The action was as good as was expected from Wu Jing and the other fighters, and Ronald Cheng did a nice job too. My only gripe in this department is that there could have been more fights and less wirework.

The story was so-so, and I think they tried to add too many other elements to a film that should be purely martial arts, coming up with messy results. The melodrama was very forced and unneccesary, especially towards the end.

Finally, when will Hong Kong filmmakers cast female actresses based on talent rather than looks? My patientence is growing thin with these cutsey hello kitty catalog girls that are in way over their heads with little upside. There has to be a young Bridgette Lin or Maggie Cheung out there somewhere...

I don't know what to say about "Fatal Contact". Jacky Wu Jing is certainly a capable performer, and he has leading man qualities, but he and his fists can't carry the movie alone.

I can't say I liked the plot or the other characters or the subplots in this movie. Ronald Cheng's Captain was a potential treasure if explored further. Captain gave glimpses of what could've turned out to be amazing skill. He was reportedly from a village where EVERYONE knew kung fu. Leaving that thread dangling was a waste.

I didn't like the scenes with Miki Yeung and Theresa Fu at all. After Chuichi became an escort, Tin's advice was to further prostitute herself until she could dupe a john into keeping her. With friends like that who needs enemies? Then the further revelation towards the end of the movie...

What I DID like, however, were the fight scenes. Jackie Wu Jing's Kong, as pointed out by Ronald Cheng's Captain, lacked a certain killer instinct or determination. Whether he needed that or not is in question since he won his fights decisively. The good sportsmanship on his part added insult to injury to opponents who wanted to do him serious harm. He showed some of that much needed determination in a fight against three opponents. It wasn't until one of the three (Kenji Tanigaki) cheats that he shows some evidence of steely eyed determination to hurt the person he's fighting. Wu Jing's performance in FC was heads and shoulders above what he offered in "Drunken Monkey" (where he was billed as Jason Wu Jing).

The movie started to take a downward turn after Kong (Wu) agrees to throw a fight against the Portland Street Punk (Timmy Hung) and breaks his leg. After that the move becomes overly melodramatic. The grim conclusion is a collage of endings mashed into one. To me it seemed like the storytellers presented too many partially developed elements when one, properly seen through, would have been more effective. It may have been more effective if we were given a chance to develop some empathy for the characters, but this isn't the case.

All in all the saving grace of FC is the action. Fast forward to the fights and past everything else.

So, starting with humor, I understand why this film rubbed some folks the wrong way. The funniest bits for me were the self-referential jokes (like Jacky Wu Jing’s Jet Li and Wong Fei Hung references were great). I’m sure there are those viewers, however, who thought that that humor was distracting. I’m sure it didn’t help those who thought that the tone was a little confused. I’m sure there are those who didn’t like the “young love” story. Yes, the entire plot is lifted from other sources ("Danny the Dog", "Ong-Bak", a bit of "MacBeth", etc.). Yes, there are many clichés (like the fact that he’ll be asked to throw a fight). I’m not ruining anything, like other reviewers, because that plot point is predictable. And finally, yes, there are a couple of slower scenes that should have been removed.

Speaking of the story, generally regarded here are fairly thin, I thought that the meditation on the corruption of prostitution was really interesting. In the movie, every fighter is paid by the mob because of what they can do with their body. Wu Jing’s girl in the film, played by cutesy teen, Miki Yeung, becomes his pimp early in the film while another friend becomes an “actual” prostitute. All this plays into the broader theme (outside of ass-kicking) of money and the sacrifices and gambles people will make for it. This is really the central motivator played out the poor, rich, good guys, and villains in the film. In fact, I thought there was some interesting attention paid to this theme among the distinct strata of Triads.

I have a final thought on the theme of “underground” fighting in movies: I have always viewed this concept as a necessary evil (at best) in order to facilitate more ass-kicking. From "Enter the Dragon", "Bloodsport", "Danny the Dog" ("Unleashed"), "Ong-Bak", "Balls of Fury", etc., there is this idea that the Best Fighters in the World can be gathered for a fight to the death. Yeah, right. Why would a man train for 20 years so he can step in to the ring to fight to the Death? For money? Um, professional non-lethal fighters can win money without becoming professional murderers. If wealthy mobsters and socialites wanted to pay to see folks fight to the death, they’d be watching untrained (probably chronically mentally ill) homeless people. Fatal Bum Contact would make a bad film though. Hopefully writers will keep thinking of better reasons for the good guy to bust out the Fu without resorting to this lame plot device.

