'Ashes of Time Redux'

The Orlando Sentinel (MCT) - In Hollywood, directors used to earn their stripes by tackling that archetypal American genre, the Western. In China and Japan, martial arts epics fill that bill.

Before he made his mark "Chungking Express" and the quieter-than-quiet melodramas "In the Mood for Love," "My Blueberry Nights" and the interminable "2046," Wong Kar Wai took a shot at making his "Chinese Western." "Ashes of Time," a brooding, naturalistic prequel to the four-volume "The Eagle Shooting Horses" novels, came out in 1992, a slash-and-spatter martial arts piece that plays like a Chinese imitation of a Samurai Western. Now he's dusted it off, edited it, cleaned up the colors and given it a new score.

But if you're in the mood for a martial arts actioner, be warned. Even back then, Wong Kar Wai was in the mood for love. And talk. Lots and lots of talk. "Ashes of Time Redux" is all mood and narration and gorgeous images and extreme close-ups of very pretty actors, but precious little action.

In the deserts of China's lawless past, Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung) lives alone, a killer for hire. Once a year, his friend and fellow swordsman Huang Yaoshi (Tony Leung Ka Fai) visits. One year, he brings magical wine with him, wine that takes away your memories, both the painful and the wistful.

Ouyang recalls the woman who broke his heart, and we meet Yin and Yang of Huang's womanizing past. Murong Yang wants to hire Ouyang to kill Huang. And his sister, Murang Yin (Brigitte Lin), wants Ouyang to kill her brother for keeping her from her man.

There's a lot of confusing business with other swordsmen showing up, bandits slaughtered and haunting memories recalled and then forgotten. Some characters seem cribbed from Japanese Samurai tradition (the blind swordsman), and all are so under-explained as to make the viewer impatient for another blurred, impressionistic sword-fight. Lacking the literary context to it all is like trying to make sense out of "The Phantom Menace" without ever seeing the earlier "Star Wars" movies.

"Ashes of Time Redux" may be higher-minded than your average Drunken Master/Monkey Fist martial arts quickie. It's also a lot less entertaining. And Wong Kar Wai seems considerably more out of his depth than other Chinese filmmakers who have slummed in the martial arts genre. This can't compare to Chen Kaige's "The Emperor and the Assassin" or Yimou Zhang's "House of Flying Daggers."

But for some reason, "Ashes" has been restored and is earning a wide U.S. release. Considering the source, be grateful. He could have re-issued "2046."

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ASHES OF TIME REDUX

2 stars (out of 5)

Cast: Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Jacky Cheung

Director: Wong Kar Wai

Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes

Industry rating: R for some violence

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© 2008, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).