Film

Mulan

Name: Mulan
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Action
Released: 2020
Cast: Liu Yifei, Donnie Yen, Gong Li, Jet Li, Jason Scott Lee

Other titles called Mulan: the 1998 film.

Action

Mulan is a live-action fantasy epic that trades the Disney musical's heart for martial spectacle and supernatural intrigue. It's a visually sumptuous film about identity, duty, and stepping into power, anchored by Liu Yifei's fierce performance. For those wanting action-adventure with an Eastern setting and genuine stakes.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a big, sincere live-action fairy tale with sweeping landscapes, crisp martial arts and a heroine whose courage is physical and quiet rather than wisecracking, in the spirit of a classic wuxia epic.

Skip it if you came for the animated musical; this drops the songs, the comic sidekick and the easy jokes, and its solemn, stately pace can feel slow between its set-piece fights.

What it asks of you: It runs about two hours at a measured, unhurried pace, giving its scenery and its quieter moments room to breathe before each burst of action arrives.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon2000

A master class in wuxia cinema—gravity-defying combat, impossible beauty, and characters torn between duty and desire. The visual language influenced everything that followed, including this Mulan.

But The pacing is deliberate, even meditative. If you want constant action, you'll find long stretches of conversation and landscape.

The Great Wall2016

Matt Damon in ancient China, fighting monsters. It's silly, it's gorgeous, it has the same DNA as Mulan—outsider finding their place in an imperial army against an overwhelming threat.

But It's messier and more confused than Mulan, with a white savior premise that hasn't aged well. The logic of the world sometimes feels secondary to spectacle.

Hero2002

Jet Li (who plays the Emperor in Mulan) stars in this stunning meditation on sacrifice and loyalty. Kaleidoscopic fight sequences, tragic romance, and philosophical depth about what duty actually costs.

But It's slow and deeply sad. Long sections are wordless or nearly so. The ending asks you to accept something morally complicated without flinching.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Mulan

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Venom2018

Both explore the same central question—what happens when you stop fighting your true nature and let it fight for you?

Tom Hardy fighting his own dual nature while keeping a suit-wearing parasite in check. It's dumb and gleeful, but narratively it's the inverse of Mulan—a hero embracing the strength society told her to suppress versus a man learning to harmonize with a force everyone fears. Both films are really about internal integration.

But It's aggressively stupid in ways that annoy serious film critics. If you want subtext without camp, keep walking.

The Assassin2015

Shu Qi as a female warrior in ancient China, navigating court politics and family obligation with lethal grace. More austere than Mulan but equally concerned with duty, identity, and the price of power.

But Hou Hsiao-hsien's direction is glacial—conversations happen in shadow, violence erupts suddenly then vanishes. Patience required; action-movie tempo it is not.

House of Flying Daggers2004

Zhang Ziyi is electrifying. Romance, rebellion, and betrayal coalesce in a film that understands how desire and duty collide. The action is ballet-like and emotionally earned.

But It's a melodrama first and an action film second. If you're here for visceral combat rather than heartbreak, the pacing will feel indulgent.

Shadow2018

A Chinese general's doppelgänger navigates court intrigue and warfare in a visually extraordinary world of grey and black. Sharp, intelligent, and genuinely tense about power and deception.

But The plot twists can feel byzantine. If you want clarity about who wants what and why, you may need subtitles and concentration in equal measure.

The Forbidden Kingdom2008

Jet Li and Jackie Chan team up in a fantasy-adventure rooted in Chinese mythology. It's breezier than Mulan but equally committed to honoring martial arts as art form and storytelling language.

But It's fundamentally lighter, almost campy. The emotional stakes are never real. It's a film that wants you smiling, not moved.

Marco Polo2014

An HBO epic of conquest and empire-building in 13th-century Asia. Lavish production, political intrigue, and a protagonist learning to navigate cultures not his own. Ten hours of immersive spectacle.

But It was cancelled after two seasons. The scope sometimes outpaces the characterization. Some viewers found it slow despite the scale.

The Eight Hundred2020

A Chinese war film about a final stand during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Epic, brutal, and absolutely sincere about heroism and sacrifice. Made the same year as Mulan with a different approach to historical narrative.

But It's grim and violent without spectacle to soften it. The ending is tragic by design. Some viewers found it exhausting rather than cathartic.

Annihilation2018

Both films conclude by having their female lead stop resisting transformation and instead surrender to it, discovering power in that acceptance rather than defiance.

A woman ventures into a supernatural shimmer that warps everything it touches. Quiet, mathematical sci-fi about transformation and self-sacrifice, with action sequences that feel earned and strange. Utterly different in texture from Mulan but identical in its philosophy: your strength comes from accepting what you are.

But It's moody and abstract. Many viewers found it frustratingly vague. The ending divides audiences sharply—some find it profound, others find it incomplete.

Ashes of Time1994

Both use the language of martial arts cinema to examine the cost of becoming someone you weren't born as—Mulan through clarity and forward momentum, Ashes of Time through fractured beauty and looking backward.

Wong Kar-wai's fever dream of swordsmen and lost loves—fragments of story told through rain, neon, and slow motion. No plot in the conventional sense, only mood and movement and the aesthetic perfection of people hurting. Mulan's spiritual opposite that asks identical questions about duty, identity, and whether honor is worth the cost.

But It's a tone poem, not a narrative. Subtitles required, and even then, you won't always know what's happening. Many people watch it and hate it.