Ya gotta love the little hats. I’m sure it marks them as Generals, but to Western eyes…
In some ways, The 14 Amazons (1972) is a quintessential war movie, driven by collective character rather than the requirements of war. The Yang family, the embodiment of a war-like clan in service to the Emperor, is finally defeated on the field of battle, and 14 of the leaders killed. Back home, when the wives are informed of their deaths at the hands of the barbaric and dishonorable invaders from West Hsia, they resolve to bring their own not inconsiderable battle skills to bear on the killers of their husbands, but find they must recruit their own army as the Minister of War refuses to back them.
They set out to wage war, and find the tides of war wash thick with blood of both enemy and friend. This story does not shy away from disposing of many of the fourteen widowed wives, but few go down without earning their payment for the trip to the afterlife. Without going into too much detail, the story didn’t hesitate to have plans go awry, as they must in wartime, and depend on the improvisational skills of the leaders when faced with setbacks. Eventually, the king and his sons are cornered and killed, but not at no cost.
The battle scenes are, I think, standard for this sort of movie, which is to say that sometimes they go on for far too long, and appreciating the finer points of the tactical moves that both sides employ is often, but not always, a lost cause. But I enjoyed the innovative approach to bridging a chasm, and the use of a river is, I suppose, classic but effective.
But there are too many characters to become attached to any particular one, while the bad guys are really rather awful. I also noticed the bad guys are, per usual for Chinese war movies (or wuxia, as I see Wikipedia calls it, or “martial heroes”) and kung fu movies, very difficult to kill. Are they endowed with super powers, while the good guys snuff it on a simple spear thrust? Of course, sometimes we see the same thing in Hollywood films, I suppose, but it almost seems to be a requirement of wuxia.
If this sort of thing is to your taste, you’ve probably already seen it, but see it if you haven’t. It’s fairly epic, and the theme of Never give up! is greatly appreciated. But if you’re not into semi-mystical battle scenes, you may want to give this one a skip.
