Martial Arts Movie Junkie

Black and White Episode 1: Dawn of Assault Review

Background Info

Based on a popular Taiwanese drama, Black and White is a prequel that takes everything to the next level. With a large budget to fund the action and bring in some talent from other countries, audiences had a lot to look forward to. Martial arts fans could rest assured that Cyril Raffaeli would be handling the choreography, so the fights would have a good impact. Does more money lead to better action, and does Taiwan prove that it knows a thing or two about creating a good film overall?

Black and White Episode 1 Trailer

Story/Characters

The story to Black and White is, well, pretty black and white. The setup is basically there for the action setpieces, and those that watch dramas regularly will most likely see the plot twists coming. While some scenarios have interesting takes on them, nothing really shines or gets people invested into what it going on. It’s clear that this is an action film first and foremost, and the story is taking a back seat.

The characters are pretty standard for a movie of this type. While I haven’t seen the drama and don’t know how this piece fits into the puzzle, there isn’t the same level of depth here. Granted, the timetable made it hard to add too much story. What you get here is a large cast of characters that have a little history and nothing else. Even the two main characters don’t divulge in their past, though it’s hard to do when everything is exploding around you.

Action/Choreography

If you’re looking for action, Black and White has it in spades. The film almost never stops, and the into sequence shows you how big of a budget the movie had. Everything explodes, even if it doesn’t need to. The best way to think about this is as a Taiwanese Die-Hard film. It never lets up.

This happened after shooting out a tire, seriously

Speaking of Die-Hard, the fighting is actually pretty good. There aren’t any real standout moments, but it’s not distracting either. Everyone did a good job with the choreo, and there were some interesting situations for the characters that were fighting. Will it make you want to watch fights over and over again? No, but you won’t be disappointed either.

Own it, Watch it, Try it, or Skip it?

There are two things I remember about Black and White Episode 1: Dawn of Assault. Lots of explosions and it’s really long. Now, given the fact that it’s based off of a drama that goes for about an hour an episode, it’s easy to understand why the length is what it is. That’s not an excuse for how long the film it, but some may be able to sit through it better knowing that.

Even though this is called “Episode 1” there is a lot of stuff thrown in here. Overall, I enjoyed the film and give props to the Taiwanese film industry for taking a step forward and making a big budget action film. While it may borrow from mainstream films and defy logic sometimes, it’s still a fun film that will help pass the time…a lot of it.

Try it

Black and White DVD and Blu-Ray Combo (Taiwan Version)

Black and White DVD (HK Version)