When someone say a film is Epic these days, we think about big sets with loads of actors, big battles and massive effects, either special or practical ones. However, if you see Legend of the Mountain you'll experience epic scenery, wide angle shots where the humans take up little of the screen and you see just how massive the skies or mountains really are. Combined with the soothing flute music playing, I really felt like I wanted to dive into the screen and just be there, enjoying the views the calmness and what have you.
As for the plot however, it's where I find the film not finding its feet, being over 3 hours long, it sure fit in a lot into those hours, but it also becomes very difficult to follow exactly what's going on, a couple of flashbacks as well as magic using that shifts from powerful to not so powerful, it's pretty much decided what's best for the story.
Our main guy Ho ends up married to a woman that he don't even remember accepting in the first place, but it's obvious quickly that things aren't what they seem to be. Ho is very naive, always bowing and apologize for the smallest thing and he keeps smiling all the time with his teeth pushed forward, making him look a bit goofy. If the film had have a more sharp and focused protagonist, this film would probably have been over quickly, I became rather tired of Ho's behavior at the end and started to sympathize more with the people around him towards the end. However, the drum battle was really creative and fun and something I've not seen before in films.
But just like everyone else here, we don't watch this film for Ho, we watch it for the amazing directing of King Hu. It's the first film of his I've seen and I really love the whole mood of the film, the cinematography, the music, even if the plot wasn't to my taste, I will definitely rewatch this film again and again, just to experience the scenery and the chinese flute tunes again.
And an extra thumb up for the Masters of Cinema bluray cover, it really fits the whole film so much better, smoke and mysterious vibes - because I could see how other studios would have try to sell this as a fantasy horror film instead, we can see how the different covers look like in the image gallery on this site and I really love MoC's version most.
