Year:2005
Director:Chen Kaige
Cast:Jang Dong-Gun, Hiroyuki Sanada, Cecilia Cheung Pak-Chi, Nicholas Tse Ting-Fung, Liu Ye, Chen Hong
Description:
Another
legendary Chinese director tries his hand at SFX-enhanced
wuxia with The Promise. Chen Kaige co-wrote
and directed this garish fantasy, full of daring visuals,
generic characters, and more than a few mystifying
moments. The result is part beauty and part beast;
an attractive yet lumbering art-house fantasy that
will engender either "love it" or "hate
it" reactions. If the Internet is your guide,
then "hate it" may be the prevailing emotion,
as The Promise is being absolutely killed on
many a BBS or forum. But The Promise also scored
a Best Foreign Language Film nomination at the Golden
Globe Awards, indicating that someone actually
thinks the movie is good.
Who's not seeing the full
picture here? Probably both sides, as The Promise
is neither brilliant nor all-out bad, though its success
is likely linked to just how forgiving or tolerant
the audience is of its fantastic excesses. In the
first twenty minutes audiences get a taste of just
how unbelievably excessive The Promise can
be with an action sequence featuring slave Kunlun
running alongside a raging
stampede of bulls. Kunlun starts the chase on his
hands and feet, but soon graduates to running upright,
a sign of his upcoming transformation from submissive
slave to proud man. Even untrained film readers should
note the symbolism, but what's more noticeable are
the god-awful visual effects from Hong Kong effects
house Centro Digital. Combined with the bright costumes
and cartoonish acting, The Promise certainly
looks like it's going to be a stinker.
But things calm down
somewhat after the plot starts to kick in. Kunlun
is hired to be the personal slave of General Guangming
, a celebrated and
ruthless warrior wearing magnificent gold and crimson
armor. Guangming is called back to the capital to
protect the King from the forces of Wuhuan , a preening prettyboy who's after the King's
girlfriend, Princess Qingcheng . However,
the Goddess Manshen shows up out of nowhere
to tell Guangming that the man wearing the Crimson
Armor will be responsible for the King's death, and
will become a national pariah. Guangming scoffs at
her prophecy, but after an unsuccessful assassination
attempt by Wuhuan's pet assassin Snow Wolf
leaves Guangming injured, he sends Kunlun in his place
- wearing the crimson armor. The King ends up turning
on Qingcheng, and seeing a woman in peril, Kunlun
kills the King.
Kunlun's massive error
sparks a convoluted love triangle. After saving Qingcheng,
Kunlun becomes enamored of her. However, since Qingcheng
believes Guangming was her savior, Guangming takes
advantage of her misinformation by claiming credit,
the benefit being that he can romp in the sack with
Qingcheng. Hiroyuki Sanada and Cecilia Cheung get
a highly-publicized and somewhat hot love scene, which could account for
Sanada's frisky onscreen demeanor. Of all the actors,
Sanada seems to be having the most fun as the roguish
Guangming. On the other hand, Jang Dong-Gun is all
business playing a frustratingly dopey character.
Kunlun is a bit of a simpleton, and the fact that
he runs all over the place at top speeds makes him
seem like the Asian version of Forrest Gump. As Guangming
continues to fool Qingcheng into sleeping with him,
Wuhuan plots his revenge, and Kunlun sprints to and
fro across the countryside in search of his true identity.
By the way, Kunlun can also run fast enough to travel
through time. By now, half the audience has begun
laughing hysterically.
The other half? They
might be intrigued, if not entertained by all the
silly stuff happening. The Promise is an all-out
fantasy, in that it makes up its own rules for its
world, and simply asks the audience to buy in, or
suffer the consequences. The consequences are thinking
that the movie is lame. The benefit of buying in:
diversion, if not actual entertainment. The Promise
is a spectacle of the highest order, though the line
it walks between entertaining camp and laughable crap
is so thin that it requires real work not to become
totally alienated. The film is filled with many touches
that feel more suitable for comic books than big-screen
pageantry, and at times the film seems to acknowledge
it. Nicholas Tse's performance as Wuhuan is entertainingly
campy, and his character's silly costumes and accessories
only enhance that. Kunlun's ability to run through
time is also another silly conceit - though it's acceptable
if you remember that this is a fantasy. If one goes
in thinking that The Promise will be nothing
more than entertaining fantasy crap, then extreme
disappointment might be averted.
