The town of a chinese fishing village are literally on the verge of being engulfed by Japanese forces as they start taking over the town. Just as the Japanese start invading, Hsia Feng (Jimmy Wang-Yu) gets privilege to step foot inside the town. Considering the fact that all higher class citizens settled long ago, it is evident that the lower class citizens would be unable to pay hefty taxes. As all else fails, Yu is brought to the film who vows to do everything in his power to gather all the required resources. He sets off to spread his message all around and recruits four different specialized fighters in the fields of Swordsman, spear, knife and shield. All of these fighters along with Yu begin training the locals and gradually help them stand strong against the invading forces. The film succumbs from one extreme to the other with a final duel unfolding on the beach of god itself which in itself shows how aims to answer the rest of fate.
Movies, especially in the action category, cannot be restricted to any one country. The language barrier can be superseded by professionally modifying the movie in different areas to suit the audience of a specific region. An excellent example which comes to mind for this instance is “War Gods” as it goes perfectly well with the saying “Six Degrees of Separation”. In basic words it is an adapted version of Kurosawa’s classic “Seven Samurai”. Additionally, Kurosawa is also credited for influencing spaghetti western Nyay’s Yojimbo, a means of which was a fistful of dollars. The dust blowing between the buildings and the incessant hot wind definitely can relate Han’s works to Westerns quite a lot. Equally Wang Yu saw the domination of Chanbara in japan alongside “Zatoichi vs The One Armed Swordsman” so he too must have been subject to such influences. The “Shaggy Duffy” costumes amply consolidated the above said, as well as in the above cited pieces. All these different Sushi Roll styles and approaches are fused together into what is probably his most polished look to date.
The dance stands out in Beach of the War Gods, although one must not forget that it is first and foremost a film made by Jimmy Wang Yu and was released fifty years ago. He immersed himself quite physically in the picture, shaking hands with fanciers who had him directing, but the actual performance can be a bit simplistic as far as dramatic movement goes. His actors would have costumes to wear in order to determine which of them played what role, but there would be no further attempt at character development, and here we have a knife thrower, a spear fighter and one who wields two shields. There’s some decent use of slow motion and even the obligatory trampoline tricks are done better than the average. It’s still limited by the swirling arm style that he prefers but at least there is extra eye candy to oil up the mix. It’s unique enough that it leaves a certain impression. The finale on the beach itself is quite breathtaking and wraps up the feature in a fitting large scale way.
As was characteristic of the time, the Japanese, in particular, were seen as inhuman and inherently bad. There is a clear distinction of the line between good and evil, basically no characters are etched with complexities. Even the sole Chinese pilot who begins his journey as cynical materialist later joins the bandwagon after being appealed to with a sense of all encompassing duty. The plot does not focus on character development, just like many films of the same era. The Chinese honorable warriors is idealized in this case as defenders of their country. The masses show allegiance and loyalty but don’t possess the skills required for survival. The Japanese are depicted as savage and inhumane. The general on their team, who has a reputation for being excessively aggressive, is the only figure who stands out. This might come across as quite straightforward to recent viewers, but that’s how it is; it was when it was. Lately, with an increase in Chinese patriotic melody movies, there seems to be a shift back to this mindset.
For Wang Yu, this period can be labeled as the zenith of his career. His character portrayals are somewhat primitive, playing below the basic qualifications of a hero willing to save the world from a demon lord without an arm! Along with the countless other boys, Yu this time managed to save the officer up until igniting the world. Wang Yu, like most people, has no trouble stepping into the hero’s shoes, which is certainly not the case, as deep down inside, almost all of them are wrestling with some issues. There is no complexion in the plot of the film, drama is simply swapped out for archetypes and many are definitely willing to fit in to this strange universe. The battle, on the other hand, more than compensates and it gets pretty rude watching because it occupies the majority of the second half of the movie.
Jimmy Wang Yu definitely opts for the grand style with “Beach of War Gods” and for the most part manages to deliver well. Or at least the narrative seems to be cut and paste, there is more shisha over this film than usually Wang does and the influences are clearly on display. It is arguably his biggest achievement as a director. Suffice it to say, it is worth being rediscovered and enjoyed.
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