A low budget and painfully stupid film, but chock full of kung fu goodness. As the title of the film implies, this is a movie solely about stick fighting. All sorts of sticks are represented, from the traditional staff, to twin short sticks, the long staff, the iron rod, the three-sectional whip, and anything else stick-like. It has nothing to do with Shaolin kung fu and the "Shaolin" of the title is nothing but a cheap marketing ploy. The story is exceedingly simple: a villain and master stick fighter (Chang Yi) is going around killing all the other stick fighters he meets to prove his superiority. The elders of the Chan family hear about this and expel the heir to the family stick (Wong Tao) in order to protect him. Confused and penniless, Wong roams the countryside searching for the meaning the life until he realizes what's going on and trains to kill Yi. He also meets up with the beautiful and highly flexible Hsia Kwan Lee who gets to show off her talents all too briefly. As a side note, this film features the largest collection of asymmetrical and bad looking moustaches I've ever seen. Wow. The stick fighting sequences are excellent, although spoiled by the extremely annoying dropped-frame editing technique. Unfortunately, the stuff in between the fight scenes is intolerable drivel that will make you scramble for the fast forward button.
Ashes Of Time (product link) Swordplay/Sword(s) / Art ACC best described this as "chop-socky for the art theater crowd" - not my kind of thing. It even has that annoying art film narrative sound quality. And even though Sammo Hung directed the martial arts sequences, they're mostly filmed in blur-motion so you can't tell what's going on. Yeah, it's art, but it's annoying! And the story? Something about the human condition and the futility of everything. Very moody, depressing, and non-linear. Fine performances by everybody - Tony Leung (Chiu Wai) is great as the going-blind swordsman, Charlie Young is beautiful as a helpless and despondant villager, Maggie Cheung is wonderfully depressing as well. Only Leslie Cheung's performance seems to fall flat, but maybe that was intended. Overall - not bad filmmaking, just tedious.
AWFUL! Apart from a half dozen well orchestrated kung fu brawls, this film is an atrocity. Polly Shang Kwan and Sam Hui are a couple of con artists who end up befriending a family of street venders and entertainers. But money is always a problem - one of the young girls has her school fees stolen by thugs, the family car breaks down, the landlord is raising the rent, and one of the girls' sleazy boyfriends has a large gambling debt. So Ms. Kwan (who portrays a man for the entire film!!!) lies, cheats, and steals to come up with the cash that everyone needs. Things get more serious when triad thugs kidnap the schoolgirl and sell her to a nasty gang boss, killing Carter Wong in the process. Then the group devises a plan - they decide to dress up Ms. Kwan as a girl (!) and sell her and lovely Angela Mao to the gangsters in order to infiltrate the organization and free their friend. A furious kung fu frenzy goes down with Ms. Kwan and Ms. Mao beating the crap out of the evil bad guys. The film ends with Polly proclaiming that she really is a girl, much to the astonishment of the entire cast. Ugh.
Okay, we've seen this "girl dresses as boy and fools everyone" gag dozens (and maybe hundreds) of times, but this time it's painfully obvious. Polly Shang Kwan is too cute and far too busty to come off as a man. Especially in the tight early 70's fashions that she's wearing. Even in loose fitting clothes you can tell she has a sizeable chest. And to have her pretend to be a man for the entire film? What's the point?!? And then there's the mind-boggling aspect of having her pose as a girl in order to fool the bad guys? What could the filmmakers possibly be thinking? "We need a woman to play the part of a man so that we can have her pose as a woman in the last twenty minutes of the film, and then she can surprise everyone by actually being a woman in the first place." Sure, it makes perfect sense... But regardless of what gender she's supposed to be, she and angelic Angela Mao kick glorious ass throughout the film, and they're the ONLY reason to sit through this abomination - or at least fast forward through it.
Donnie Yen is a troubled and jaded professional assassin named Cat. Ironically, he's stalking a beautiful young woman (Annie Wu) who just so happens to be one of the police officers that's trying to bust him. Having grown tired of the killing business, he decides to take that fateful "one last job" and then settle down. It turns out that the last job gets a bit messy, as an old enemy from Cat's past shows up and a vendetta plays out. Annie and her roommate get caught in the crossfire of this testosterone fueled feud, but fortunately manage to survive. The guys aren't so lucky...
