Donnie Yen has
somehow gone from one of the most impressive martial arts action stars working
today to becoming nothing more than a celebrity face for the latest CGI-filled
blockbuster in Chinese cinema. Iceman is the latest of these poorly constructed
vehicles of mass entertainment, mashing up period costume drama with modern
police procedural, all filtered through the expectations of logic usually
lowered for a comic book movie. There is action and humor every
fifteen-minutes, all meant to entertain while distracting from the
ridiculousness bursting from every frame of this film. And just in case the
open-ended resolution of the film’s climax doesn’t completely turn away the
audience, there are plans for a sequel to follow.
Donnie Yen stars
as Ho Ying, a Ming Dynasty palace guard who is betrayed by three sworn brothers
and framed for traitorous betrayal. Before having the chance to clear his name
and find the real culprit, Ying is accidentally frozen in time for 400 years by
a freak avalanche. When he awakes in the year 2013, Ying is still determined to
clear his name, which is now historically recorded as being a traitor. His
three compatriots and suspected villains were also frozen, and their thaw
revives the battle in modern times.
As convoluted as
the plot is, there is actually very little going on beneath the surface. Logic
is passed on for sequences of absurd action, most of which made possible
through the computer effects that show the exaggerated strength of the frozen
guards. Apparently their martial arts abilities make them nearly superhuman in
the modern world of weakness, so that they can battle in the middle of traffic
without worries of being harmed. Superhero films are more believable than much
of Iceman, which is about as mindless
as a blockbuster can get. None of the characters are substantial enough to care
about, possibly because they spend enough time digitally inserted into action
sequences that they don’t feel like flesh-and-blood humans as much as pawns for
each of the special effects shots.
The Blu-ray
release includes a making-of featurette, as well as a trailer.
Entertainment Value:
5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 3/10
Historical
Significance: 2/10
Special Features: 2.5/10
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