Christian Bale Plays Another Kind of Uniformed Hero in the The Flowers of War Trailer
How does Christian Bale occupy himself between Batman movies? Apparently by filming Chinese historical war dramas like The Flowers of War (previously titled The 13 Flowers of Nanjing), which finds the actor playing another kind of hero in black -- an American priest who helps Chinese escapees dodge death during the Nanking Massacre. Not sexy enough for you? There is probably more graphic violence (including execution-style kills), impassioned screaming, Christian Bale facial hair styles (I counted three!) and sex with prostitutes in this trailer than in all of Dark Knight Rises.
Set in 1937, this drama from Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers) stars Bale as John Magee, an actual American priest who helped rescue more than 200,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians who were at the risk of being slaughtered by the Japanese army during the Nanking Massacre. Magee risked his own life by running outside of the Nanking Safety Zone to help protect men, women and children -- in addition to capturing the horrors on his 16 mm camera.
The Flowers of War was shot last year in Nanjing, China on an approximately $90 million budget -- making it China's most expensive film yet. The Flowers of War will hit theaters in China on December 16. It does not yet have a U.S. release date.
Verdict: While I won't be pre-ordering tickets, I will gladly watch any history lesson starring Bruce Wayne.
[via Collider]
Subscribe to the new Movieline on YouTube
Comments
I love Christian Bale but this doesn't look very good. It's obvious that there could have been an interesting story here but the director seems to be more concerned with directing the most over-stylized violence that he can just so that a film which normally wouldn't appeal to a mass audience, might, in the end pack em in. It's pathetic and it shows a real lack of talent. You see this kind of thing a lot in Asian cinema, over the top violence as entertainment, and it doesn't work. It just comes across as obvious and boring. Many Asian filmmakers don't seem to understand that you need interesting characters and an intriguing original story to make a great film. It can't just be 2 hours of shootouts, knifings and hand-to-hand combat/martial arts. Because after 20 minutes, when it becomes obvious that the film has no further purpose, the gratuitous violence fails to have any entertainment value what so ever because the audience couldn't care less about the characters, if you could even call them that. It's a shame Christian Bale wasted 3 months of his life on this when he could have been doing something else.
Interesting characters and a great story line is what Westerners actually think will make a decent film. But "they shouldn't judge the quality of a film based on what they believe is the best". Westerners may think over the top violence is boring...but the Asians (even some Westerners) and people from other places may still accept this as a form of entertainment, thus they will still enjoy it. I am a perfect example of someone who actually enjoys over the top violence in films (The Matrix counts here). Remember, we all come from different cultural and social backgrounds. You guys may like this and others will go for that. You guys may think this is best and others will say "no, that one is better!"
Another thing is that for you to just 'shoot out' and say that "It's a shame Christian Bale wasted 3 months of his life on this when he could have been doing something else", always remember that the guy says he loves the story and the Chinese paid him to appear in it. Therefore, he ain't wasting time...but he's making money.
Oh and the trailer looks really fantastic (incredible war effects, and some drama too)...and the whole movie shouldn't be judged based on the trailer alone.
"This is the house of the Lord!" Hi-hi....Lol!
Haha...gotta love ya explanation Morgan. Anyway, the trailer looks, ummmmm, good enough? HELL NO, IT LOOKS AWESOME. Yeah, it looks terrific. There is a mixture of drama and 'over stylized violence', and by the looks of it, Bale gave us another one of his intense and troubled characters.
But I'm still not sure if his performance here will match up with the one in 'The Fighter'...IMHO!