I admire Donnie Yen a lot and I really wanted to like this film. Unfortunately, it's a jumbled mess due to incoherent writing and confusing editing. Donnie once again proves that he has a good cinematic eye, and the look and feel of the film are great. His choice of lighting, angles, and filters is stunning and stylish - one might even consider this an action art film. Donnie also flexes his acting muscles a bit, giving a convincing portrayal of a distraught and moody killer who is utterly alone in the world. The action in the film is very wild and over-the-top, giving the film a very cartoony, or anime feeling. The gunplay in the film is outrageous, and even though I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to gun physics, seeing a revolver fire no less than thirty rounds without being reloaded bothered me. The brief kung fu sequences are pretty cool, but invasive editing spoils their flair a bit. However, the biggest disappointment in the kung fu department is seeing Yu Rong Guang and Michael Woods show up for cameos and not duke it out with Donnie. Talk about dashed expectations! All of the over-the-top filmmaking is perfectly complemented by a melancholic and melodramatic musical score, completing the mood and making the film seem even more like live action anime. I even liked the story and the characters quite a bit, but the dialog is confusing and often times just bad. Definitely a mixed bag, but one worth sitting through at least once.
A bit of a letdown after seeing the totally kick-ass trailer, but still a fine piece of entertainment. Lau Ching Wan is an intense, hot tempered cop (hey, there's a surprise) who gets transferred to another unit after beating up his backstabbing superior. His rough reputation wins him the respect and admiration of his new teammates, except for Jordan Chan who is disgusted by his impulsiveness and lack of discipline. This sets up the formulaic rivalry for the rest of the story. Naturally, this mismatched team breaks open a huge case involving drug runners Yu Rong Guang and Anthony Wong by breaking the rules and disobeying their superiors. Jordan loosens up a bit and everyone gets treated like heroes by the end of the film.
A welcome surprise from Hong Kong as this is a great looking and great sounding big budget action thriller with very high production values. Unfortunately, as Hong Kong productions become glossier and more professional looking, the stories become less interesting and more clichéd. The action pieces are exciting and well staged, but seem a little too sparse for me. There's all of ninety seconds of kung fu goodness dealt out by action veteran Yu Rong Guang, but it's quite rewarding. It's not a stretch to see Yu Rong Guang and Anthony Wong playing evil gang bosses - they look natural and confident in their roles, and fortunately they don't have to resort to psychotic antics to validate their bad-guy status. Lau Ching Wan is also in a typecast role, but he still comes off as being genuine and fresh. Cute and perky Theresa Lee is a welcome sight, but she doesn't get enough opportunities to be tough. In the funny subtitles department, we see that "Don't fuck it up this time" is translated as "No more games." Very amusing. Overall I'd say it's a good police thriller and a good way to satisfy a Hong Kong action fix.
The Big Heat [1988] (product link) Action/Adventure / Crime A graphically grim and gritty police thriller featuring an intense and brooding Waise Lee as the obsessed officer in charge of a murder/smuggling case that left his undercover friend dead. Additionally, his trigger hand freezes up in high stress situations due to either an injury (with a drill!) or a nervous medical condition - it's not made clear. Pretty Joey Wang is available as a nurse, and she gets to run around and scream a lot. Very good looking and well made, but has some rather extreme lighting and a musical score that's all over the place. There are also some extremely over-the-top blood and brutality scenes, which is where the film really pays off.
Pretty awful in every sense of the word. I would have given this piece of Hong Kong schlock a one-star rating, except that the film takes a radical turn for the better in the final thirty minutes. Woody (loud-mouthed Jordan Chan) and Bee are a couple of young punks who work at a disreputable video store in the mall. They spend their days goofing off, getting in trouble, flirting with girls, and acting tough - until zombies start showing up, that is. Apparently, the US has developed a new biochemical that creates zombies (undoubtedly for military purposes), and it accidentally gets unleashed in Hong Kong. Woody and Bee, as well as a handful of others, get trapped in the mall one evening, which is teeming with zombies. Fortunately, they've been playing "The House Of The Dead" in their spare time and quickly figure out how to deal with the undead fiends (I'm not kidding). The entire first hour plays out as a monumentally bad sit-com and is downright dreadful to sit through. I nearly turned it off at least a dozen times, but I somehow managed to persevere. Then suddenly towards the end of the film, it shifts gears and starts taking itself seriously, playing out like a typical horror film as the remaining heroes show their true colors and make a grand stand for survival. The burdens of social status and the imposed confinement of society fall away, with the resulting anarchy bringing out the (potential) hero in everyone. Jordan Chan the cowardly loud-mouthed braggard is detestable, but Jordan Chan the stoic kick-ass zombie slayer is truly admirable. Also in the admirable category is Rolls (Angela Tong), the snobby bitch who works in the beauty parlor. She is totally HOT, and the camera is keenly aware of that fact. Unless you have a high threshold for abusive stupidity, do yourself a favor and just skip to the end.
Black Cat [1991] (product link) Action/Adventure / Girls With Guns Another retread of "La Femme Nikita" featuring Jade Leung as the femme fatale and Simon Yam as her mentor. A rather butch Jade Leung gives a fine performance, but her character wasn't sensual enough to keep me interested. (actually, I liked Bridget Fonda's portrayal in "Point Of No Return" more) Average action fare, but kind of disappointing...