Unfortunately, steeling
yourself for the worst can't fix all of The Promise's
problems. Its status as a fantasy can excuse some
of the film's silliness, but the world Chen Kaige
creates is still too simplistic. The world of The
Promise feels too confined and unfinished to be
properly convincing. The politics and society make
no sense, and there are no glimpses of anything remotely
"normal", e.g. average people or non-soldiers.
Everything about the world seems to exist to cater
to the four main characters and their intertwined
destinies. A good fantasy should create a living,
breathing world beyond the confines of the film frame,
and The Promise fails at that. Furthermore,
Qingcheng is a startlingly unsympathetic character.
Presumably, the audience is supposed to care who she
ends up with, but even her cursed existence is not enough to create sympathy for her. Cecilia
Cheung looks magnificent and emotes valiantly, but
she also gives Qingcheng an icy demeanor that's hard
to get by. In the end, it's questionable if she manages
to make the character worth caring about.
What's left then? Besides
the gorgeous spectacle, there's some nifty action,
an effective turn from Liu Ye as the tragic Snow Wolf,
and simply the high camp silliness of the entire production.
On some levels, The Promise can be fun because
it can be laughed at. The film title and Chen Kaige's
name may lead some to believe that a seriously great
film is in the offing, but Chen seems to have subverted
that belief by creating such a garish and overwrought
spectacle that he's practically begging for the film
to be classified as a parody. The Promise falls
well short of classic status by virtue of its gaudy
execution, though Chen's ambitious reach does provide
enough to warrant The Promise "worth seeing"
status. More cynically, The Promise provides
both good and bad stuff depending on your taste. If
you're not intruigued or enchanted by the ornate production
or Chen Kaige's ambitious vision, you can always rubberneck
at the glorious train wreck he's put together.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Perhaps Love
Year:2005
Director:Peter Chan Ho-Sun
Cast:Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhou Xun, Jacky Cheung Hok-Yau, Ji Jin-Hee, Eric Tsang Chi-Wai, Sandra Ng Kwun-Yu
Description:
Love
can be bittersweet - though sometimes, it's far more
bitter than sweet. That's the prevailing feeling from
Perhaps Love, the new Hong Kong musical from
director Peter Chan. Takeshi Kaneshiro stars as Lin
Jian-Dong, a Hong Kong heartthrob arriving in Shanghai
to work on a new musical from director Nie Wen . The film's leading lady is Sun Na ,
a driven-for-success actress with a popularity that
extends to Hollywood. Sun Na has long been Nie Wen's
partner - both on the screen and off - but this new
collaboration has issues. Nie Wen doubts his creative
fire, and looks to his new film to reassert his once-established
filmmaking genius. Thanks to Nie Wen's artistic temperament,
the relationship between the two suffers from some
strain.
But with the arrival of Jian-Dong,
Nie Wen and Sun Na's relationship is about to get
a whole lot messier. The plot of Nie Wen's musical
concerns a pair of young lovers, who are separated
when the girl loses her memory. The girl is taken in by a circus ringmaster. She becomes
a showgirl, and she and the ringmaster fall in love.
Eventually, the boy shows up,
and strives to rekindle their love. The role of the
ringmaster has yet to be cast, so Nie Wen eventually
places himself in the role. But what Nie Wen doesn't
know is that his musical is a dead ringer for reality
. Jian-Dong and Sun Na
were actually in love ten years prior, and the dissolution
of their love had everything to do with Sun Na's ambition.
Now, she merely wants to forget her past, but Jian-Dong
is here to right that wrong. Nie Wen, like the ringmaster,
is the third party who can only watch as his new love
is reunited with her old one. Art mirrors reality,
and soon Nie Wen's script begins to change to reflect
life. There's also singing.
