Those following the production of Painted Skin
would be forgiven for being cautious - the first trailer didn't arrive until
days before the official release date. A sign perhaps, that the makers of Painted Skin
were trying to hide us from something, concealing the cracks of
creativity, so to speak. A world of hurt for Donnie Yen fans the world over. He does, after all, keep his shirt on for the entire duration of this
movie.
However (and it's an important however), he also sports incredibly long hair in this one. It's all about balance, and Painted Skin
isn't about to go against the laws of action cinema now is it? Leading his
force of warriors home from battle, General Wang (Chen Kun) saves a beautiful
girl called Mei-ling (Zhou Xun, not to be confused with Zhao Wei) from a
team of bandits. They take her back to their village and all of a sudden, death
comes-a-calling.
None of the villagers suspect the new girl on the block. I mean
really, it's not like she could possibly be a demon. She's far too cute. She is a demon, technically, just not
the demon. A devilish fiend called Yi is killing the innocent villagers, but
hey, that's okay, because he's only doing it out of love for Mei-ling. Sadly for
him, Mei-ling is falling in love with General Wang. Did somebody say this was a
Donnie Yen picture?
General Wang's wife (Zhao Wei, not to be confused with Zhou
Xun) is suspicious from the start, probably because she suspects Mei-ling of
trying to steal her hubby, and possibly because she suspects the
demon of wanting to rip her heart out. Erlong (that would be Donnie then)
attempts to uncover the truth with the aid of another cute young thing (Sun
Li), who also happens to be a demon hunter. Erlong (that would be Donnie again)
used to date Pei-rong (Zhao Wei, not to be confused with Zhou Xun), but she
dumped him for General Wang (Chen Chun). You see, the exorcist/demon hunter
(Sun Li) may have feelings for Erlong (yup, Donnie Yen), but she pretends that
she's not interested, even though we all know that she definitely would.
It's Donnie Yen for Christ's sake.
Confused? It's actually a lot less complicated than it
sounds. This is lightweight entertainment that comes on like a
cross between The Bride With White Hair and An Empress And The
Warriors, except it's not nearly as good as either of them. Painted
Skin feels rushed from start to finish, as if the filmmakers didn't really know
what was going to work so they just threw everything at the screen. Some of it
sticks, a lot of it doesn't, but for some reason the completed picture isn't
the incoherent mess it deserves to be. Painted Skin entertains on so many
levels, when it really shouldn't work at all, and though it's easy to criticise
the movie for being a pale imitation of vastly superior offerings, I found
myself glued to the screen in spite of myself. I’m so weak.
The acting is over the top, the effects range from
workable to just plain daft (the Donnie Yen/Qi Yuwu rooftop chase is
laughable yet thankfully fleeting), characters behave in unnatural ways
just to service the script, and the film never truly convinces on any level.
Unless you count fun as a level. It's hard to care about
the characters when they behave in such irrational ways; attraction
and loathing is lost in the haste of it all. Even the editing feels rushed,
as one scene bleeds effortlessly into the next, with character development and
performance falling by the wayside as a result. The martial arts sequences are
fine for what they are, it is a Donnie Yen movie after all, but they also feel
as though they belong in a different picture.
Painted Skin won't stand the test of time, but there is
fun to be had along the way. Giddy excess works in the film's favour for once, but
there's little to recommend beneath the shallow make-up. Painted Skin is the
movie equivalent of pulling someone on a Friday night, taking them home, and
waking up alongside Marilyn Manson. You have been warned. AW
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