A stone-faced zombie Jade Leung (with a bad haircut) returns as Erica, the computer controlled assassin from the original, and this time her memory has been wiped and she's hardly human at all. She does little more than parade around in a short black dress (which isn't bad), stare blankly, and widen her eyes occasionally. She finally smiles and speaks briefly 70 minutes into the film and is immediately carted away for some "corrective surgery". (The number of speaking lines she has may be fewer than Arnold Schwarzenegger's in "The Terminator") Robin Shou is a welcome sight as the CIA officer assigned to work with Black Cat, but he doesn't get to show off his talents, and repeatedly gets his ass kicked. Lots of light B-movie action, but nothing overly satisfying. The martial arts sequences are slow, sloppy, and poorly choreographed and the chase scenes lack vitality. On the plus side, the film looks great and has an excellent soundtrack (in Dolby stereo, even!). Filmed exclusively in Russia and America with a primarily American cast (!!!), and the Russian locales are really gorgeous. The rest of the film just falls a little short and never kicks into high gear. You'd never guess it was a Hong Kong film!
Odd. A well made and great looking action film, but the pro-China propaganda gets heavy-handed and tiresome very quickly. Lao Wen Zhiou is a Chinese anti-terrorist soldier who gets transferred to the Chinese embassy in a country called Lavernia, which lies on the border of Russia. The Lavernians are generally nasty people with absolutely terrible English dubbed voices who don't like Asians and plot to frame Zhiou's team after they deal with a slippery Japanese fanatical criminal. Confusing? At times. But the Chinese persevere and come out on top, even though it costs Zhiou the life of his cute, shrieking girlfriend. Very uneven. Lao Wen Zhiou finally gets to show off his fighting expertise, and he looks great. His movements are very fluid and graceful, and he's beautiful to watch in action (he must be a fine dancer). Ching Siu Tung's action choreography is excellent and the action pieces are exciting to watch, but often times hilariously excessive. (there's one scene where Zhiou shoots a guy out of a tree and continues to plug at least twenty rounds into him as he's falling - it made me laugh really hard) Just what is this film trying to say? It just barely works as an action film because the biased political slant drags it down so much. Interesting once, but keep your thumb on the fast forward button the second time through.
Blade Of Fury (product link) Martial Arts / Swordplay/Sword(s) A beautiful big budget period piece with lots of great swordplay and kung fu going on. Government official Ti Lung, his perky assistant Nine Catties (Cynthia Khan), and a despondant swordsman (Yeung Fan), go up against a group of corrupt and greedy government officials. A great looking film, with an exceptionally intense performance by Ti Lung. Also, it's a treat to see Cynthia Khan playing a non-police officer role, even though she gets blown up at the end of the film. The fighting is well executed, but many of the shots are so severely undercranked that they just look silly, which is a real shame. It also features a couple of "oh my god" shots featuring a horse jumping off of a cliff into a river and another horse running head-on into an adobe wall. Ouch!
A supernatural fantasy period piece, this film is highly critically acclaimed, but I just didn't enjoy it that much. It looks great and the chemistry between Brigitte Lin and Leslie Cheung is good, but the film just doesn't seem to come together. Leslie Cheung is an apathetic master swordsman who loses interest in the constant bloodshed of warring clans. Semi-supernatural Brigitte Lin is with the enemy, and the two of them manage to fall for each other's charms and enter into a relationship of forbidden love. This doesn't please either of their families, and nasty plots of betrayal are set into motion. But Leslie Cheung commits the ultimate sin by not trusting his lover, which turns her into a bitter and vengeful white-haired witch. He realizes too late who the real enemy is and goes into seclusion for the next ten years to atone for his sin. An erotic kung fu movie made for girls who don't like kung fu movies.
Ten years have passed since the original, and Brigitte Lin has become a cold hearted villainous murderer, killing any man she sees and taking in wayward girls who have been wronged by men. Naturally, she comes between two young lovers and snatches the girl away while slaughtering the rest of the castle's inhabitants. What few survivors remain plan to rescue the girl and destroy the white haired witch, but are hopelessly overpowered by her and her nasty minions. Leslie Cheung finally shows up at the end of the film to atone for his sins by presenting his love with the magic flower from the first film that blooms only once every ten years and they die in each other's arms as the palace goes up in flames. Great to look at, with some wonderful scenes of flaming destruction, but rather light on substance. Tomboy Christy Chung steals the show and is extremely sexy and dashing - too bad she bites it at the end.
The ultimate feng shui action movie, as odd as that sounds. Through feng shui, or geomancy, good fortune and harmony with nature can be achieved with the proper orientation of objects. In this case, ancestral burial locations ensure the wealth and/or success of future generations. After his power-mad brother chooses an ill-fated burial site for power, master geomancer Corey Yuen hides his research and flees with the help of a loyal servant. He promises to bury the servant in a "wealth" position and ensures that he himself is buried in a "wisdom" position. His son turns out to be the famous Chinese adventurer, Wisely (Chin Kar Lok), and the servant's daughter (Moon Lee) grows up to be the wealthy president of a major American computer corporation. But after twenty-five years, their good fortunes turn for the worse and they visit their ancestral burial grounds with the aid of a bumbling, but likeable, feng shui professor (director Tang Chi Li) in order to set things right. The only problem is that the burial site is located in a militant backwater Asian country run by a crazed dictator (villainous Yuen Wah - surprise, surprise) who has his own feng shui plans for world domination. His militant sister (Sibelle Hu) doesn't agree with his rash tactics and eventually aids our heroes in resolving their ancestral problems, leading to an all-out kung fu/gun fighting frenzy. Naturally, the good guys win.
A bizarre and off-center film, but thoroughly enjoyable. Extremely high production values (especially for a Hong Kong production), and exquisite use of lighting and gradient filters give the film a beautiful cinematic texture. The action scenes are well staged and exciting to watch, and the kung fu is top notch. Even the rather chubby Tang Chi Li pulls off some incredible fight maneuvers. It's nice to see both Chin Kar Lok and Cho Wing in starring roles for a change, as they are extremely agile performers. Their fight scenes are amazing to watch - very graceful and very energetic. For the most part, Moon Lee just plays a beautiful corporate executive, but by the end of the film she's swinging around an AK-47 and trading kicks just like everyone else. Very cool.
Hong Kong's big budget action spectacle of 2000. Darren and Alex (pop star Aaron Kwok and Wang Leehom) are police officers in Shanghai who are investigating a murder that's connected to a drug smuggling operation. Tony (Mark Dacascos) is a young upstart who's tired of dealing in legitimate business, and hooks up with drug boss Coolio from the US. Drop dead gorgeous Japanese model Norika Fujiwara is an undercover cop who has her own score to settle with Coolio. The good guys finally manage to cooperate with each other long enough to take down Tony and Coolio in a completely over-the-top fight sequence on top of a piece of glass that's suspended forty stories in the air.
About what you would expect from a Stanley Tong action film - big budget, well executed, and a bit outlandish. And much like Stanley's last few films (such as "Supercop" (1992), "Rumble In The Bronx" (1995), and "First Strike" (1996)), "China Strike Force" has a bit too much of an American feel to it. Fortunately, the fighting is very good, thanks to the agile and physically expressive Aaron Kwok, and the wushu expertise of underrated Mark Dacascos. Even the annoying Coolio gets in some impressive and convincing chops. Norika Fujiwara is an amazing combination of feminine grace and beauty, coupled with raw physical strength and untamed aggression. Seductive and deadly, her penetrating stare would kill you just as easily as her foot in your face. Norika clearly owns every scene that she's in, and it's a shame she doesn't she more action and more screen time. Sadly, for all the great things going on in this film, it's full of minor dissappointments. First of all, Coolio's character is a constant irritant. Whether that's his fault, I'm not sure, but I'm thankful that he was subtitled because most of his slurred English is incomprehensible (even though many of the subtitles are laughably off). The annoying rap soundtrack is also inappropriate and spoils the tone. In the action department, many of the action scenes are spoiled to the point of absurdity by outlandish and awkward looking wire stunts and digital effects. This unfortunately makes the film look more campy and tacky than it should be. With digital wire removal becoming cheaper and easier to employ, even Chinese filmmakers are getting lazy and uninventive. Just because you can perform a wire stunt doesn't mean that you should. Wire stunts should be used sparingly in order to support the illusion of something amazing, not to create something that clearly looks impossible (especially in a contemporary action film where people shouldn't be able to defy gravity). Just because you can make a wire invisible in post production doesn't mean that the end result is believable - it more often just looks like somebody hanging from an invisible thread, which has the same overall effect as seeing the wires in the first place. Hopefully, filmmakers will get over this fad and go back to being more clever and judicious with their use of this technology in the future. It's still good entertainment with some truly jaw dropping stunts, but fans of classic raw Hong Kong action may be disappointed.
A Chinese Ghost Story 2 (product link) Horror / Ghost This movie continues where part one left off and even surpasses the original while maintaining the same look and feel. Our hapless hero (Leslie Cheung) escapes from prison and ends up at yet another haunted house, where he meets a wandering Taoist monk (Jacky Cheung), a woman who looks like his beloved ghost from the first film (Joey Wang), and a soul eating tree monster that just will not die. Beautiful Michelle Reis is also on hand to vie for Leslie Cheung's attention. The whole thing ends with an outrageous battle pitting our heroes against a giant flying centipede. Cool stuff once you get past the goofy humor.
A Chinese Ghost Story 3 (product link) Horror / Ghost Very cool. By far the best looking film of the series. The effects are awsome and the flying sequences are amazing. However, the film bogs down in places and is downright dull at times (just like the first two). It's one hundred years after the original film and the tree demon from that movie has been reincarnated. Joey Wang is up to her usual tricks as a ghost trying to seduce unsuspecting men, but this time she's got her busty sister Nina Li to compete with. Bumbling Buddhist monk Tony Lueng is the victim this time, and after getting repeatedly tongued by both of the ladies (lucky bastard) he eventually falls for Ms. Wang. But the tree demon is up to no good and it's up to Wang, Leung, and swordsman Jacky Cheung to put it out of commission. Fun stuff, with the highlight being the "tongue cam" as Joey Wang's tongue explores Tony Leung's throat and stomach.
Painfully stupid. People should not be allowed to make movies like this - ever. I actually found myself yelling at the screen and covering my ears on several occasions while watching this atrocity. Some guy has some microfilm to incriminate a powerful triad leader. FBI agent Cynthia Rothrock wants to get to him before the bad guys do, and she follows him to Hong Kong where she is forced to work with a couple of idiot CID inspectors on the case. Then there's about an hour of pointless comedy crap as the cops play practical jokes on Cindy and try to seduce the suspect's sister. God, it's dreadful, and it just keeps getting worse. Thankfully, there's a minimally rewarding kung fu climax at the end when Japanese yakuza boss Michiko Nishiwaki shows up to get the microfilm. She's ultra cool as a Japanese baddie, and strangely enough all of her henchmen are familiar Hong Kong gweilos, including blondie Mark Houghton. Cynthia looks good and the three or four fights she gets into are pretty decent, but unless you're a die-hard Cynthia Rothrock fan, leave this one on the shelf.
City On Fire [1987] (product link) Action/Adventure / Drama Source material for Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs". In fact, some of the scenes in "Reservoir Dogs" are ripped off shot-for-shot from this film. Danny Lee is an honorable crook who gets involved in a jewel heist that goes terribly wrong. Chow Yun Fat is a timid cop who goes undercover to bust the crooks, only to befriend Danny Lee and ultimately betray him. Chow Yun Fat not very engaging, but Danny Lee is surprisingly charismatic. The film also features Carrie Ng in her film debut.
One of Sammo Hung's misfires, this is a long and tedious horror comedy along the same lines as "Encounter Of The Spooky Kind" (1980). Fatboy (Sammo Hung) is a bumbling young man who works for his elderly uncle (Lam Ching Ying) who's a Taoist priest (hey, there's a stretch). When Lucho, one of Fatboy's friends, mysteriously turns up dead, he's determined to find the cause. However, it's just an elaborate ruse in order for Lucho to cash in on his own funeral. Along the way, Lucho's co-conspirators find out that they'd be better off if Lucho were really dead, so they kill him. Lucho's ghost pleads with Fatboy to avenge his death and much silliness goes down. In the final twenty minutes the film takes a radical twist as Fatboy's fiancée (pretty Cherrie Chung) takes on the dangerous task of rescuing Fatboy's lost soul. A lot of bizarro Chinese mysticism comes into play here as Uncle and Cherrie prepare to trick Hell's guardians into freeing Fatboy's soul. The oddest is that when Fatboy gets turned into a beetle, the only way to hide from the hell spirits is to be wrapped in his wife's sanitary napkin. Ahem. Hey, I don't make this stuff up. Anyway, the pacing is slow and the humor is awkward and unfunny, but the wirework is astounding and the two or three obligatory kung fu brawls are quite satisfying.
A period kung fu piece that has the look and feel of a 70's chop-socky flick with a musical score lifted straight from a 1950's Ray Harryhausen film. Kinda lame, but highlighted by some well executed displays of Chinese and Japanese fighting styles. Yu Rong Guang fights well as a Japanese pirate who wants to learn "Dog Style Fist" from Cynthia Khan. It's good to see Ms. Khan in period dress (and she looks great) and for the most part she performs very well. A couple of fight shots seem sluggish, but her swordplay is fantastic. Production-wise, not big budget, but the scenery and vistas are great. Unfortunately several fight scenes were shot under really low lighting so you can't see what's going on at all (however, the DVD is much better in this regard). And finally, American Dale "Apollo" Cook shows up to fight Yu Rong Guang - maybe as part of an exchange program with Ms. Khan to do "Fist Of Steel"?
Deadful Melody (product link) Martial Arts / Fantasy I really don't remember much about this film except that it was supposedly Brigitte Lin's final performance before retiring. There's a magical lyre that everyone is trying to get their hands on because it empowers the owner with god-like destructive power. It seems like Brigitte Lin is the only one who can play it, though, and after she obtains it much destruction ensues. A throw away role for Ms. Lin that's just a shadow of her "Asia The Invincible" role from the "Swordsman" series. It's also an unremarkable outing for Yuen Biao, who plays a bumbling swordsman. Instantly forgettable genre fluff.
