If you've been marginally aware of Disney's latest creatively uncreative example of remaking some classic animated films into live-action, then you might have heard about some of the discussion regarding their latest victim, Mulan.

Putting aside a slew of controversies, such as the lead actress voicing her support for the Hong Kong police/stormtroopers, the revelation that several scenes were filmed next to concentration camps in Xinjiang (with thanks in the credits given to the government entities running these facilities), and the Mouse demanding an extra fee to be able to view this movie on their online subscription service, there are plenty enough problems with this movie.

This new Disney era of live-action recycling of animated films didn't fill me with much confidence compounded by the incoherent Star Wars sequel trilogy not easing my misgivings of how they'd handle this remake.

Right off the bat, hiring Niki Caro, a white female director from New Zeland, to direct a Chinese story as opposed to an Asian director like Ang Lee (who had declined due to prior obligations) didn't dissuade concerns of whitewashing. Nor was having none of the four writers being Asian or Chinese help. But as long as the number of women in charge of a movie with a female lead goes over the quota, they'll surely be able to create a successful film that inspires and empowers the next generation.

The cast announcement would (somewhat) alleviate such worries, with Liu Yifei playing the titular role, with other well-known actors like Donnie Yen (Ip Man) joining in. Liu has been a rising star in the Chinese entertainment industry, and if you're willing to overlook their support for an oppressive authoritarian regime then it's an absolute win for diversity in Disney films.

But before we get into the story of this latest adaptation, I'd like to give a brief explanation and previous iterations and adaptation of the legend of Mulan.

The Ballad of Mulan

The legend of Hua Mulan (花木蘭) has been passed down for centuries in China. In the face of nomadic hordes invading from the north, Hua Mulan takes the place of her aged father and little brother in the conscription for the army by disguising herself as a man. After 10 long years of distinguished military service, she is honored by the emperor but declines the offer of a high government position, retiring to her hometown to reunite with her family and only then revealing her gender to her soldiers. This is a widely known legend among Chinese people, retold in text and poems, and adapted into songs, stageplays, and on the silver screen.

For most international audiences their main introduction to this legend was with the 1998 Disney animated film. Prior to this, most female protagonists in Disney movies were princesses or damsels-in-distress.

Mulan comes from a rural village in China, with no secret heritage or innate abilities. The greatest honor for traditional Chinese women was to marry and bear children. Tomboyish Mulan struggles to live up to this ideal (spectacularly) despite her earnest attempts. But when nomadic hordes threaten the empire, conscripts are called up with one man from every family obligated to serve. Mulan's aging father, having no sons to send, rather than dodging the draft (shock) answers the call to duty. But Mulan takes her father's armor and sword and disguises herself as a man, enlisting in the army in her parent's place. Much like the other conscripts, Mulan's martial skills are lacking. But through hard work and perseverance, they become trained warriors and go to war.

Yet while trying to blend in with her masculine comrades, she is still able to think outside of the box rather than brute force her way through any problems. This is exemplified when she manages to defeat an overwhelming force of Huns by burying them under an avalanche. But afterward, her secret is revealed to her unit though she is spared the death penalty. When she discovers some surviving Huns on their way to the capitol, she warns her fellow soldiers and works with them to protect the Emperor from being assassinated by the surviving Huns, ending the nomadic threat (for now) and defeating the leader. For this, she is honored by the Emperor. She politely declines his offer of a position in high office, wanting to return home to her family. Upon her return, she kneels down before her father and offers the gifts and honors she received to her father, who casts these aside and embraces her openly.

Taking away the songs and dance and animal companions, Disney's latest "bold" retelling of Mulan faces quite a challenge to present this story for a new generation.

And so they look to the recent Star Wars sequels and Rey Skywalker (ಠ_ಠ)

Mulan (2020)

*SPOILER ALERT*

This time, Mulan is not only a tomboyish character but she already displays prodigious martial skills, hiding these powers in order to blend in with the other conscripts. So we're not shown her growth and development into a trained warrior, but that she has to disguise her gender AND talent, that she has "qi". (ಠ_ಠ)

(In traditional Chinese culture, this qi (氣) is like an energy that flows through all life, that understanding and maintaining this balance is important for health and stability in life.)

In the movie, qi is supposed to be like the midi-chlorians that determine whether one has the Force, and supposedly only men are disciplined enough to have qi and thus become warriors and that women who have this (heavens forbid!) are witches (like the shape-shifting black-clad woman among the nomads).