What's wrong with you folks? I see that this movie has gotten some half- and one-star ratings. That tells me that some of you folks aren't bothering to rate these movies properly. This is a martial arts film and should be graded accordingly. There should be no reason that you would score this material on the same scale of measurement as, say, "Titanic". Genre should ALWAYS be factored into your reviews. Would you subtract points if you saw a horror movie with too much blood? Were you looking for a believable and relatable movie when you watched "The Lord of the Rings"? Every movie is an artistic vision that attempts to entertain while striving to achieve something that is usually case specific. Martial arts movies are for people who like martial arts. Period. This type of entertainment is catered to a specific audience that wants a specific type of action. That is why you watch a kung fu flick: for the kung fu! If you think that the movie's plot, story, directing or acting are poor in this type of movie, then you probably shouldn't deduct more than a half to one star. You didn't come for the other crap, you came for the fu. Unless you are a moron. Then you can perform any task in any irrational manner that you see fit; but if you are going to review movies for consumers that are educated and involved with their interests, then you better know what the hell you are talking about. Leeway should be given to the suspension of disbelief factor of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and martial arts movies. Acknowledge the purpose or goal of the movie before you condemn or praise it.

Now that I have ranted and bitched let me get to giving this movie a fair and reasonable review.

Yes, the drama in this movie is somewhat repulsive, as is the "love interest" in the film. The story did suck, but seeing as how this is a kung fu flick (see what I did there?), I have deducted a half star. The hardest part about grading this particular movie is trying to perceive what the filmmakers were trying to achieve. I personally feel that the people involved in making this movie lost sight of what they were trying to achieve by ineffeciently blending too many themes that don't belong together (melodrama, kung fu, crime, Shakespearian tragedy). For this reason I deduct another half star.

Now for the part of the grading process that is far more relevent. How was the fu? Pretty awesome...to a fault. I find myself having a similar dilemma as I had with "Romeo Must Die", but on a much milder level. The fights and choreography are excellent and very kinetic, but a lot of them seem to end with some big, flamboyant wire-assisted jump-spin-kick. This is annoying because this winds up being the punctuation mark to each altercation which can taint the feeling of the whole fight and devalue it on some level. In almost all of the cases that the wire is used it is pretty much not even necessary. I'm pretty sure Wu Jing can perform a 720 with an air stance (finishing technique of the first fight) without the aid of lines. Wires make moves look fake. Kung fu is real, baby. Why bother with the lines if the performer can do the technique without? Why go out of the way to make it look hokey? Though the lines are used sparingly, I still had to deduct half a star due to the off-putting nature of their use.

FINAL SUMMATION: This is a very good kung fu flick with a bad plot and some annoying characters. So what? You got about fifty of these in your collection already. I say go for it. You will like it as long as you know why you are watching it.

It is really cool to see him spar with a pole wrapped in blankets as a makeshift punching bag. And the fight scenes are OK. I'm sure Dragon Dynasty will release a really good edition with great info and commentary.

Worth seeing at least, just nothing you're gonna remember or think about later on.

As a cool side note, Coolie from Kung Fu Hustle is featured during a fight and has a decent scene.

Now they are back with a bang with the comic adaptation "Dragon Tiger Gate" and "Fatal Contact", starring "SPL" bad guy Jackie Wu Ching.

The story of the film is not of the very original sort but it gets the job done to hold together the various fight sequences. And those are some of the best to come out of Hong Kong for quite some time.

Most of the fight sequences are very realistic in choreography and very well photographed. Jackie Wu handles these scenes with a coolness and agility that makes you remember Jet Li in his good old days in Hong Kong. Jackie Wu even makes a joke about it in one scene of the film where he says to his girlfriend, "If I learn hard enough I can be the new Jet Li". Well he could be right about it, did he go to the same training school as Jet Li.

It's not very understandable why he was not cast in more movies, his first starring role was in the 1996 follow up to Jet Li's "Tai Chi Master", "Tai Chi 2" ,an entertaining martial arts comedy from director/choreographer Yuen Wo Ping. After that he disappeared for quite some time, then he showed up once again in Tsui Hark's "Legend of Zu" in 2001, where his skills where hardly used and his role was also little more than a cameo.

It seems that his talents had to be recovered once again and when Wilson Yip cast him as the white dressed knife wielding bad guy in "SPL" his hour had come and "Fatal Contact" marks his first leading role in a long time. Let's hope that this time he will get the recognition he deserves and can show his impressive martial arts skills in more action flicks to come and let the world know that there are still some martial arts fighters in Hong Kong who are on par with Tony Jaa.

Also starring is "Stephen Chow wannabe" Ronald Cheng, an actor I personally did not appreciate very much in his past movies--instead of giving his own comedic style to his movies he tries too hard to copy Stephen Chow all the time, an attempt that is as impossible as it is also useless. Surprisingly he delivers a good performance here and even shows some martial arts skills, and he handles them very well. I hope in his following movies he will also rely more on his own skills as an actor and tries not so hard impersonating Stephen Chow. All in all this movie needs to be seen and its also a good example to show that Hong Kong action movies are back. Check it out!!!