The love triangle of
Perhaps Love is familiar stuff as plots go,
but that's easily forgiven. Movie musicals are seldom
known for their amazing stories, but instead for how
they marry song, dance, and drama into a coherent,
and hopefully enchanting whole. Unfortunately for
Perhaps Love, that's where things hit a bit
of a snag. Perhaps Love features many musical
sequences, but they're all set within the "musical
within a musical". Basically, the only time actors
break into song or dance is when they're required
to by the musical they're shooting. This style is
much more "real" than the stagey "I
feel a song coming on!" rationale that permeates
most classic Hollywood musicals, but the result is
an obvious distance. Characters don't really emote
in their songs; instead, the songs elucidate established
emotions or plot. Frequently, the songs even serve
as montage, which is effective but not intimate. Some
overdone editing also hurts some of the numbers, particularly
the earliest ones. Ultimately, whatever power some
of the musical sequences possessed feels muted by
these choices.
Lacking overt power to affect,
the musical sequences instead rely on the actors to
carry them. The effect varies here, with Takeshi Kaneshiro
and Zhou Xun's singing evoking comparatively little,
especially when compared to Jacky Cheung. Cheung smokes
both off the screen with his rich vocals and obvious
charisma during his musical sequences. This isn't
to say that Zhou and Kaneshiro are bad in the film.
On the contrary, both serve the script exceptionally
well. Occasionally, Perhaps Love flashes back
to Jian-Dong and Sun Na's happier Beijing days, and
the growth and ultimate bitterness of their love affair
is conveyed remarkably by both the actors. Kaneshiro
has long excelled at playing handsome, yet emotionally-crippled
individuals, and Perhaps Love gives him ample
opportunity to fix his heartbroken puppy-dog pupils
on his costar. Zhou Xun does a remarkable job with
a difficult character. Sun Na's change from loving
girlfriend to attention-hungry performer is spelled
out mostly through visual exposition, but the actress
handles her character's complexities convincingly,
and with frequently touching emotion.
Rounding out the quartet
of lead stars is Korean actor Ji Jin-Hee as Monty,
the film's narrator and lone fantasy element. Monty
bookends the film with his explanation of purpose:
basically, he's an emotional tax collector whose purpose is to return emotions
or memories to those who've forgotten or denied them.
The three principal characters all fall into that
category, so Monty shows up in a number of obvious
disguises to guide each of them along their path to
emotional rediscovery. Ji Jin-Hee does a fine job
with the role, showing charisma plus a touch of humor
in a film that is sorely lacking anything of the sort.
The role itself is more of a plot device than a functional
character, but Ji is likable and even handles his
own Mandarin well. It's a credit to the actor that
the underdeveloped device eventually works.
Peter Chan's
last feature-length Hong Kong film was Comrades,
Almost a Love Story nearly a decade ago, but Chan
has been busy as a producer in the ensuing years.
Perhaps Love possesses many of the traits of
Chan's producing works, namely a polished production,
a thoughtful screenplay, and that certain something
that can only be called "quality assurance".
Perhaps Love doesn't just look like a good
movie, it feels like one. The recent spate
of Western-influenced
Hong Kong films seem to indicate quality, but it's
usually more of a superficial quality than the obvious
hands-on hard work that Chan's productions radiate.
Complementing things are the excellent art direction
and cinematography , which are a cut above
most Asian fare, while still retaining a rough, textured
feel. A love of actual filmmaking seems to go into
Chan's productions ,
and Perhaps Love does evoke feeling.
It's with its love story
that Perhaps Love finds its ultimate success
- and perhaps even its downfall. Chan has long had
a keen eye towards the innate and sometimes terrible
emotions that accompany love. The characters of Perhaps
Love bring these emotions to life, sometimes in
distressing and even disturbing ways. The result certainly
feels real; love is composed of affection, sacrifice,
selfishness, hate, possessiveness, and plenty of other
counseling-worthy emotions, and Perhaps Love
covers this territory with sometimes heartbreaking
effectiveness. But the emotions are largely bitter,
a tough emotion that can affect but also alienate.
This is the film's biggest frustration; it's a musical
that conveys a myriad of emotions - but not joy. That's
not really a fault, though anyone expecting a Hong
Kong Moulin Rouge may be put off at the moroseness
of some of the characters. If the filmmakers want
us to root for either of Sun Na's suitors, they don't
try very hard to convince us to do so.
But that's more of a
criticism aimed at expectation. Most musicals about
love at least try to sell the emotion as an all-encompassing,
grand feeling that all but defines life. Perhaps
Love does not sell love as the ultimate empowerment,
but instead portrays it realistically, as the complex,
alluring, tortuous, and sometimes crippling emotion
that it is. It seems that the intended feeling of
Perhaps Love is one of bittersweetness, but
again, the bitter portion seems to outweigh the sweet.
