Labels

Kelly Chen as Empress Yan Fei Er in Empress and the Warriors

From one of Kelly Chen's most action intense drama, it has to bet the film Empress and the Warriors. Why? She played a rather complex character of a woman who succeeds her father in the time of war, which she must survive her treacherous cousin Wu Ba (acted by Guo Xian Dong) who is aiming to take over the throne for himself.

She starts off as an incompetent warrior who nearly dies in battle, falls in love with Dan Lan Quan (acted by Leon Lai) and it ends up, not surprisingly a romance not meant to be. Of course it's a pretty complex story for her because, she has to defend the nation while uncovering in the process, her treacherous cousin Wu Ba's plan to plunge the kingdom into dictatorship. In the end, she chose duty over her feelings for the physician Dan Lan Quan whom she lost. However she was still able to unify the kingdom into a better era under her rule.

I did like how she tries her best even if at times, her toughness dies down, at least she doesn't overact. She tries her best to keep at good pace, even if her acting isn't that great either. Overall, it was a great effort that didn't put her in the boo list.
Email Post
Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 2, 2010 at 12:36 AM

    This blog had inspired me to rewatch the 2000 movie Lavender, which was the last collaboration between Kelly and Takeshi Kaneshiro. After this movie, Takeshi ended his HK movie run and moved on to bigger Chinese and Japanese productions while Kelly's would begin a downward trajectory.

    Back in 90's, Kelly was one of the luckiest actresses. Without great acting skills, she made 5 movies with either Takeshi and/or Aaron Kwok that were well directed and received. After Lavender, she went on to one more movie triumph with a fine Japanese movie. Thereafter, the quality of her movies and roles began to decline. Empress and the Warriors represented her attempt at a comeback but unfortunately it failed at the box office and blasted by reviewers.

    It seems Kelly does well as am actess only when she is paired with good co-stars and directed by good directors.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment