The Old Way

Story: Peng Yinan (Zhang Jin) leads a gang of small-time crooks. Strictly speaking, however, Yinan is only accompanied by his two friends Lei Wu (Guo Yiqian) and Ming Ma (Ning Huanyu), who are always arguing with each other. It is the year 1926 and China is a republic, but the country is anything but stable. The city in which the three friends are currently staying is ruled by the gangster Zhang Shanlong (Michael Tong), and his right-hand man Tang (Han Yanbo) has made sure that there are no more rival gangs. One day, Yinan is visited by the widow Yue Zhang (Cheng Yi), who wants to hire the crooks as contract killers. In the end, it turns out that she is supposed to marry Shanlong, so that the inhabitants of her neighborhood are left in peace by the gangsters. Yue Zhang agreed to that but now wants Yinan to kill her right after the wedding ceremony, which would give her neighborhood peace while she wouldn't have to live a life as a slave. Yinan agrees to at least take a look at the whole thing, and so he goes to the big wedding celebration with his two friends. There are all kinds of gangsters at the feast who want to pay their respects to Shanlong, but Yinan only has eyes for the leader, since he is actually the man who murdered his father when he was a child. Now the time has come to finally take revenge, but he has to be smart about it ...

Review: If you want to see a gripping martial arts flick, there is once again no way around the streaming service iQIYI. Since it (mostly) offers English subtitles, it's worth stopping by every now and then, as you can actually find some gems here, which don't look like cheap TV entertainment with some bad special effects. And that’s the category in which "The Old Way" falls. The story of the movie is certainly not original, but it serves its purpose. Somehow, it even creates a certain kind of familiarity, thanks to which you soon feel right at home. But that might also be due to the wonderful sets. "The Old Ways" manages to exude a certain kind of charm that similar movies often lack. Even though you can tell that the movie draws its inspiration from classics - for example, "Once Upon a Time in China" comes to mind -, it also has its own soul. It's also amazing how lively the characters feel, even though they aren't extraordinarily well written. No doubt, the good cast plays a significant part in this, but above all, you have to praise the director for having a vision for his world.

Most of the time we get classic martial arts fights, but since the story takes place in the 1920s there are also some firearms. Even though the shootouts aren't a highlight and it's a bit of a shame that the finale mainly consists of those, it's still refreshing. Director Fan Xiang also does a good job in his debut work by repeatedly giving the villains scenes with which they attract the viewer's hatred. Sometimes, the movie can also be surprisingly violent, even though a lot is left to your imagination. There is a tiny problem, though, as we never really know whether it is Shanlong or Tang who represents the real villain here. One of the two gets his come-uppance earlier than you might expect, and so you feel like the credits are about to roll at any minute, but then you get another entire chapter. That seems a bit ill-considered.

The director put more effort into the heroes of the story than you might expect. At first, Yinan seems like a crook who is basically some kind of villain, but in the dialogues with his friends it quickly becomes clear that he is essentially a good guy. As already mentioned, the three friends could have been written a little better as their character traits turn out kind of thin, but the actors all have fun with their roles, and last but not least, it's thanks to the humor that we actually care about the three of them. The humor is even the biggest surprise of the movie, as it hits the mark surprisingly often and refrains from using the usual slapstick shenanigans. As the lead actor, (Max) Zhang Jin is, of course, allowed to show off his charisma. It has become a bit quiet around him lately, although he had apparently paved the way for further major roles with "Master Z", a spin-off to "Ip Man". So now, he ended up on iQIYI, but it seems as if this is inevitable for action stars of Chinese movies these days. In any case, he gives his role the necessary screen presence and also plays someone who cannot be described as a typical hero. Some of his decisions are even surprisingly "honest".

But what about the fights? Of course, Zhang Jin absolutely knows his craft. But the choreography also manages to please. There are a few rather unusual punches and kicks and there are also a few weapons used, so that the hero of the story actually shines with using a spear, which is something that doesn't happen too often. The action is also well distributed throughout the movie, but as already mentioned, it's irritating that martial arts are swapped for shootouts towards the end. The finale is therefore unnecessarily flat. Luckily, though, everything else around it works. "The Old Way" is full of clichés, for example, someone sacrifices himself heroically but is allowed to live long enough to say a few last words - or even more than that ... But all this doesn't bother you that much because the drama still hits the mark. It's as if everyone involved simply does their best to carry the relatively predictable revenge story, and it pays off in the end. The movie shouldn't actually be as emotionally captivating as it is, and yet there are always small moments that manage to carry you away.

"The Old Way" benefits enormously from the fact that it confidently tries to play in a much higher league and it actually succeeds in doing so. The movie looks like an expensive production, the sets are excellent, and the directing is extremely well done, and not just compared to other streaming flicks. Only a few smaller explosions with homemade dynamite show that the director didn't have a huge budget and that it would have been better to do without those scenes. Moreover, it’s surprising that one villain is erased from the rest of the story far too unspectacularly, but that only proves once again that this martial arts flick clearly has its rough edges - and yet it still manages to score points at what it actually sets out to do: delivering some nice entertainment for all those who have been disappointed by the genre all too often in recent years. The movie may not be a masterpiece because of its lack of originality, but it's definitely a reason to stop by on iQIYI. It would be a shame if the movie flew under the radar and got missed by genre fans.

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