The plot, such as it is that a wealthy businessman becomes interested in a young woman who kept him from being lost at sea by Emil Chau (bad guy?) He gets Brad Allen, an American Martial Arts champion to fight C.N. with the intention of humiliating C.N. who hasn't been in the gym much and not in fighting form. What takes place next is one the most unrealistic fights I have seen in a Jackie Chan movie. Things are polite. Brad comes prepared for everything and different weight gloves. And tunes. When Jackie falls down and just stays there Brad leaves and Emil is sad rather than gloating. Emil does not work as a bad guy. Jackie wants a rematch with Allen and starts to work out again, often with the help of Ah Bu.

Of course there needs to be another fight between Jackie and Brad. It's difficult to see many shots of Jackie because he is wearing all white and every thing in the room is white too. Rather blinding. I won't spoil the outcome of the fight nor the repercussions so I'll shift to this movie apparently has had all the specials removed.

The movie itself is 120 minutes and is not a great film. Jackie seemed to be having a lot of fun when talking during interviews. He had one of his best friends act as the most useless bad guy along with a stunt team member to have pretend fights with. The only thing I have heard about this movie that is so special is that Jackie finally has a romantic kiss. Well the kiss is in the special features so no one will see it now anyway, and Jackie has kissed women before in movies like "Red Bronx" ("Rumble In The Bronx"). Jackie seemed very happy during the interview segment but this reviewer did not share in his elation. This movie did not deliver as advertised. Pretty fluff and everyone's happy does not necessarily a good movie make.

For me personally, the most irksome part of the whole film (I use the term loosely when describing this piece of shit) was its ridiculous anti-Americanism; evidently justifying 9-11 was supposed to imbue this "provocative" film with a measure of anti-establishment street cred. The message this dreadful movie seemingly wishes to convey is that terrorists, including the "heroes" of the story, are really only misunderstood idealists rather than cold-blooded mass-murderers.

I don't even know where to start on this one. "This time, it's war." Way to rip off the "Aliens" tag line. What a self absorbed piece of crap this is. Here's a movie that tries its best to have some sort of message and deep meaning, but only comes out looking garbage. Tatsuya Fujiwara (who plays Shuya Nanahara) fails big time at portraying a tough as nails terrorist leader. (A terrorist with a heart, how meaningful. Fail.) This movie is overflowing with characters with zero development, that essentially are nothing more than disposable meat. At least "Battle Royale" gets you to care about the characters. This movie could care less. The few (3) characters to have promise go nowhere.

Our lead character, Takuma Aoi (played by Shugo Oshinari) is a sniveling pussy that thinks he's a badass. Hooray, we get another douchebag as a lead we're supposed to cheer for. No! The character of Shiori Kitano (daughter of the previous film's Kitano) has promise, but like everything about this movie, fails. Riki Takeuchi (of "Dead or Alive") shows up to give maybe his worst performance ever. Quite fitting considering the film this is. Why would the Japanese military send untrained kids to fight a war for them? Why would said military fit those kids with EXPLOSIVE collars, that can only hinder the kids' chance at victory? Why would anyone actually like this movie?

Can you believe I watched this twice? I wanted to give this movie a chance, but it just plain sucks. I've seen a lot a shitty films in my day, but at least most of those were entertaining. This is a straight up pathetic attempt at being a "provocative, war" movie, that so blatantly tries to be controversial, it actually ceases to do so. Terrible.

Despite some crummy satire, this film is the boom-diggity. The first hour (or right at the point where Beardy learns the mantis fist from his master) is where the film gets really good, because before this it's just stupid comedy. The kung fu action is, thankfully, not entirely kung foolery.

Beardy is one of my favorite actors. No one in cinema can express insanity better than he (except David Gale, of course). His screen fighting is really unique and really authentic. Completely an underrated actor. Of course, some fat retard called Ric Meyers said he knew no kung fu before he did a film called "The Victim". So what the fuck do you call this? Or "5 Shaolin Masters"? Goddamn that walrus lookin' piece of garbage.

