Discuss A Touch of Zen
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Hu's anti-James Bond flick... he makes a damn good point
posted by rooprectSTAFFMOD on March 14, 2023 at 10:10 AM
Just finished watching all the bonus interviews and one thing is clear, King Hu wasn't a fan of James Bond. He felt that a secret government agency (James Bond's MI6) which grants its agents a license to kill and total immunity to play judge, jury & executioner is essentially a description of China's notorious secret police.
So in the 60s as the Western world was celebrating James Bond and the idea of a vigilante secret police, Hu made films to tell it from a real historical perspective (basing his characters on Ming dynasty fact). He makes a good point in Touch of Zen that the secret police "Eastern Depot" is China's MI6, and the shady assassin Ouyang is James Bond.
Gotta say, historically he's right. In the real world, when has a secret police ever been a good thing? I'll still enjoy me a good Bond flick, but after watching ToZ it'll be a weird contrast.
Reply by Steve
on March 15, 2023 at 6:39 PM
I'll have to watch this one! Interesting points and I do think they should lean into that in the new Bonds. Instead of harping on Bond being a dinosaur from another time why not have MI6 grapple with someone who is outside the law and continues to blow up cities he works in.
Reply by rooprect
on March 15, 2023 at 8:30 PM
That would be an awesome Bond plot! A rogue agent goes full vigilante while MI6 has to deal with the fallout. Almost an Apocalypse Now type thing, man you should get typing and send them the screenplay.
Hu makes a pretty strong statement here, although it totally went over my head on 1st viewing because I didn't equate the bad guys to the government... I just saw a bunch of dudes with swords haha. So if you watch it just bear in mind that the guys trying to kill the girl are the "MI6".