The Dragon Chronicles: The Maidens Of Heavenly Mountains (product link) Martial Arts / Fantasy A gorgeous fantasy piece full of magic, super-human martial arts, state of the art special effects, and feminine sensuality. The sets and costumes are marvelous and the cinematography takes great advantage of them. Gong Li is seductively alluring, Brigitte Lin is seductively bitchy, and Cheung Man is enchantingly cute and lively. It's delightful to watch all of them fight, fly around, and pose. This movie is what Tsui Hark's "Zu, Warriors From The Magic Mountain" could have been if the money and technology had been available.
Dragon Forever (product link) Action/Adventure / Comedy Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao at their very best. The final fight between Jackie and Benny Urquidez is amazing. This time around Jackie Chan is a kung fu lawyer and he bands together with a con-man Sammo Hung and a deranged war vet Yuen Biao. Nasty Yuen Wah is making narcotics and our three heroes have to stop him while dealing with the female leads at the same time.
The East Is Red [1993] (product link) Swordplay/Sword(s) / Martial Arts
Another spectacular looking fantasy period piece from producer Tsui Hark, focusing on Brigitte Lin's patented "Asia The Invincible" character and his/her conquest to take over the world of martial arts. He/She takes on the Ming Dynasty, the Japanese, the Spanish, and a handful of fake Asia The Invincibles who have sprung up since his/her disappearance at the end of "Swordsman II". One of these imposters is Asia The Invincible's lover, played by a surprisingly sultry and exciting Joey Wang who does some gender-bending of her own. She gets it on with a seductive Jean Wang with sensual lesbian energy (whew!). Sadly, that's the last we see of Jean Wang, who turns out to be an enemy ninja spy! Yu Rong Guang is quite engaging as a Chinese government officer, but doesn't get to do much real fighting - all of the fighting tends to be supernatural, magical, and lots of flying around. Gorgeous to watch, except that some of the warship miniatures look a little embarrassing. They work, though. The first eighteen minutes of the film is a shoddy recap of the first two films in an aborted attempt to bring the viewer up to speed.
Easy Money (product link) Romance / Mystery An unbelievably bad caper film from girls 'n' guns experts D & B Productions, featuring Michelle Yeoh as a high class, spoiled rich, millionaire crook who doesn't have any fight scenes! In fact, there is no fighting or gunplay in the film whatsoever! Who would have thought? This film is little more than an excuse for Ms. Yeoh to strut around in expensive clothes and even more expensive cars, and to play off the suave charms of George Lam who's investigating her case. Kent Cheng plays a surprisingly hard ass cop who's relentlessly tailing Ms. Yeoh, but even he can't save the film from its mind numbing tedium.
Shannon Lee, the daughter of the dragon, tears up the screen in her Hong Kong action film debut. Her fight scenes are superb and she takes a hefty beating by the end of the film (but rest assured - she also dishes out a good amount of punishment). I read in an interview that Benny Urquidez trained her extremely hard, but she never allowed a stunt double to take a punch for her. Bravo! And speaking of Benny - man, is he looking old. He can still put up a good fight, but he's just downright creepy (or even more so than he used to be). The film has a lot of exciting moments, but unfortunately, it's annoyingly stupid. The incidental plot revolves around a diamond heist that's being pulled off by Michael Wong and his expert team, including assassin Shannon Lee. Anita Yuen and the annoying pimp from "Fox Hunter" (Jordan Chan) are petty thieves that get to the diamond first, and then all hell breaks loose, resulting in an explosive display of blood and bullets. The action scenes are tight and well staged, but overly silly - a recent trend for Corey Yuen it seems. But where the film really falls apart is in the atrocious dialog and the painfully unfunny and out of place humor provided by Anita Yuen and her boyfriend. Another thing that rubbed me wrong were several moments where Ms. Lee emulated her father, which resulted in an awkward combination of parody, tribute, and raw exploitation. Weird. Otherwise, it's a very well made and good looking film, taking full advantage of some beautiful locales in the Czech Republic. Another oddity is that the majority of the film is dubbed in English, what with Michael Wong, Shannon Lee, and Benny Urquidez all being fluent in it. Yet another mixed bag from the turbulent Hong Kong film industry.
Executioners (product link) Fantasy / Girls With Guns A somewhat disappointing sequel set in a post nuclear holocaust future where the world's water supply is controlled by a super psycho villain (Anthony Wong). Maggie Cheung is quite a letdown, being more of a hippie than a rocker like she was in the first film (although she looks great in the final fight scene), and a reformed Michelle Yeoh only ends up being savagely killed at the end of the film. We do, however, get to see Anita Mui rip the head off of a rat and drink its blood, though.
Oddly, the domestic version doesn't bring up the issue of Thief Catcher (Maggie Cheung) being pregnant, making the bathing sequences vague and confusing.