As such, audiences looking for something a little
more joyful will likely be put off, and it's hard
to fault them for that. Expectations do play a part
in a film's enjoyment, and Perhaps Love may
not meet everyone's. Still, this is an accomplished
and worthwhile effort from one of Hong Kong's leading
filmmakers - which is more than enough reason to give
it a recommendation. It's certainly flawed and even
a little frustrating, but the images and emotions
presented are sometimes more than enough.
Director:Peter Chan Ho-Sun
Cast:Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhou Xun, Jacky Cheung Hok-Yau, Ji Jin-Hee, Eric Tsang Chi-Wai, Sandra Ng Kwun-Yu
Description:
Love
can be bittersweet - though sometimes, it's far more
bitter than sweet. That's the prevailing feeling from
Perhaps Love, the new Hong Kong musical from
director Peter Chan. Takeshi Kaneshiro stars as Lin
Jian-Dong, a Hong Kong heartthrob arriving in Shanghai
to work on a new musical from director Nie Wen . The film's leading lady is Sun Na ,
a driven-for-success actress with a popularity that
extends to Hollywood. Sun Na has long been Nie Wen's
partner - both on the screen and off - but this new
collaboration has issues. Nie Wen doubts his creative
fire, and looks to his new film to reassert his once-established
filmmaking genius. Thanks to Nie Wen's artistic temperament,
the relationship between the two suffers from some
strain.
But with the arrival of Jian-Dong,
Nie Wen and Sun Na's relationship is about to get
a whole lot messier. The plot of Nie Wen's musical
concerns a pair of young lovers, who are separated
when the girl loses her memory. The girl is taken in by a circus ringmaster. She becomes
a showgirl, and she and the ringmaster fall in love.
Eventually, the boy shows up,
and strives to rekindle their love. The role of the
ringmaster has yet to be cast, so Nie Wen eventually
places himself in the role. But what Nie Wen doesn't
know is that his musical is a dead ringer for reality
. Jian-Dong and Sun Na
were actually in love ten years prior, and the dissolution
of their love had everything to do with Sun Na's ambition.
Now, she merely wants to forget her past, but Jian-Dong
is here to right that wrong. Nie Wen, like the ringmaster,
is the third party who can only watch as his new love
is reunited with her old one. Art mirrors reality,
and soon Nie Wen's script begins to change to reflect
life. There's also singing.
The love triangle of
Perhaps Love is familiar stuff as plots go,
but that's easily forgiven. Movie musicals are seldom
known for their amazing stories, but instead for how
they marry song, dance, and drama into a coherent,
and hopefully enchanting whole. Unfortunately for
Perhaps Love, that's where things hit a bit
of a snag. Perhaps Love features many musical
sequences, but they're all set within the "musical
within a musical". Basically, the only time actors
break into song or dance is when they're required
to by the musical they're shooting. This style is
much more "real" than the stagey "I
feel a song coming on!" rationale that permeates
most classic Hollywood musicals, but the result is
an obvious distance. Characters don't really emote
in their songs; instead, the songs elucidate established
emotions or plot. Frequently, the songs even serve
as montage, which is effective but not intimate. Some
overdone editing also hurts some of the numbers, particularly
the earliest ones. Ultimately, whatever power some
of the musical sequences possessed feels muted by
these choices.
Lacking overt power to affect,
the musical sequences instead rely on the actors to
carry them. The effect varies here, with Takeshi Kaneshiro
and Zhou Xun's singing evoking comparatively little,
especially when compared to Jacky Cheung. Cheung smokes
both off the screen with his rich vocals and obvious
charisma during his musical sequences. This isn't
to say that Zhou and Kaneshiro are bad in the film.
On the contrary, both serve the script exceptionally
well. Occasionally, Perhaps Love flashes back
to Jian-Dong and Sun Na's happier Beijing days, and
the growth and ultimate bitterness of their love affair
is conveyed remarkably by both the actors. Kaneshiro
has long excelled at playing handsome, yet emotionally-crippled
individuals, and Perhaps Love gives him ample
opportunity to fix his heartbroken puppy-dog pupils
on his costar. Zhou Xun does a remarkable job with
a difficult character. Sun Na's change from loving
girlfriend to attention-hungry performer is spelled
out mostly through visual exposition, but the actress
handles her character's complexities convincingly,
and with frequently touching emotion.
