portrayed like a personal triumph for He Bing which it was, but we're still in wartime.
The next part of the movie was supposed to highlight romantic tension between Zhang Xuening and He Bing, but soon He Bing turned to Shen Jing. Meanwhile, Zhang Xuening went on a mission of her own.
After He Bing regained his sight through surgery he found his ESP failing and because of that, he made a mistake which got Xuening killed. I don't still quite understand the details because I was relatively checked out of the movie. But He Bing was very torn up over this that he hurt himself to remove his eyesight so he could regain his ESP and track down Zhang Xuening's killers.
This story line just did not hit for me. Like I said, Xuening became a total side character after all the movie did to set her up. She did not have anything to do after that other than loitering.
As for He Bing, he was an everyman but in the bad way. I did not have any feelings for him.
The dialogue itself was also not very interesting. The meeting between He Bing and Xuening was supposed to be the "fun" part and yet I found none of their interactions fun. As well, there was a lot of exposition dialogue, reciting people's entire history. It happened when Xuening recited He Bing's history, and when she recited Shen Jing's history. It got real old. We get it, you know how to find information. Stop sounding like an encyclopedia.
So overall I found this movie not very well written.
Production
While technically speaking the movie looked fine, I think the direction was poor. The dubbing took away a lot, particularly from Tony Leung; his person and his voice just felt like two different people. And I know Zhou Xun is a good actress, but some of the pacing in the conversations in this movie just made it feel like a B-grade drama at times. Waste of two good actors.
In my opinion, Tony Leung (Chiu-Wai) as He Bing was miscast. He Bing was supposed to be a bit of a rough guy who found his calling in the spy business. Sorry, but Tony Leung did not deliver. I could not take him seriously as a rough guy and like I said, the dubbing made his character feel incoherent.
Zhou Xun...she did what she could with the character which was not much. Her only time to shine was when she was apart from He Bing, which I would say was when she went on the solo mission posing as Miss Ye. She actually got to act then. But it was short-lived.
Characters
He Bing was the real main character of the movie. Like I said, he was uninspiring. He was meant to be a rough kid, which I did not buy from Tony Leung. Maybe it's because I've seen him in other movies? Maybe because of his age? I don't know. It just didn't suit him. He was supposed to grow as he learned more about the spy business. But how did he grow? I couldn't say. The only way in which he grew was that he was able to help the spies and also that he built a relationship with Xuening. I couldn't say what his character arc was. There wasn't one.
Zhang Xuening was the secondary character, probably implied to be a love interest. I had hoped that she would be a main character just as important as He Bing and was disappointed to see that was not the case when she died relatively early on in the movie (all things considered). She was portrayed as a very capable spy, and yet we rarely got to see it, as much of the movie was spent on her taking care of He Bing. She did rise through the ranks, but that was internal, and she was later killed.
Shen Jing was one of the codebreakers who He Bing eventually married. She was mostly just the "good wife" character, who also acknowledged He Bing's good relationship with Xuening. Otherwise she did not have a big role. She really only had lines when Xuening asked her about her intentions towards He Bing, which again comes back to He Bing.
Overall
Not a good movie. Disappointing, given the cast. Would not recommend.