What surprised me is in Legend of Zu, Tsui Hark appeared to undergo a retrograde course in film-making. While his first Zu movie is not as accomplished technologically, it was driven by the enthusiasm of its cast and a sense of fun.
It had always appeared to me that Tsui Hark understood the vision and imagery offered by the ZU books. The assemblage of creatures and magic system (but not plot) he employed in A Chinese Ghost Story (ACGS1 and ACGS2) is too close to the ZU parallel novels to be just coincident. Despite their age, those movie offered the best portrayal of Zu magic seen on big screen. Legend of Zu suffers in comparison on the following points:
SCENERY:
One thing which bugs me in Legend of Zu is its drab presentation of the Zu landscape. The film appeared to have a predilection for brown and orange colours (mountain and dirt). In contrast, Huanzhu Louzhu, the author of the Zu sagas is astute in his depictions of a colourful world filled with scenic mountain and waters, idyllic woodlands, dark forests, glaring polar-seas, fiery labyrinth subterranean realms and heavens garnished by stars and aurora.
There is a scene in the film which tried to reduce what the author used thousands of words to describe. How the Immortals constructed the City of the Golden Summit on Omei, an aesthetic easel of islands and gazebos on clouds, misty waterfalls, serene woodland parks and flowing water beneath suspended bridges using Cataclysm Magic. The filmed version simply lacks creativity by contrast.
WEAPONS:
It also saddens me to discover that after numerous revisions the state of the art computer generated weapons fail to impress as much as book descriptions which are nearly 70 years old. I also wondered who proposed to alter 'Ming Fire' (Sword of Illuminative Flames) from a weapon drawing on 'Hyper-reality' magic which is capable of unleashing an orb of fire as well erecting pillars of fire in combat into fake looking crystal spines. As for the mechanical and magic weapon marvel, 'Wheels of Sun, Moon and Five Stars' (used by bad guys) debased into 'Orbs of Sun and Moon' in the film, the less said the better.
The 'Heaven' (Purple) Sword is the one weapon they got right in the film, at least in some aspects. The special effect for 'sword stream' is satisfactory but they should have show the sword as a physical blade rather than a gaseous saber (sword stream is extended from the tip of blade, not actually encompassing the sword.) A magic sword's blade is always more powerful than its 'stream'. In the book, the 'blade' of the Purple Sword is actually the protruded beak of a purple dragon. (The dragon merged with the sword hilt.)
ACTION SCENES:
Sad to say this, but Huanzhu Louzhu who lived in the age before jets and homing missiles expressed the excitement and fluidity of aerial combat better in words than Tsui Hark did with his actors posing against superimposed computer backdrops.
Well, if Tsui Hark has encountered technical difficulties to show character flying convincingly using blue screens, why doesn't he set more of the action scenes on ground? Certainly even in the novel, until characters acquired multiple methods of flight, they have to land before they launched their swords in combat (sword immortals fly by merging with a sword and riding its projected stream).
Unlike the movie with its two-dimensional backdrops, the novel also breaks the monotony of its numerous battles by setting it in scenic backgrounds either naturalistic (e.g. plum orchard, branches breaking and clouds of flower in the air) or fantastic (e.g. realm of fire and ice).
Tsui Hark also failed to explore the 'fog of war' anxiety often depicted in the novel experienced by both sides in magic combat (magically generated fog, cloaking enemies, opponents which can sprang suddenly out of fog or from beneath the ground).
The Blood Lords (black figures who were former Omei disciples turned to dark side) assault on the Golden Summit of Omei is one of the few scenes in the movie successfully adapted from the novel.
CHARACTERS:
There is little the actors could accomplish, with their characters in the film being so one-dimensional. Sammo Hung reprised his role as Long Brow and had one of the movie's few intentionally funny scene. Once again, I feel that Tsui Hark has missed the opportunity to develop the role of the villain, who is in the novel, Long Brow's brother.