Rounding out the quartet
of lead stars is Korean actor Ji Jin-Hee as Monty,
the film's narrator and lone fantasy element. Monty
bookends the film with his explanation of purpose:
basically, he's an emotional tax collector whose purpose is to return emotions
or memories to those who've forgotten or denied them.
The three principal characters all fall into that
category, so Monty shows up in a number of obvious
disguises to guide each of them along their path to
emotional rediscovery. Ji Jin-Hee does a fine job
with the role, showing charisma plus a touch of humor
in a film that is sorely lacking anything of the sort.
The role itself is more of a plot device than a functional
character, but Ji is likable and even handles his
own Mandarin well. It's a credit to the actor that
the underdeveloped device eventually works.
Peter Chan's
last feature-length Hong Kong film was Comrades,
Almost a Love Story nearly a decade ago, but Chan
has been busy as a producer in the ensuing years.
Perhaps Love possesses many of the traits of
Chan's producing works, namely a polished production,
a thoughtful screenplay, and that certain something
that can only be called "quality assurance".
Perhaps Love doesn't just look like a good
movie, it feels like one. The recent spate
of Western-influenced
Hong Kong films seem to indicate quality, but it's
usually more of a superficial quality than the obvious
hands-on hard work that Chan's productions radiate.
Complementing things are the excellent art direction
and cinematography , which are a cut above
most Asian fare, while still retaining a rough, textured
feel. A love of actual filmmaking seems to go into
Chan's productions ,
and Perhaps Love does evoke feeling.
It's with its love story
that Perhaps Love finds its ultimate success
- and perhaps even its downfall. Chan has long had
a keen eye towards the innate and sometimes terrible
emotions that accompany love. The characters of Perhaps
Love bring these emotions to life, sometimes in
distressing and even disturbing ways. The result certainly
feels real; love is composed of affection, sacrifice,
selfishness, hate, possessiveness, and plenty of other
counseling-worthy emotions, and Perhaps Love
covers this territory with sometimes heartbreaking
effectiveness. But the emotions are largely bitter,
a tough emotion that can affect but also alienate.
This is the film's biggest frustration; it's a musical
that conveys a myriad of emotions - but not joy. That's
not really a fault, though anyone expecting a Hong
Kong Moulin Rouge may be put off at the moroseness
of some of the characters. If the filmmakers want
us to root for either of Sun Na's suitors, they don't
try very hard to convince us to do so.
But that's more of a
criticism aimed at expectation. Most musicals about
love at least try to sell the emotion as an all-encompassing,
grand feeling that all but defines life. Perhaps
Love does not sell love as the ultimate empowerment,
but instead portrays it realistically, as the complex,
alluring, tortuous, and sometimes crippling emotion
that it is. It seems that the intended feeling of
Perhaps Love is one of bittersweetness, but
again, the bitter portion seems to outweigh the sweet.
As such, audiences looking for something a little
more joyful will likely be put off, and it's hard
to fault them for that. Expectations do play a part
in a film's enjoyment, and Perhaps Love may
not meet everyone's. Still, this is an accomplished
and worthwhile effort from one of Hong Kong's leading
filmmakers - which is more than enough reason to give
it a recommendation. It's certainly flawed and even
a little frustrating, but the images and emotions
presented are sometimes more than enough.
One Nite in Mongkok
Year:2004
Director:Derek Yee Tung-Sing
Cast:Daniel Wu, Cecilia Cheung Pak-Chi, Alex Fong Chung-Sun, Chin Kar-Lok, Ken Wong Hap-Hei, Anson Leung Chun-Yat, Lam Chi-Kok, Ng Shui-Ting, Cynthia Ho Mo-Si, Sam Lee Chan-Sam, Lau Shek-Yin, Lam Suet, Henry Fong Ping, Elena Kong Mei-Yi, Bau Hei-Jing, Eddie Peng Wai-On, Austin Wai Tin-Chi, Monica Chan Fat-Yung, Cha Yuen-Yee, Tommy Yuen Man-On
Description:
Finally,
a good梡ossibly even great�004 Hong Kong
movie. Derek Yee's One Nite in Mongkok gives
the Lost in Time director a two-for-two record
in the 21st Century, and bragging rights to the title
of Hong Kong's best storyteller. One Nite in Mongkok
fits a genre description rather neatly: it's a crime
thriller about a group of cops attempting to stop
a planned gangland hit over the course of a 36-hour
period in claustrophobic Mongkok. But the film does
a lot more than just tell a story梚n fact, it
seems to eschew story in favor of a widening look
at character and random genre situation. The result
is a combo product: a tense thriller that possesses
both a wide-ranging genre tale and a compelling, laser-precise
focus on character and theme. There are some missteps
along the way, but One Nite in Mongkok jumps
right to the top of Hong Kong's best films for 2004.