The final fight had to be one of the best fights in kung fu film history. Not only is it very significant and dramatic, but also insane. This is why I think Beardy is one of the best when expressing lunacy. To think they implemented cannibalism in kung fu fighting. Oooooh, baby, so freakin' brilliant. And for your incentive, the action is plentiful, plus the fight choreography was excellent.

Even with the useless, pointless, worthless, listless satire, this film rules booty, bitches. Highly recommended.

This film deserves a tiny fraction of credibility due to one man who died after the making of this bigoted, unethical piece of Nazi trash, and that is Raul Julia. Damn, his superb acting just consummately overshadows this film's abysmal structure of stupidity. Too bad really, his very existence almost makes up for this...this ASS, but it's not enough.

Where "Street Fighter" ('94) ultimately fails is in just about everything, from its horrible action, its ridiculous pacing, suck ass acting (except Raul Julia and, for some weird reason, the Russian guy called Zangief--dude, he was funny), poor and ignorant casting--for example the casting of a Samoan to play a Japanese sumo wrestler (E. Honda is not a Samoan name, f@#$ers)--and so forth. And the list perpetuates until my head explodes.

The success of this film is the chick who played Chun Li. UGH SHE'S HOT! And that's about it.

I hate this movie and yet I continue to watch it over and over again. KILL ME, NOW!!!!!!! :)

The film begins as bounty hunters are tracking Chinese, haunting their movements waiting for an opportune time to add to their murderous earnings.

Through fortune or fate seven people come together in what is known as "Martial Arts Town" to fight against the savagery of the new form of government.

Many innocent people were being slaughtered in the name of ridding the country of dangerous and dangerously thinking types which in reality meant open season upon the people. In order to save lives five rather ordinary seeming people travel to Mount Heaven. It is there they meet Master Shadow Glow who lives as a hermit and two of his disciples. The Master has been waiting for their arrival and has produced special gifts for them - very special swords, each with it's own unique qualities.

Amongst the seven actors most in real life had no martial arts or sword fighting skills. Several had never held a sword. Although there was no footage of the actors training it was obvious Lau Kar Leung is still a Master in many ways. In the special features Lau speaks about his students and seemed genuinely fond of them and thoroughly enjoyed time spent with them. It is almost unbelievable he was able to make the cast look so incredibly good at sword fighting skills, the choreography and act as the leader of the Seven Swords! I am continually in awe of this man and his never ending talent.

It really is an ensemble cast, especially the Seven Swordsmen. Some viewers felt the film should "star" this or that person. This is not a breakout movie for one star or another. Any attempt to make it so would have destroyed the film and the story. This film is about working together no matter what the odds. Staying true to the mission and not trying to be better than any of the others. It seems some viewers have no concept of such selfless dedication and so began to rip the movie apart because their personal "star" was not the focus. Truthfully if this is how a viewer feels they might as not bother watching this film because they will not be able to understand.

Despite the fact this is a nation at war and numerous bodies are decapitated, dismembered, amputated and killed with a myriad of weapons in a dizzying manner of uses there is virtually no blood. The fact is when you cut off someone's head there is going to be a lot of gushing blood. There should be blood spurting everywhere and covering everything including the wounded, the dying and the dead. Either the director, Tsui Hark was concerned about a Monty Python moment or more likely he chose the "no spurting" ban Mainland China has established policies on such things as a bad idea if he wanted that audience and support with no edits.

General Fire Winds leads an army of ruthless, mostly unintelligent brutes from one village to the next and the next killing any who knows martial arts and killing the rest as well. Every dead Chinese adds more to his coffers. He is a very bad guy.

These are people and events that are fantastic in the truest sense of the word!

Tools such as wire and tubing are used to help "normal " actors or stunt people do outrageous takes that make them appear to be impossibly talented. Now to impress you need an ultra special entity they must be better in most ways. In many ways we have reached a relative plain on tech and it will be some time before the next major changes in the world of sight and sound. (Well a few weeks anyway)

Tsui Hark helmed a truly fantastic film! The story is solid enough, the acting surprisingly good from a mostly unknown cast and Lau Kar Leung to help pull it all together and lead the Seven Swordsmen. The pacing isn't bad although it's not three hours of kicking ass. You must have character development or the viewer will not become emotionally involved with the characters. That bond is essential or you lose your audience.