Amidst a battle, Mulan abandons her disguise and lets her hair down as she unleashes her powers on the battlefield. This is somehow enough to rout the barbarians, who believes she is a witch (despite having a witch on their side), switching to attacking from afar with...trebuchets. And Mulan turns these trebuchets against them, burying the horde under an avalanche.

Dismissed by her battalion for revealing herself, she is met by the witch who tries to become a sympathetic figure as a fellow outcast for being a powerful woman in a patriarchal world just trying to attain power herself by working with the barbarians. And also tells Mulan of their plans.

Mulan reaches her battalion and warns them of this attack, stopping the nomadic forces from assassinating the emperor as she faces off against the nomad leader. During the battle, the witch sacrifices herself to save Mulan, in recognition for fighting openly as a woman. Due to her innate powers, Mulan is able to fight the nomad leader head-on and kills him. After freeing the emperor she is showered with honors and recognition and offered a position as part of his personal guard. She declines the offer and returns home.

The movie ends with her battalion commander arriving with a large entourage to peer pressure her into joining their elite force.

WHY THIS MOVIE FAILED

This movie fails in its interpretation of the story of Mulan. Every element that made the 1998 animated film a classic was missing and replaced with an aberration of an outsider's misunderstanding.

In their blind pursuit to create yet another empowered female lead, they made another Rey Skywalker and Captain Marvel.

A character who's given her powers and abilities at birth or early on, rather than attaining it through perseverance and hard work. This is not an empowering figure for everyone to aspire to. You either have it or not, no matter how hard you try.

Rather than present the value of femininity as a positive and find alternatives to overcome challenges, a woman like Mulan only becomes capable of doing so when she uses her masculine strength.

This movie espouses outdated values (迂腐), by having Mulan not challenging the status quo but instead submit to the conservative hierarchy. Rather than fight for herself or to protect those she loves, she proclaims her submission and devotion to the emperor.

This is most apparent with Mulan's sister. An unnecessary addition by the filmmakers, ostensibly to give Mulan an emotional motivation, she adds nothing to the story. While Mulan rides off and returns to her village a hero and is respected for her innate abilities and strength, Mulan's sister fits into the traditional gender role to just get married and make babies.

Without understanding or deconstructing traditional Chinese values, this movie is emotionally shallow and tone-deaf. It overdoes and plays up the aspects of her strength on display, rather than allow deep and thoughtful contemplation of alternatives to finding one's path in life.

I don't watch that many movies lately or write about them much for that matter, but I finally got around to watch "The Old Guard" on Netflix.

For those that don't know, "The Old Guard" was adapted from a graphic novel written by Greg Rucka is about a group of mercenaries, all centuries-old immortals who cannot die (mostly) struggling to hide in the shadows of our modern world.

One of the things that interested me was the fact that I had a copy of the graphic novel "The Old Guard Book One: Opening Fire" purchased 3 years ago. So this will be more of a comparison between the comic book and the film adaptation.

!!! SPOILERS AHEAD !!!

STORY

The story doesn't deviate that much from the comic book.

The Old Guard are a group of highly skilled mercenaries who cannot die, able to regenerate very quickly from any wound. They cannot explain why or how, but they aren't invulnerable. They've been involved in many conflicts and events around the world with centuries of experience in battle and have been able to remain mostly in the shadows throughout history. But as they struggle to remain hidden from a smaller world, they are set-up and their abilities are laid bare to those interested in exploiting their secret for their own gains, they have to fight to keep their secret from being further exposed to the world.

CHARACTERS/CAST

The Old Guard are comprised of Andy, Nicky, Joe, Booker, and Nile.

Andy, or Andromache of Scythia (Charlize Theron) is the leader of the group by seniority. She was the first of the immortals and has been around for so long that she cannot remember. Charlize Theron takes center stage here, with most of the flashback scenes dedicated to her past exploits. Her action scenes are well done, and she is believable as the weary leader of a group of highly skilled warriors struggling to adapt to this world. Since Atomic Blonde and Mad Max Fury Road, she can still hold her own in her as an action lead while portraying the weariness that comes with being a 6,000-year-old Amazonian warrior.

Booker (played by Matthias Schoenaerts) was considered the "youngest" of the group before Nile, having fought under Napoleon and "died" after being hung for desertion during the Grande Armée's winter retreat from Russia.

I'm not so sure about Booker in the film adaptation. As the then youngest of the immortals before Nile, his relatively more recent loss does explain his action that endangers the group, but his motivations didn't feel as strongly portrayed in the film even as Matthias Scheonaerts does his best to display the anguish that comes with eternal life.