Fire Dragon (product link) Martial Arts / Fantasy Another fine looking effort from director Yuen Woo Ping full of flying femmes, fire (lots of fire), and some amazing swordplay and fight choreography. Brigitte Lin proves that she is still a potent actress and effortlessly shifts between being a savage and cunning martial arts villainess and being a frail common villager. The main assistant to the head villain is impossibly beautiful (her establishing shot is breathtaking!) and Woo Ping does a good job of convincing us that she and Brigitte Lin are great fighters. Max Mok pulls off some nice swordplay and Sandra Ng hangs around to lighten the tone with her silliness. Uncharacteristic of Woo Ping's films, he utilizes some blur motion techniques in a few fight scenes which cheapens their look and impact, but otherwise it's great!
First Shot (product link) Crime / Action/Adventure A strong and gritty police action/drama centered around police corruption in 1970's Hong Kong. A strong cast with strong characters, coupled with a good story and spirited action sequences. Police officer Ti Lung is part of an anti-corruption task force who gets shot by one of his crooked fellow officers (Simon Yam). Upon rehabiltation, he hooks up with a great looking Maggie Cheung, two rookie officers (Chin Kar Lok?), and the turncoat Simon Yam (who remains a good guy for the rest of the film). They all go after the root of the problem, a nasty crime boss played by Waise Lee (the role he was born to play). Great fighting and gunplay with powerful performances. A great movie, but a little too gritty and hard edged for my tastes.
Flying Dagger (product link) Martial Arts / Comedy Another amazingly stupid period action piece from scriptwriter Wong Jing. Nearly as bad as "Holy Weapon" with many of the same cast members. It's always a treat to see Cheung Man swinging a sword around, and her young assistant (Gloria Yip) is adorably inviting. Maggie Cheung is also seductively cute, but her fighting is just plain silly. Both Jacky Cheung and Tony Leung are painfully goofy, but their fighting is pretty good. There are, however, some nice effects, including a self motivated severed hand (a la "Thing" from "The Addams Family") that saves the day.
Fong Sai Yuk (product link) Martial Arts / Comedy This film was my introduction to wushu champion Jet Li, and I was astonished. Jet Li plays legendary folk hero Fong Sai Yuk, who is an incredible athlete and a reknowned kung fu fighter. It turns out that his dad is part of a secret society that's trying to overthrow the government, and our heroes soon catch the attention of a super villainous Lao Wen Zhiou. An excellent film in all regards, full of furious kung fu action, light-hearted humor, heart-breaking melodrama, and tender romance. Fong Sai Yuk's mother (Josephine Siao) is an absolute riot, and she nearly steals the show. Beautiful Michelle Reis provides a love interest for Jet Li, and their chemistry is innocently magical. Great stuff.
Fong Sai Yuk 2 (product link) Comedy / Martial Arts A fun and good looking sequel, but not nearly as engaging as the original. Jet Li returns as the charming Fong Sai Yuk and his mother, played by Josephine Siao, gets a much larger portion of the action this time around. She's great! Michelle Reis returns as Fong Sai Yuk's sweetheart, although now her love is being contested by a cunning and seductive Amy Kwok. Ms. Reis actually fights in this one! Good fighting and set pieces, but it lacks heart and purpose.
Quite honestly, I was surprised. Stephen Chiau turns in a restrained performance in this quirky James Bond spoof. A national treasure of China, a giant dinosaur skull, is stolen by "the man with a golden gun" and pork vender spy-on-the-side Stephen Chiau is assigned to track it down. Unfortunately for him, his boss is the evil villain behind the whole thing and he sends his adopted daughter (Anita Yuen) out to kill Chiau. She reluctantly starts falling for his good intentions and innocent bumbling, and eventually ends up helping him. Everyone but Chiau plays it completely straight in this film, and he's more of a clumsy, but lucky, idiot than anything. Not overly funny (but it has its moments), but at least it never gets downright stupid and intolerable like so many other Hong Kong comedies do. Surprisingly bloody and graphically brutal scenes play side by side with deadpan comedy, which is interesting to see. Pauline Chan with a gun is wonderful, and Anita Yuen is pretty tough with a gun as well. Unfortunately, she's just a little too butch and plain looking to be really exciting, but she still does a great job.
Full Contact (product link) Action/Adventure / Crime Slow at times, but contains a healthy portion of vicious and brutal violence. Great cinematography and fine performances by all of the crazed actors - Chow actually fights (and pretty well!) and Simon plays the homosexual mob boss with flair and grim intensity. And, Chow Yun Fat's girlfriend (Anne Bridgewater) is a knockout, too.
Future Cops (product link) Comedy / Science Fiction This film is a ridiculous take on the characters from the "Street Fighter II" video game. Now I understand why everyone dislikes Wong Jing as a filmmaker. The endless stream of slapstick is ludicrous and tiresome, and the fighting (what little there is) is outrageous. However, Chingmy Yau and Charlie Young are wonderful to watch (as always), and the guy who plays "Ken" (Dior Cheng) is impossibly handsome. Also note that there is a frightfully realistic scene of Andy Lau ripping a live snake's gall bladder out and then eating it. Ugh!
