China is changing. Because film is a major force for shaping the national character, among the most interesting things these days, is watching the Chinese scramble to reinvent (post Mao) who they are and how they fit in the modern world.
Their newly-emerging documentary school chronicling the industrial rise of China is one aspect of this, and seems to have produced some pretty good pieces.
Their tried and tested practice though, meant both for internal consumption and abroad, is manufactured postcards of harmony (moral, spiritual), usually anchored in fabled history, usually in martial arts.
We saw that with the faddish promotion of qigong in the 90's, the Wong Fei Hung films and Zhang's Hero. We saw it again a few years ago with Yip Man. This juvenile mishmash is a tai chi showreel for the twitter generation reared on blockbuster steroids.
It is another 'origins' story of martial arts, that of Yang-style taijichuan. And because the filmmaker probably felt that to his teenage audience the mid-1800's would seem like forever ago, he goes crazy on myth and movie nonsense, but careful not to upset state officials.
This leads to a pretty boneheaded product. Once more, Chinese 'purity' is contrasted with encroaching Western civilization. Westerners standing in for capitalism and technology are portrayed as evil and corrupting, while the actual film is made by copying what is currently trending in the capitalist blockbuster market.
The steampunk revisionism of a huge metallic beast threatening the old way of life is from Wild Wild West. The notion of a small community where everyone is a martial arts expert is from Kung Fu Hustle (and of course the story of Chen Jia Gou). The obvious video game humor is from Scott Pilgrim. The wire-fu is Sammo Hung's and a longtime staple of cinematic wushu via HK. The speed-ramps of the opening battle are from 300, with other perspectives borrowed from Scott and recent John Woo.
This is all echoed inside the film as the young boxer learning taijichuan by imitating the moves.
As someone who practices in the Yang-style, I advise you to steer clear of this. It has no sincerity or soul. What is of some interest, is noting the irony of this film in the current climate of aggressively expansive Chinese capitalism. Or how the Kung Fu Panda franchise is widely celebrated there.
Meanwhile, Chinese martial arts have gone from their original mix and match roots of outlaw boxing, to collective standardization in the communist years, to government-promoted sport, to exhibition and health therapy. Having proved inadequate in the modern mixed martial arts world, the current move is away from the forced harmony of (usually fabricated) tradition and towards the practical cross-training system of sanda/sanshou, which in turn emulates several foreign styles.