Nicky/ Nicolo di Genova (Luca Marinelli) and Joe/Yusuf Al-Kaysani (Marwan Kenzari) are an Italian Crusader and Muslim warrior respectively who met and fought each other during the Crusades before discovering their immortality and becoming lovers.

An interesting detail was that Rucka stipulated in his contract that the romance of the two characters had to be kept in the film adaptation, and I'm glad they did since these two are by far my favorites. Their unfettered love for each other doesn't get in the way and feels as normal as hetero couples while still able to kick ass and drop goons.

There's a particularly major scene when the two are captured and being transported in a van surrounded by armed goons and as Joe checks on Nicky, he is teased and asked whether they are boyfriends. This is by far one of the most faithful adaptations from the pages to screen as Joe's declaration of his love for Nicky is almost perfectly captured from the graphic novel, without feeling cheesy or awkward or forced or uncomfortable to witness.

Nile Freeman (Kiki Layne) is the newest addition to the Old Guard, a US Marine who "died" in Afghanistan.

I'm not as familiar with Kiki Layne, but her acting in this is adequate. As the newcomer to the group, she is believably resistant to her new reality but brings, aside from what she learned from the Marine Corps, a younger perspective to contrast with Andy's weary attitude of the world, while she does hold her own in some of the action scenes and gets a much greater role in the third act.

James Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) a former CIA agent who previously worked with the Old Guard and sells their secret to the bad guys.

They expanded his role in the movie than in the comic, making him a grieving widow who had looked into the history of the immortals and had hoped that their immortality might be used to help end human suffering but comes to realizes his mistake when the group he sells their secrets to only seek to profit off of it.

And speaking of which...

Steve Merrick (Harry Melling) is the CEO of a pharmaceutical empire. Think Martin Shkreli.

If you don't recognize Harry Melling, he was Dudley Dursely from Harry Potter. And credit to the actor, he is as pleasantly detestable and inviting to punch (or stick a battle-ax into and throw off a building) as the pharma bro.

ACTION & STYLE

The graphic novel is truly gorgeous. Artist Leandro Fernández makes good use of colors and tones, with large contrasts of lighting and primary colors against heavy shadows and dark silhouettes. The action scenes are truly brutal and impactful, with wide arcs of swords and battle axes swinging through entire pages, spear thrusts and gunfire piercing through frames, and blood being spilled either from a single precise gunshot or a relentless amount of automatic gunfire splattering all across the scene.

By comparison, the visual style of the film is rather generic and uninspiring. Or more like safe and easy to follow for a general audience that doesn't do much to bring the striking visuals of the comic book to the film especially towards the second half of the film.

The action is easy enough to follow, with a good sense and utilization of space and angles, and while it doesn't stand out as John Wick did the fight choreography of, like many action movies of late inspired by JW, The Old Guard is competent and well done and allows a good demonstration of the centuries-honed skills of the team blending hand-to-hand and melee fighting styles with tactical drills and movement.

With a finite runtime and a large cast of characters to introduce means that, other than the opening fight scene, much of the movie is dedicated to the lead Andy/Charlize Theron and newcomer Nile/Kiki Layne, with the synergy between Joe and Nicky that I wish was given more opportunity to shine, while Booker feels rather underutilized even though he is the only other immortal we're treated with a flashback to his past though this is just used as an emotional demonstration of the curse of immortality.

Well actually, there is another immortal that is given some extra screentime and that's the second-ever immortal Quynh, played by Vietnamese actress Van Veronica Ngo, whose role is further expanded from the comic books (changed from Noriko in the graphic novel to accommodate Veronica's background) and serves as an emotional anchor to Andy as being the second ever immortal to exist and working together for so long before she was "killed off" after the two were caught and accused of witchcraft in the 17th century and Quynh's demise is a grim example of immortality being used against them.

CONCLUSION

The Old Guard is an entertaining summer action flick that has been reasonably well-received and its action sequences are well executed but nothing too groundbreaking other than bringing in axes and swords to a gunfight. Some fat could've been trimmed to make the flow better, and a backstory element in the comic book involving Andy's past was rather amiss, cut and replaced with her relationship with Quynh that might be further explored in the inevitable sequel, and an element of the immortals' impact and involvements throughout history introduced into the film felt a bit stretched and contrived. Were it not for the simple concept of this movie it would've just become a bland and forgettable action film. It has an interesting enough premise to be a standout, but other than some strong performance and slick action scenes doesn't do more with its environment or world-building.

If nothing it's a latest successful comic book adaptation to film beyond Marvel or DC superhero comics, so here's hoping some more comics might be explored and translate well to screen, such as Rucka's other story "Lazarus" (which I also own copies of) that should do well as a television series.