Review of The Grandmaster (2013) by Charlie B — 08 Sep 2013

I am not understanding the high rating. Out of this two hour movie, there was 30 minutes of good action, though none of the action is great, and little of it is tied together with plot. This movie was edited to death, and should have stayed dead.

I enjoyed the very few good martial arts fights within this movie, and actively despised what I could piece together as the plot. The plot had more twists and turns and rewinds and regrets and hints and etc.

than every other martial arts movie ever made. The northern grandmaster was the sole interesting character. The special affects - slow motion, blurred picture, strange angles, transitions, snow, rain, wire, color .

. were so obtrusive as to mask any semblance of a plot and any ability of the characters to gain your liking or even understanding. It is a movie that can be fast-forwarded to the "good parts" without worrying about missing anything.

My wife walked in late, her movie being over, and laughed out loud. As much as I hate to say it, she was right. I truly thought about leaving towards the end. I really cannot imagine how difficult it was to make a boring movie out of this background.

The tomatometer says the storytelling is a "tad muddled." I really don't think the director himself could have cleared up this movie, even if he was sitting next to me and pausing the movie every 15 minutes to tell me why he did what he did.