The Last Tycoon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

The Last Tycoon Blu-ray Movie Review

Paging Mr. Kazan. Is there an Elia Kazan in the house?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 16, 2013

Though The Last Tycoon shares a title with F. Scott Fitzgerald’s unfinished and posthumously published novel (which was adapted into a strangely little seen 1976 film by Elia Kazan which starred Robert De Niro), this 2012 Chinese opus actually bears closer comparison to two other iconic American outings, both of them films. The story of long separated lovers being reunited against a background of simmering international conflict is more than a little reminiscent of Casablanca, but the film’s depiction of a mob boss told from the dual perspective of two different time frames will certainly remind many of The Godfather: Part II (albeit in this case with one character rather than two), a comparison made even more overt by a lush, string laden theme that seems to evoke (intentionally or otherwise) Nino Rota’s beautiful score for The Godfather itself, especially with regard to the main theme which became known as “Speak Softly Love”. Perhaps the most surprising thing about The Last Tycoon, though, is that it was co-written and helmed by Jing Wong, a prolific Chinese writer-director-producer who has built his career on popcorn fodder (he co-wrot and directed both Jet Li's The Legend of the Red Dragon and the Jackie Chan effort City Hunter), as well as what might charitably be called trashy B-movies (think Samuel Z. Arkoff, only without the charm) like the Raped by an Angel franchise. The Last Tycoon is huge, serious, sumptuous and very self-aware, something that may indicate Jing is trying to shake off his past and move into the tony world of respectability, after having made a jillion dollars giving the public what it really wants. The end result is a bit ponderous, but it has some interesting aspects as well.

The film begins in 1930s Shanghai, where Cheng Daqi (Chow Yun-fat) is apparently a very wealthy and respectable businessman, known for his philanthropic efforts and who is in the first scene being fêted for them. In one of several sudden time jumps (which are initially quite jarring but which become easier to handle as the film progresses), we’re suddenly thrust back two decades or so to meet Cheng as a young man (portrayed by Huang Xiaoming), an earnest youth who runs a fruit stand and who is enamored of Ye Zhiqiu (Joyce Feng), a beautiful young woman who is viciously beaten by her father for having the unseemly dream of joining the Beijing Opera (evidently an all male company in those days). Cheng nurses Ye back to health after this frankly shocking parental smack down, and it’s obvious the two are very much in love—until fate intervenes, of course.

A seemingly innocent mistake on the part of Cheng instead puts his life in jeopardy when he’s unjustly arrested and accused of a crime he didn’t commit. His cellmate is a machinating spy named Mao (Francis Ng), who tells Cheng he faces certain death if he doesn’t follow Mao’s directions to the letter. Cheng realizes he really has no choice and agrees to the Faustian bargain, at which point the jail’s outer wall is breached by Mao’s henchmen, and a violent melée ensues, one where Mao forces Cheng to make a decision—kill or be killed. Cheng’s innocence is obviously a thing of the past. Mao “invites” Cheng to travel to Shanghai, which he terms “an adventurer’s paradise”, but Cheng first tries to figure out what’s happened to Ye, discovering that during his incarceration she had left for Beijing—evidently never to be heard from again (though we know better).

Once the film returns to its 1930s timeframe, Ye is soon back in the picture, though now as the wife of Zhamei (Xin Baiqing), an operative in the then nascent Communist movement in China. It’s here that some may find a tangential though noticeable connection to Casablanca, with Cheng and Ye offering stolen glances at each other while Ye’s husband is engaged in supposed freedom fighting efforts. The roiling political atmosphere only gets more convoluted, though, and may not be as cut and dried to Western viewers as the Allied versus Axis subplot of Casablanca was, especially once the Japanese start threatening an invasion. It’s one of The Last Tycoon’s oddest elements that Cheng himself is posited as a sort of freedom fighter, a true and noble patriot for the Chinese cause (whatever that really is—the film is a bit unclear on the subject), despite his criminal tendencies.

The structure of The Last Tycoon is like a jigsaw puzzle where the pieces (from different eras) slowly assemble to give a more or less complete picture of what has happened to Cheng. Perhaps for that reason, it’s only in the final act of the film, which is also when the Japanese attack occurs, that there’s any real dramatic traction and one actually begins to wonder what will happen to the various characters. Chow Yun-fat does a great job overall here, though the part is somewhat underwritten for his epoch (the character is in some ways more interesting in his younger years), and Sammo Hung also is compelling as the Triad boss that Cheng ends up working under. Wong stages the few action set pieces rather well, though a couple of moments of CGI during the Japanese air strike on Shanghai look almost like they’ve been ported in from a videogame or animated effort. This is an unusually sumptuous production, at least for Wong, and despite a rather lugubrious pace, lovers of historical epics and/or gangster flicks may find enough here to warrant a viewing.

The Last Tycoon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Last Tycoon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. This digitally shot feature (with both Arri and Red cameras) boasts a rather sleek, smooth appearance which nonetheless provides ample fine detail as the camera swoops past the rather opulent sets and (especially) some of the costumes. Aside from some prevalent banding, this is largely an artifact free presentation, though contrast tends to vary quite a bit, with exterior scenes looking very good most of the time but some of the interior shots seeming fairly dank and murky looking. Colors are rather nicely lustrous here, and for once a director and DP have not aggressively color graded a film simply because they have the ability to do so. The result is an overall very natural looking offering from a palette perspective. As stated above, some of the film's CGI elements are questionable, with a less than realistic demeanor and a rather soft overall appearance. Generally speaking, though, The Last Tycoon's high definition presentation is very enjoyable, with only a few minor quibbles which may or may not bother alert videophiles.

The Last Tycoon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Last Tycoon's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track (in Mandarin with optional English subtitles) is extremely well done, offering abundant surround activity in virtually every scene. From the opening moments when Cheng is viewing a theatrical performance, through several large scale group sequences and moving on to the climactic attack segment, the track offers some really nicely forceful low end and real attention to detail in terms of foley effects. Some of these are fairly predictable, like the panning noises accompanying planes swooping in for the kill, but at times a much more nuanced approach is taken, as in a quieter scene between Cheng and Ye in a largely abandoned church, where simple hall ambience adds to a nice recreation of sonic space. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is extremely wide.

The Last Tycoon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making Of (1080p; 11:16) has the requisite interviews and scenes from the film, but some of the most interesting footage here is some brief snippets of fight choreography being rehearsed.


• Trailer (1080p; 1:05)

The Last Tycoon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I frankly found the first part of The Last Tycoon rather slow going, despite a couple of standout moments, but once the pieces started falling into place, the story of Cheng became more viscerally compelling. The film definitely has some pacing issues which may turn off some viewers, and there's also no denying that this story has been told before, albeit in different locations and with slightly different twists. Western viewers may not understand the full ramifications of some of the political maneuverings here, but the film is surprisingly sumptuous and at least offers enough eye candy to offer a distraction from some of its otherwise flawed material. Fans of Chow Yun-fat may be a little underwhelmed with his tamped down performance here, but he manages to make the elder Cheng a study in compromise and resignation. This Blu-ray offers generally superb video and audio.