The Rules of the Game
No, I’m not talking about the superb Renoir film of the same name, though maybe I should one of these days. Today’s subject is actually audience expectations. The night before last, I watched House of Fury, an Anthony Wong martial arts comedy (seriously! and he really pulls it off, too!) and though it was surprisingly fun, it fell apart for a little while about two-thirds of the way through when it suddenly developed a bad case of multiple personality disorder.
Maybe I should back up a bit. House of Fury is about a chiropractor named Yue Siu Bo (Anthony Wong) who likes to tell tall tales about his supposed exploits as a secret agent. In fact, the movie opens with a fantastical scene in which he battles something like ten masked villains who can turn into sand, teleport around the field of battle and otherwise make life extremely difficult for him. Wong’s character emerges triumphant… but then we find out that we were actually seeing a story he’s been telling to some high school kids while he waits to pick up his daughter after school. Naturally they don’t believe him, but they enjoy listening anyway because he tells it so well. His daughter, meanwhile, catches sight of him and sneaks off in the other direction; she’s embarrassed by all his BS, and so is her brother.
Soon thereafter, though, a few actual bad guys show up at Yue Siu Bo’s office on a mission from the film’s chief villain, and now he gets into a real fight. This one, being set in the real world, is relatively gritty and realistic and involves absolutely no supernatural abilities whatsoever, and though Wong’s character makes a valiant effort, he’s eventually overwhelmed. One man triumphing against impossible odds is really just the stuff of fantasy, after all. His kids then try to find out what happened to him, and they discover that he really is a secret agent (tasked with protecting retired agents who have adopted new identities and entered the civilian population) so they set out to rescue him from the villain.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with this premise. In fact, it’s an excellent one; it creates conflict in Yue Siu Bo’s family, it makes for great character arcs for him and his kids, and it sets up plenty of fun and exciting action. The problem is that after establishing a clear division between fantasy and reality (the goofy supernatural fights Wong’s character talks about winning versus the real ones he actually gets into which don’t end so well for him) the filmmakers went and destroyed the distinction by inserting fantasy into reality. An older fellow named Uncle Chiu (played by Ma Wu) turns out to be a retired agent and the villain’s real target, and he suddenly starts levitating up the sides of buildings, flying through the air and displaying other patently impossible abilities.
There’s actually nothing wrong with fantasy action, either. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon proves that it can be used to magnificent effect. But whereas Crouching Tiger established a world in which people with exceptionally advanced martial arts skills can partially defy gravity, and then rigorously and consistently enforced the rules of that world, House of Fury tells us that gravity-defying acts are limited to silly stories… and then promptly breaks its own rules. Audiences can accept the impossible in a movie (just look at the Spider-Man franchise!) but only if the movie plays fair. Change the rules in the middle of the game and you utterly destroy suspension of disbelief.
P.S. Sorry this entry is late; I had a sudden avalanche of work on Sunday, and I never even got the chance to go out and see any movies, let alone think about writing a blog entry. Don’t worry, though; blogging about new releases is only delayed, not canceled!
Tags: Anthony Wong, House of Fury, Multiple Personality Disorder, Stephen Fung, Suspension of Disbelief