The gorgeous shots of the landscape were absolutely beautiful! Such wide expanses and open tundra with mountains shooting up through the earth. Breathtaking! One of the most beautifully shot films I have ever seen! Hark knew when to let the beauty of nature be the 'star'.

The score by Kenji Kawai is fair to good. Nothing really special here but it's not invasive.

I'm not including any negative points as I think most are unjustified and they have already been discussed extensively.

I have a prediction. In five years people will be calling it an epic masterpiece.

The trailer promised action--more action than I could shake a chopstick at. This film didn't have any though. It was a long, boring police drama based on a true story (supposedly) of a high profile kidnapping in which Chan plays a relentless cop. It's dialog heavy and the acting is terrible.

On one hand, as a Jackie Chan film, it's easily among his worst, and I can't understand why people like it so much. I've come to expect over-the-top action, stunts and fighting with amazing set pieces from his films. This was a bit of a departure from his other films at the time as he played a darker and more serious realistic character. That doesn't mean it's good. He's played a darker character in other films where it totally works. Here it's just a waste of talent.

As a police drama, it fails as well because the story is cliched and dull. It's also mostly a failure as an action film--until the end, that is, where it earns that extra half a star.

I recommend watching this like a porn: just fast forward through all the talking and watch the action. Basically, skip the first 4/5ths of this movie until you get to the end--and even then, it's barely worth your time. The action and set-pieces scattered throughout were weak for the most part and nothing you haven't seen. It's not until the very end that we finally get to see some classic JC--it's pretty clear which scenes he directed.

Even when things were exploding everywhere and the story had reached its ultimate climax, I was catching myself drifting off and just thinking about how Jackie Chan's hair kept changing length throughout the film, as though they had to do a bunch of reshoots or else they shot it out of sequence. That's probably why it felt so uneven.

Ultimately I'd say skip it, but most people out there seem to think this is some quality genius work. I'm a Jackie Chan enthusiast, but his comedic energy isn't what was missing here--what was missing was a good movie. There's literally nothing worth seeing that they don't show in the trailer. I'd suggest picking up "New Police Story" for a better example of a darker side of Chan, or "Thunderbolt" for some of the most fantastic stunts in a Chan film ever (just try to ignore the actual car racing scenes) instead.

If you haven't seen this film, you need to do so ASAP, and you need it in your collection. There are a lot of references here that people still use when talking about film. It is much more than bullets-o-rama, although there is no shortage of ammo in most any John Woo film. If you look beyond the action, there is a core of highly charged emotion regarding love of family, "brothers", and loyalty to the triads. It manages to show there is more to triads than bloodthirsty guys with no personality or values. A great film!

Jackie plays a world famous archeologist who is well known by even those outside of his colleagues. He is invited to help another archeologist find the tomb of China's very first emperor! While he is excited about the mission he has begun to have disturbingly real dreams about being a warrior of some position in ancient China. He is stunned to realize his dreams are not just REM stage random images but actually based upon the truth! A spirit of a princess of the time is played by India's Mallika Sherawat. She helps out when the warrior dreams come into conflict with the present which is not just about the dig, but that there are those who would stop at nothing to learn the tomb's secrets. It could have been done well but alas, it was not. There are more than a few times the scenery looks great but not enough to save the movie as for some reason they used what appears to be some of the cheapest, lousiest CG I have seen in a big - budget film. In addition they used the CG with stunts and action which made both look cheap and almost like an old days trick. There is no reason in the world it had to be that way. Although Jackie always complains about having to spend money, he never talks about making it. He has more than enough bucks to have top notch effects. If it doesn't enhance the film - don't use it! Aside from two or three fight scenes there is not a lot of action, at least it doesn't feel that way. There is something strangely two dimensional about the whole movie. A lifelessness that permeates the whole film. Even though there are a half dozen spirit angles it just doesn't work.