Toho was so disappointed by Tri-Star's treatment of their star player in Roland Emmerich's and Dean Devlin's "Godzilla" (1998) that they resecured the rights to the franchise and brought the big guy back for his 23rd big screen appearance. Apparently the film did so well in Japan that Sony decided to import it for American audiences as "Godzilla 2000". While it's certainly more satisfying than Tri-Star's "Godzilla", it's still a rather embarrassing entry in the Godzilla canon. While Godzilla died in "Godzilla Vs. Destroyah" (1995), the American re-edit of the film doesn't make any mention of this, and I'd have to see the original Japanese version to figure out who this new Godzilla is (presumably Godzilla Jr.). The film revolves around a UFO that crashes into the ocean, and Godzilla isn't happy about its arrival. After dealing with the pesky and ineffectual Japanese military, the UFO morphs into a hideous beast and the two monsters beat each other up in the middle of Shinjuku, utterly destroying it in the process. There's also the side story of a bunch of peace-loving Godzilla watchers versus the nasty corporate scientists who want to destroy Godzilla, and a young news reporter who wants to get the scoop of the century by photographing Godzilla. But where is G-Force in all of this? Did they run out of funding only to be replaced by a bunch of weekend Godzilla hobbyists? The film raises a bunch of perplexing continuity questions, but the biggest question on my mind is why the filmmakers didn't take any tips from the creative geniuses behind "Gamera 2" (1996) and "Gamera 3" (1999). Those movies kick ass, while the effects in this big budget monster romp often look cheap and embarrassing. Too much reliance is placed on digital effects, and most of the composites are shaky and just plain dreadful. This was my first experience seeing the real Godzilla on the big screen, but I think I would have preferred to see it on video.
AGREE?
READER COMMENTS
AUTHOR
Y
I think it was a noble attempt to rescue the franchise, especially after the dreadful US godzilla. As in all G movies, there is hardly any continuity from the previous films, so it's not surprising here as well. Definitely not up to Gamera 2 and 3 !
Green Snake (product link) Martial Arts / Fantasy A Chinese fairy tale about two snakes (Maggie Cheung and Joey Wang) who become human to learn about the human world. Tragedy befalls them as they learn the evils of mankind and are harassed by a self-righteous Buddhist monk (Lao Wen Zhiou). Aside from some embarassingly cheesy special effects, this film is gorgeous. Tsui Hark's use of color, lighting, and fabric is stunning and fascinating. Joey Wang and Maggie Cheung are stunningly seductive and crackling with sensuality.
After seeing this film I started to think "when did Hong Kong action films start becoming so boring?" I think it was around 1995. This latest entry from "Naked Killer" director Clarence Ford is yet another production that skimps on the action scenes in favor of long and pointless love scenes and dramatic narratives. It's mildly entertaining and borrows a lot from "Beyond Hypothermia", "Hard-Boiled" and "The Killer". Everyone's favorite gweilo Michael Wong is a police officer who's tracking down an assassin who's responsible for a recent string of triad murders. He's okay, but he doesn't have enough charisma and presence to carry the film. Fortunately, the assassin is babelicious Almen Wong Pui Ha and she provides the majority of the eye candy and ass kicking. She's a convincing action actress and she fights and shoots with authority and conviction. Unfortunately, the action scenes are a little sloppy and all too brief. I really wanted to like this movie, but I kept finding myself let down after every scene. There's also a bunch of completely unnecessary and drawn out S&M sex scenes that just make you roll your eyes and reach for the fast forward button.
Director Yuen Woo Ping comes through again with this spectacular kung fu action piece featuring Donnie Yen and company in top fighting form. Wong Fei Hung (played by a fantastic martial artist that I didn't recognize) has allied himself with a group dedicated to banning opium in China. Proud, stubborn, and naive Beggar So Chan (Donnie Yen) goes up against him, but after becoming addicted and recovering, he joins forces with Fei Hung. Ng Man Tat plays his shameless father, and Sheila Chan (with a ridiculous overbite for the first half of the film (???)) is his overbearing aunt. Ultra-pretty Fennie Yuen is the educated woman who studied abroad (i.e. Aunt Yee from "Once Upon A Time In China") and causes a lot of commotion due to her foreign influences, but sadly she doesn't get to fight. Unfortunately, the film is disjointed and suffers from some awkward and abrupt editing. For the first half hour, I was convinced the film was a goofy period piece comedy a la Wong Jing, but then it completely turned around and became a serious ass-kicking fest (much to my delight). And the fighting is brilliant, inspired, spirited, and plentiful. We even see Donnie Yen perform a little drunken boxing.
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