Alex Fong Chung-Sun
is Officer Milo, a dedicated CID officer who gets
involved in a deepening case on Christmas Eve. Rival
crimelords Tim and Carl get into an argument over
the death of Tim's son, who was offed in a car accident
by Carl's lackey Franky . Tim's
men off Franky, but they're unable to get Carl, who
scurries into the crowds and is promptly lost. Enter
Liu , who brokers deals with mainland
hitmen. The assigned shooter: Lai Fu ,
a bespectacled neophyte killer who arrives in Hong
Kong to perform the hit on Carl梐s well as chase
a few personal demons. Meanwhile, Officer Milo and
his crew are on the case every step of the way, and
after surmising that Liu is the handler, they try
to beat the bushes for Lai Fu. But thanks to luck,
circumstance, and the fact that he's hiding in the
dense urban jungle of Mongkok, getting to him isn't
going to be easy.
Lai Fu has his own issues,
some of them unexpected ones. He befriends Mainland
prostitute Dan Dan , who
hails from a neighboring village back in China. She
becomes his personal Mongkok tour guide when he saves
her from a violent john, but she's unaware that he's
planning on killing someone. What she does know, however,
is that Lai Fu is carrying a boatload of cash, and
is willing to spend it freely. He's also pretty damn
handsome ,
so Dan Dan has no problem spending extra time with
him. The two take to the streets to escape her violent
customer, but the cops are suddenly after Lai Fu,
too. As the crowds teem and the night grows older,
the two weave in and out of Mongkok's streets and
alleys, finding rest and maybe even romance in each
other's company. Meanwhile, Officer Milo and his crew
tighten their resolve to find Lai Fu, unless something
terrible happens first.
Which it does, though
only through the most believable of coincidental circumstances.
Derek Yee's screenplay sets up a "hitman and
hooker go on the run" storyline that seems like
it'll be the main story, except it's not. The path
taken by Lai Fu and Dan Dan is just a part of the
evening and not the means or the end of the film.
One Nite in Mongkok is about exactly what the
title suggests, a night in Hong Kong's most densely
populated city blocks, where myriad people and circumstance
crop up every two or three feet. Yee spreads his focus
to all characters and situations. Besides Lai Fu and
Dan Dan's flight, Yee is equally intent on showing
the procedural politics of Milo's CID team, and the
human attitudes and anxieties that crop up at every
turn. The cops have to work on Christmas Eve, which
pisses them off. The team has a new rookie, Ben , whose itchy trigger finger is both his strength
and ultimate weakness. Milo has his own personal issues,
as do Dan Dan, Lai Fu, and even Liu. Each and every
character and situation is given unbiased attention,
and stuff just seems to happen. Events occur, characters
act in individual, believable ways, and the night
and its seemingly random circumstances moves towards
a compelling and bleak end.
The screenplay of One
Nite in Mongkok is obvious, but the way it's presented
makes it seem like it's not really there. Derek Yee
adds minutiae for every character and inch the film
covers, and it's all most definitely planned. Details
get bandied about, from common Mandarin-Cantonese
misunderstandings, to the individual personalities
of even the most minor people in Officer Milo's squad.
But the details are handled subtly, and not overtly.
Dan Dan may look like a hooker with a heart of gold,
but her eyes show that she's a little over-concerned
with the bills Lai Fu carries. Lai Fu is ruthlessly
violent, but seemingly righteous when it comes to
those he cares for. Ben is a rookie greenhorn, and
a rather typified character, but juxtaposed with his
older, more grizzled partners , his wide-eyed innocence seems to carry
its own life. Derek Yee uses handheld camerawork,
intimate spaces, and quick-cutting rhythm to place
us within the film, and the result is that it feels
alive and immediate. There are a number of cinema
shortcuts present, but the overwhelming feeling that
One Nite in Mongkok carries is one of spontaneity.