Jackie doesn't have to do risky stunts and major kick ass fighting to be entertaining. Nor does he need to play the goofy fish - out - of - water scenario. But he absolutely must do something besides fax in the performance! Jackie can act well -when he wants to do so. I didn't get the impression he really wanted to be there. He was not alone! Jackie still wields a lot of power/money. He doesn't have to "settle".

The offers he has had for other films do not show Jackie as a superstar of action and desire of every women and he doesn't want to lose that. The only way is to make himself the star. I was a hardcore fan well before "Rumble in the Bronx", the real name of the whole unedited movie is "Red Bronx". I watched the original "Police Story" until the VHS tape snapped. I lost count of how many times I watched the early years with "Drunken Master" "Young Master" and "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow". I was enthralled - there was something about Jackie that was special that went beyond stunts and acrobatics. There were a lot of years and many fantastic movies and for that I am very sincerely grateful. But things began to change a few years ago. By the time I purchased (I know, I know) "Medallion" and "Tuxedo" I began to worry about Jackie and where his films were taking him.

I am often accused of disliking a movie because Jackie is no longer able to be an action superstar. Nothing could be more from the truth. I don't want him injured or in pain because of a movie! What I don't like seeing is Jackie, well, embarrassing himself. It has to be damned difficult to age graciously when you have been so very physical all of your life. But there are still avenues open to Jackie that don't require jumping off an eleven story building to grab onto a helicopter.

Here's to many great films from Jackie and company to come! (But "The Myth" just isn't one of them.)

If you don't have it, I would give it my highest recommendation; and if you do have it, you should probably watch it at least once every year to keep good company with a well crafted story. Thanks for the time, campers, I got to peel.

"Cloverfield" is packed with high energy thrills and unyielding momentum. The story told is very simplistic, but that may add to the classic qualities of this feature. This is the best monster movie that I have seen in years. It even trumps "The Host", which is no small feat. You got a little something for everybody: action, excitement, drama, and humor. I know the whole shaky-cam thing did bother a lot of folks, but honestly I thought it was a very good device for the whole movie as it added to the frantic nature of the film while grounding it in a gritty and realistic manor that almost seems to give the monster that much more credibility.

FINAL SUMMATION: This flick is more fun than you can have with a German shepherd, a hooker, and a whole jar of peanut butter. Go check this one out. Highly entertaining, you won't be let down. Now, I got to bolt. I have to fly a 747 to England in 20 minutes and this whiskey isn't going to drink itself.

"The Iron Monkey" is one of the top wire-fu movies of its time. The special effects were great and the plot was top notch. Yu Rong Guang gives an excellent portrayal as the masked hero Iron Monkey, who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. Donnie Yen also gives an excellent performance as Wong Kai Ying, who inexplicably tries to bring the Iron Monkey to justice, but then battles a corrupt government official (traitorous ex-Shaolin monk) by his side.

Last but not least is Tse-Man's portrayal of young Wong Fei Hung. Considering that she is a girl, she gives an outstanding performance. The action is sped up in places, but on the whole this is one of the best wire-fu films for its time period. A must-have for all collectors!

Chin Kar Lok and his father travel to the city to find a better way of life. Chin's father wants him to have a good education but Yu Shu prefers to imagine himself in a fantasy life where he is the good guy saving damsels in distress. Don't worry about the first few scenes it gets a lot better! Enter 'better' known as Kim Won Jin! This man is at the top of the kicking world! And his Scorpion form, as he scuttles across the floor or ground is the best I have ever seen! It's truly a different kind of fighting that's for damn sure! If you haven't guessed by now Kim Won Jin steals the show. His first fight gives you an idea what this guy can do. Those who refuse to watch wire fu do not bother but you are really going to miss one hell of a good time! The laws of physics cannot be changed even by the bad guy. You can't make a movie like this without wires but it doesn't matter! It's great entertainment and not all is wire assisted. Kim Won Jin kicks like no one else and I mean No One!

