Age of The Nerd
Judge Archer (2012) is considered to be writer Haofeng Xu’s (Xu Haofeng) sophomore film, even though his first film The Grandmaster came out in 2013. The film stars Chengyuan Li (Li Chengyuan), Yang Song (Song Yang), and Yenny Martin. The film takes place in 1920s China, as Judge Archer takes on the duty and burden of settling disputes between warring schools of martial arts, all because he bares a name with much responsibility.
Judge Archer felt like a movie dedicated to the art of martial arts. I would describe the fight scenes as graceful action. It was fast paced yet slowed down enough to where a person that was studying a form of martial arts, could study the film as if it were a lesson. There was even a fight scene that looked like an homage to other martial arts films such like The Chinese Connection or Fist of Fury, where Bruce Lee takes on several men and doesn’t even break a sweat.
The story was interesting and easy to follow, while also having the action scenes evenly spread out throughout the film. One thing that I was expecting was that there would be more fatalities in the film just because Judge Archer was trained to use a bow and arrow. But one can make the point that martial arts is not to be used to kill.
Now when it comes to the DVD, it is good that the film has finally had an in-home release after a few years. What isn’t good is that there are no bonus features included. I think this in-home release could have really benefited from some behind-the-scenes footage, especially because writer/directer Xu was also action choreographer for the film. On a plus side, when you purchase the DVD, you also get a code for a digital version of the film.
Overall, I really did enjoy Judge Archer. It paid homage to other great martial arts films, but was also quite unique. If you are a fan of martial arts movies or if you study the art, I would highly suggest for you to give this film a shot.
