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.

In my opinion, any discussion of this movie's greatness begins with a mention of Hau Chiu Sing. This movie, in addition to "Snake Fist Vs. The Dragon", demonstrates once and for all that Hau Chiu Sing is the greatest onscreen practitioner of drunken kung fu ever. His virtuosity is simply a sight to behold; the drunken swordplay scenes may be the best put on film. His scenes alone would be enough to recommend this film.

However, this movie is more than just Hau Chiu Sing. The training and fighting scenes involving his three students are also excellent, particularly those involving the "kung fu corrector". The choreography of this film is so superb it reminds me of other classics such as "The Prodigal Son".

Furthermore, the comedic moments that accompany some of the training and fight sequences are actually funny, and the comedy is used sparingly and appropriately, unlike most of the oldschool films of this period, whose directors seemed to believe that grating non-stop slapstick was somehow appealing.

I highly recommend this gem to anyone. It is one of the all-time greats. A must-buy.

It does seem unlikely that people living in that era would have questioned the restrictions imposed on them to this degree; but the director's application of a somewhat modern perspective to the plight of lower caste samurai and citizens of mid-19th century Japan makes for a very compelling story. Highly recommended.

The basic story is that a very small group of diabolical computer hacker geniuses decide to bring the entire country to its knees by shutting down pretty much everything--yes, everything. Using their laptop. Their powers seemingly know no bounds--except when it becomes inconvenient for the story--and the big, stupid government is impotent against them. Enter New York detective John McClane (Bruce Willis), the one man in the country--the world?--physically able to survive their gauntlet and stop them. Also enter an oh-so-witty young computer hacker who is apparently the one man in the country--the world?--mentally able to outsmart them via his own computational inclinations. What are the odds that these two would wind up together? 100%. And so the two must track down the bad guys and put a stop to this madness all on their own with no help from anyone (almost).

Thankfully, in addition to that mega-powerful laptop, the bad guys have a couple martial arts prodigies on their team (of course). This provides an excuse for some really awesome fights, featuring the amazing Cyril Raffaelli ("B13"), and the ever-popular Maggie Q. But Bruce Willis is no slouch either. Despite a complete lack of formal martial arts training, his character seems able to hold his own against these two. I should note that he also fares quite well against several non-human foes, such as a fighter jet and a helicopter (in what is probably the single coolest helicopter destruction in cinema history).

All of the action sequences, however implausible, are phenomenal. My typical thought-process trajectory during an action sequence in this film went something like this:

1. This movie is retarded
2. Oh come on, they wouldn't actually...
3. Oh shit, they're actually going to...
4. Oh my god, that was the best [X] I've ever...
5. This movie is BRILLIANT!

Now, before I get ahead of myself here, I should qualify some of these comments... In addition to being one of the best action movies ever made, this is also one of the stupidest. Bruce Willis's John McClane has surpassed "superhuman" and proceeded ridiculously into "superhero". The bad guys laughably use a mobile laptop to effectively shut down the entire country in a matter of minutes. A baddie gets rammed straight into a concrete wall by an SUV at full speed, then survives to put up an acrobatic fight. And the entire plot disintegrates when we discover that the sole motivation behind the terrorist attack is money--which they can't just get electronically using their super computer wizard powers? But it seems that the filmmakers made a conscious decision to overlook these issues--and MANY more--with a little wink to the audience to let them know it was intentional. They decided to film a Wile E. Coyote cartoon rather than a logical progression of events. And the result is so blatantly over-the-top, so undeniably fun, that you won't stop grinning guiltily until the end credits roll.

This movie has everything: a multitude of weapons utilized in brilliantly choreographed scenes, great hand-to-hand combat, breathtaking acrobatics; all the physical qualities one associates with the Venoms are here.

And while the plot does evolve into one of revenge, it has much more meat to it than the standard "you killed my teacher, now I'm going to kill you" fare.

Lu Feng is at his sleazy, scheming best as the villian in this film, and he has the kung fu skills to back up his evil machinations. And unlike most Venoms films, all of them play major roles, including Sun Chien who is often inexplicably in the background in many Venoms films. His increased presence makes for some great kicking action. And though there is quite a bit of bloody violence, as usual with the Venoms, there are also some funny, lighthearted comedic moments that help to flesh out the characters and make them more than just two-dimensional killing machines.

This film is an absolute must-have for all old-school fans; it is one of the best ever. Highly recommended.

I remember being introduced to this film by a friend who kept insisting Frank Dux was an unstoppable badass and that this movie, which I was repeatedly assured was a true story, served as irrefutable evidence of that fact. Intrigued, I decided to check it out. I made the mistake of expecting a gritty, realistic, hard-hitting action drama (before you laugh, remember Van Damme was still a relative unknown at this time). Instead I sat through a movie with an unprecedented cheese factor, fight choreography reminiscent of a preschool playground tussle and a "true story" so obviously conjured out of thin air that even using the weasel words "based on actual events" was an insult to the intelligence of the viewer. The ridiculousness of the story was not helped by the asinine "Touch of Death" scene involving the breaking of bricks. The "lifting" of a line from "Enter the Dragon" about bricks not hitting back probably had Bruce Lee rolling in his grave. And if anyone was left with any doubt they were watching some cheesy crap that could only come out of the decade that was the 80s, Ogre from "Revenge of the Nerds" was given a prominent supporting role.

Forrest Whitaker must have really decided to go slumming it when he accepted his role in this travesty of modern American cinema. Or perhaps at that time he subscribed to Lo Lieh's philosophy of never turning down a movie role as long as it paid.