Yu Shu (Chin Kar Lok) is young and has a temper. Most of his time in high school he is getting into trouble for drawing his hero comics or beaten up by the police chief's son. In a series of coincidences he befriends a lovely young girl in servitude to a nasty guy (the Scorpion's father) who sells women locally and abroad. Unfortunately that leads to his father getting beat up and Yu Shu is looking for some help. He finds a temporary refuge with a group of body builders at their school. Yu Shu is so impressed, especially by the instructor Little John he decides he must become his student. That is one of those nicknames that use the opposite. Little John is anything but little!

Yu Shu, his father and the ex-slave go to stay with an old friend, Lo (Lau Kar Leung) at his noodle shop and Yu Shu makes tentative steps at romancing . It must be remembered that Yu Shu's character is supposed to be high school age and cannot be expected to be super talented since he has never had any training other than in his imagination. Although Yu Shu attends a few lessons with Little John his real training begins as every day work for the restaurant.

Knowing his helper wishes to learn Kung Fu Sifu Lo uses everyday items and tasks to train the impatient Yu Shu.

Things grow worse when Yu Shu's friends maid is sold into a prostitution ring by her mother and Yu Shu and his friend get Little John to help them get her back. The big man versus the thin guy with legs that seem to go in 360 degrees is excellent. The gauche riches of the gangsters is shown well as the two square off and Little John breaks a number of things including a wall. At first Little John is quite the opponent but the villain uses his Scorpion (damn he is good!) and amazing kicking skills. The only hope now is to run away. Yu Shu and Little John make it out but the girls are trapped.

It's obvious Lau Kar Leung did a lot of the choreography and some damned good fighting as well especially his fight with the scorpion. Lau being in his fifties didn't look like he had lost a thing since the hey day of the Shaw Brothers. A truly amazing man. But of course Yu Shu needs to try out his skills against the villain and it takes everything he has been taught plus a form of his own creation, the Eel style.

Chin Kar Lok is at a decided disadvantage. No matter how much he could train or do quality acrobatics there is no getting away from the kicking Master. It's difficult to watch anyone else unless he is tearing their head off at the time. And with Lau in the film it leaves the "hero" in third place. Chin is underrated and does have martial arts skills worthy of being on film. But the star is Kim Won Jin, no one will argue with that!

There is humour added naturally but it does help lighten up the story considering it is built around selling girls/women into slavery and prostitution. But as I said earlier don't worry too much about the plot. It's there to add some comedic filler into what could have been a very dark and depressing film.

Back to the Master of kicking - he needs to make more films! I can't say enough about how astounding he really is, just wish there was more of him. I have seen every kicker anyone could name and none of them are better than Kim Won Jin. I'm familiar with wire work and using tubing. I don't think he is on any wire as the Scorpion. And there are other instances where it certainly looks like pure talent.

My only real complaint is that some scenes were shot in a hand held and the fights too close up in places. The finale fight is too dark, visually. It is supposed to be night but it makes some action difficult to see. But after you watch it a few times, and then a few times more with friends you will get the full effect.

Buy it, it's a keeper. Maybe buy two in case it wears out. : )

If the producers could have found a better actor, I believe the film would have been better. Not by much, because fans were expecting Jet and Jackie to be the main focus and not supporting characters on a mission of destiny for Michael Angarino. On the plus side, I thought the cinematography, costumes, and supporting cast in the fantasy world were good. The real world scenes left a lot to be desired due again to Angarino's personality. The plot was ambitous, about a teen transported to a land of immortals and tasked with freeing the imprisoned Monkey King. He is helped by a misfit group of companions in his quest and learns about not only kung fu but also friendship, loyalty, and life.

The Hollywood influence is clearly felt on this film. It was not what I expected, but it did keep my interest. As others have pointed out, if I saw this back in my sense-of-wonder days as a child, I would have loved it. Upon seeing it as a jaded adult, I expected more, but I did manage to enjoy what was there.