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A movie buff clad in a 1920s dress as in the "Gone with the Bullets" appears at the movie's premiere in Shanghai. - Dong Jun
THE biggest part of the film calendar has opened with Jiang Wen's controversial 3D epic film "Gone with the Bullets."
The highly anticipated sequel to "Let the Bullets Fly" has confounded both critics and cinema-goers with its non-linear plot and its 140-minute running time.
Jiang's latest offering has earned around 400 million yuan (US$64 million) at the box office nationwide in its first week. Film insiders expect it to gross about 1.5 billion yuan.
"Let the Bullets Fly" is one of the highest-grossing movies in Chinese cinema history after grossing 659 million yuan in 2010. Despite visually stunning effects, many movie buffs consider it an individualistic and meaningless work of narcissism.
Zhang Jian, an administrative manager, says the movie's tedious dialogue and confusing plot made him think of "The Promise," director Chen Kaige's film starring Cecillia Cheung and Nicholas Tse that bombed during the 2005 Christmas season.
"I fell asleep in the theater," says Zhang. "I woke up because my phone was ringing and then noticed the people who were...