The worst part of this movie is the very facet that should have been its greatest strength. Obviously, in retrospect, no one should have expected anything remotely resembling acting from Van Damme. However one would think that the fight choreography would at least be up to snuff. Sadly, this is not even close to being the case. The "monkey style" on display is so bad one can only wonder what was going through the mind of the director when he decided to commit that particular scene to celluloid. Several of the fights seem to be nothing more than an excuse for Van Damme to do the splits in midair or to show off his pecs. The scene with Bolo is particularly bad. He clearly seems to be outclassed, yet he still wins, even after taking a beating and being blinded by a cheating Bolo. Evidently his teacher was more prescient than Nostradamus because it just so happens a younger Frank Dux received extensive training while blindfolded.

However, this movie deserves a 1/2 star simply because the unbelievable cheese factor is worth a few good laughs.

The first time I saw this film I was a bit skeptical because I thought it was another feminist on a grudge to kick ass. I was surprised how detailed the plot was and how each character was driven to kill. It was a mind-blowing experience for me. This film takes no time to set up, with hacking and slashing at the get-go, and there is no stopping this killing machine until the final reel. Though with all this violence in this open hell world, there is some essence of beauty--for example how the wind was blown right before a kill or how there were gardens of flowers in many shots.

"Azumi" was successful to the mainstream audience for two reasons: for its over-the-top violence and its simple shots of beauty which gave the audience hope that these characters could make it out alive. "Azumi" is a wild and gory experince, but once in awhile if you look away from the violent acts you can see something nice.

This is a 4-star recommended movie for everyone and yet I have not yet achieved my goal of getting the comic. But just thinking about this film, I can't wait to get my hands on one.

This was one of those movies that wound up being a pain in the ass for me to acquire so everyone got to see it before me. It was worth the wait though. Thanks to one of my cats on this site I found out that the American title of this flick is "The Challenge" and that information alone made it easier to obtain. The plot, setting and fight frequency of this film are kind of like a combination of "Fist of the North Star" and "Fist of Legend". Very comic book like, in fact the US version is released by Dark Horse. The martial arts choreography was very enjoyable. German fu, I had to see it to believe it. Very sweet. Hell, I think it's cool any time that one of the main characters' trademark moves is a 720. The post-apocalyptic setting was a nice touch for the atmosphere of the film and, combined with the excellent kung fu (with some decent stick and staff combat included), a central message that is based in honor and duty, and a couple very beautiful women to behold this movie is quite the treat for the senses. I would recommend it to the very few of you left who haven't seen it yet and the even fewer of you folks who still trust my judgment.

Well that about does it, campers. 81 reviews, over 150 comments and I got to talk all the shit that I wanted to. It's been real. Thank you to many of you that have read and followed my stuff. F*** you to those of you who didn't or just didn't get it. I hope that all of you find what you are searching for in life. To Jay Lee, JV, Choco and others that I failed to mention--thanks a lot. You guys were awesome. Keep your blades sharp, players. Well, I said my piece. I'm out. BASTARD RONIN HAS LEFT THE BUILDING.

The movie "Brave" showcases his style in two good action scenes. The memorable one is inside a construction site where he dodges and kicks the hell out of people. Also in that scene there is a spectacular stunt where Mike B. jumps off the building and catches an iron rod hanging from the ledge. It was impressive, because Mike B. does his own stunts too. The second good fight is at the end where he kicks and punches his way out of the building.

"Brave" has some good action set pieces, but where that delivers everything else just fails. The story is about a young man who is forced by the mafia to steal a bank's client data in exchange for his brother's life and discovers he and his brother have been set up. It sounds simple reading it, but following it is confusing. The writer adds subplots about Mike B's fat brother which make no sense or give any added detail about the characters. There is a lot of double crossing in a movie that shouldn't have any double crossing set-up to begin with. The majority of the people that are going to watch this film are martial arts fans. The director and writer should have taken that into consideration. In "Brave" we have some nice action pieces but the story and acting are horrible. Also with "Brave" we don't get an ending, well not a clear ending--it simply just ends.

This film is a mess but I did enjoy the two action pieces. "Brave" is not a movie to get hyped up about. Aside from the two action pieces, you still have 72 minutes of a confusing story to follow. Mike B. is very talented and hopefully with his next movie it shows.

Reviews so far seem to be divided into two camps: "zero stars" or "five stars". It is my suspicion that the "zero stars" reviewers went into this film expecting a "straight" action film, and as such were insulted by what could easily be misconstrued as an illogical, mindless procession of action insanity. The "five star" critics, on the other hand, may have instead allowed the movie to define itself, as it most brazenly does, as one of the best dark comedy satires ever made.

The general premise is that Clive Owen plays some type of nearly invincible modern-day gunslinger. He accidentally gets sucked into an overly elaborate plot between an endless supply of bad guys (headed by an unexpectedly-cast Paul Giamatti) and a newborn baby whom they want to kill, having already offed its mother. Clive must now protect the baby--with the help of a prostitute (Monica Bellucci) who conveniently specializes in lactation fetishes--and himself from the constant barrage of baddies and their bullets.

But the plot is really irrelevant.

Things start within the first few minutes, when Owen begins a massive gun battle with dozens of bad guys--WHILE DELIVERING THE BABY. After it's born, he "cuts" the umbilical cord by shooting through it. If you can't see the crystal clear humor in this ludicrous sequence of events, then this movie is not for you. If you can, then you're in for a treat; because this movie has it in spades. What ensues is basically 90 minutes of Clive Owen performing ridiculously impossible feats via some of the most hilarious, fun, and exciting action sequences ever filmed. It's a rollercoaster ride that you will never forget. And even if you're just in it for the action, you'll be pleasantly surprised to see that it more than gives the best output of John Woo a run for its money.

Writer/director Michael Davis has redefined both the comedy and action genres here, with a prodigious flair for--well, seemingly everything. We can't wait to see what he does next.