Dazzling martial arts and stylish production design do battle with an undercooked story and one-note central characters in “100 Yards,” which comes to U.S. theaters on Friday after a limited local release for China in September. Initially an engaging portrait of two fighting aces duking it out for control of a martial arts academy in 1920s Tianjin, this handsomely packaged effort directed by brothers Xu Haofeng (“The Final Master” and co-writer of Wong Kar-wai’s “The Grandmaster”) and feature debutant Xu Junfeng is great to look at but runs aground with a seemingly endless series of encounters between status-obsessed males who become less and less interesting the longer their feud drags on. Action fans simply seeking top-drawer wushu combat should be satisfied, but general viewers may grow impatient with a repetitive plot that struggles to deliver compelling human drama from its promising elements.
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“100 Yards” gets off to a lively start at the martial arts academy of the gravely ill Master Shen (Guo Long). To determine his successor, the Master orders a duel between his son, Shen An (Jacky Heung, “Chasing Dream,” “True Legend”) and his top apprentice, Qi Quan (U.S.-born Chinese action film mainstay Andy On). With the old teacher as sole witness, Quan defeats An and is declared the winner by Shen just before he drops dead. Unable to accept the humiliating loss and painfully aware his father never believed he was up to the task, An schemes his way into staging a series of rematches to try and settle things in his favor.
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The simple storyline is embroidered with detail that makes the early segments engaging. As we enter a city where foreigners and their gleaming modern buildings are everywhere, it’s established that martial arts schools only arrived in Tianjin in 1912, one year after the collapse of Qing dynasty’s rule. When An seeks advice from his father’s second-in-command, Chairman Meng (Li Yuan), a wily woman who dresses in men’s suits and possesses formidable insight and strategic skill, she tells him that martial artists had previously been viewed as vulgar and were looked down upon. “Now, those in power have turned us into celebrities,” she says.
Chairman Meng’s words resonate when An begins working for a rich (and unnamed) French Banker (Matile Vincent) after feigning acceptance of his earlier defeat. Called from his desk to a plush dining room where friends and family of his boss have gathered, An is asked to entertain everyone with an impromptu fighting exhibition against opponents including the Banker’s hulking son, Kevin (Kevin Lee). Though such a public display breaks time-honored rules and represents an insult to his predecessors, An succumbs to the Banker’s goading about his “excuses” before easily beating the inept challengers and quitting his job.
The balance between Chinese traditions and Western influence – smartly observed here, without the strongly nationalistic messaging that has become so common in Chinese cinema of late – plays a prominent role in the escalating feud between An and Quan. Now willing to violate strict codes forbidding any fighting more than 100 yards beyond academy gates, both men also begin to seek advantage by forging hitherto forbidden alliances with foreign fighters and scuzzy street gangs, such as a slingshot-wielding outfit run by a leader dressed up like a cowboy.
There’s plenty of eye-catching action as An, Quan and their colorful collection of new recruits take the fight onto a recreation of Tianjin’s streets and alleys that screams “gloriously fake studio backlot.” But it’s hard to invest emotionally in the protracted series of “final” showdowns that largely consume the last 45 minutes. Neither man is virtuous or villainous enough to establish a good guy vs. bad guy dynamic, and nothing bigger or more involving than bull-headed male pride and testosterone-fueled ego is ultimately at stake.
Far more interesting are the female supporting characters, beginning with the captivating and too-briefly seen Chairman Meng. Given some room to excel, albeit in roles that beg to be more deeply explored, are Tang Shiyi as Gui Ying, a schoolteacher and martial artist with a close connection to An’s family; and Bea Hayden Kuo as Xia An, the Banker’s illegitimate daughter who is romantically involved with An. A professional dancer making her film debut, Tang is terrific as the tight-lipped keeper of family secrets, and action dynamite too the film’s best action scene, which finds Gui Ying taking on an army of henchmen Quan has sent to kidnap her. Hayden Kuo (the “Tiny Times” hit movie series) nails it as a smart operator who uses guile and beauty to survive as a mixed-race outsider in Tianjin. In a memorable moment late in proceedings Xia An expresses what some viewers might be thinking when she tells An that “games between men are pathetic.”
Though it stumbles with storytelling after the half-way mark, “100 Yards” is never less than visually and technically outstanding, with Shao Dan’s beautifully crisp and clean cinematography, Xie Yong’s stunning production design and Liang Tingting’s (“A Writer’s Odyssey”) Fashion Week-worthy costumes leading the way. Best of all is the superb score by An Wei, which blends traditional orchestration with soulful spaghetti western-esque acoustic guitar, thundering electric rock guitar, spine-tingling slashes of harmonica and gorgeous electronic sculptures that create an air of mystery and heightened emotion that isn’t always there in action and dialogue.