This is, quite simply, exciting, vibrant filmmaking.
As mentioned earlier,
the film does take a few shortcuts, and the genre
situations and characters are part of them. Nothing
that occurs in the film really sets off the originality
meter, but really, that's just fine. If good film
is about how a story and emotions are conveyed, then
One Nite in Mongkok easily qualifies as good
film. It's stylish without being over-directed, intimate
without being cloying, and powerful without being
bombastic. The situations presented have been seen
before, but the energy and dark-edged humanity in
every scene seem both true and sometimes frightening
in their difficult honesty. If One Nite in Mongkok
has a major audience deterrent, it would have to be
that it's not the happiest film around. Justice is
in the eye of the beholder, life holds no fairness,
and there is good and bad in everyone. Evil is just
a word, and people do what they have to do simply
to hold onto what's dear to them. The construction
and thematic territory of One Nite in Mongkok
almost seem to indicate a slice-of-life film, but
the mounting tension, pulse-pounding Peter Kam soundtrack,
and the final connection of events and characters
is pure cinema. But hey, it's pretty damn good cinema.
Performance-wise, the
cast does generally well, and manages to smooth over
most of the rough spots. Sadly, some of the rough
spots are pretty noticeable. Daniel Wu, while turning
in a pitch-perfect emotional performance, does not
sound like a Mainland Chinese, and Cecilia Cheung
is too glamorous to be completely believable as a
Mainland hooker. She hits the right emotional notes,
but the post-production Mandarin dubbing is distracting.
It certainly sounds like her, which indicates that
she probably did her own dubbing in post to attempt
a better Mandarin accent, but she sounds like someone
trying to speak Mandarin, and not someone who really
speaks it. Attention to accent may seem like nitpicking,
but in a film with such authentic-feeling situations,
even lousy accents can hurt matters. However, Lam
Suet and Chin Kar-Lok are excellent, and even Anson
Leung is effective as the rookie cop. If anyone stands
out, though, it's Alex Fong, whose Officer Milo is
low-key but emotionally felt. It's a great role for
the actor, who should probably be remembered when
year-end awards roll around.
One Nite in Mongkok
does end on somewhat of a forced thematic note. When
it's all over, there seems to be an effort to impart
defining truth, as if the two hours leading up to
the end credits could be summed up in two sentences
of extraordinary depth. It would be disappointing
if Derek Yee really wrote and directed this film with
the idea that he was trying to say something specific,
because he really didn't have to. The stuff that One
Nite in Mongkok is about is wide-ranging and fascinating,
and is plainly dispensed from minute one all the way
up to minute one hundred-and-twenty. The characters
and situations, while obviously written, still create
their own life, and the actors inhabit them with believable
emotion. The stylish direction, attention to genre
and character, and uncompromising narrative make this
simply terrific, compelling stuff. In the pantheon
of great Hong Kong Cinema, One Nite in Mongkok
may not break the highest echelon, but as of this
summer, it can have 2004's top spot.
Director:Derek Yee Tung-Sing
Cast:Daniel Wu, Cecilia Cheung Pak-Chi, Alex Fong Chung-Sun, Chin Kar-Lok, Ken Wong Hap-Hei, Anson Leung Chun-Yat, Lam Chi-Kok, Ng Shui-Ting, Cynthia Ho Mo-Si, Sam Lee Chan-Sam, Lau Shek-Yin, Lam Suet, Henry Fong Ping, Elena Kong Mei-Yi, Bau Hei-Jing, Eddie Peng Wai-On, Austin Wai Tin-Chi, Monica Chan Fat-Yung, Cha Yuen-Yee, Tommy Yuen Man-On
Description:
Finally,
a good梡ossibly even great�004 Hong Kong
movie. Derek Yee's One Nite in Mongkok gives
the Lost in Time director a two-for-two record
in the 21st Century, and bragging rights to the title
of Hong Kong's best storyteller. One Nite in Mongkok
fits a genre description rather neatly: it's a crime
thriller about a group of cops attempting to stop
a planned gangland hit over the course of a 36-hour
period in claustrophobic Mongkok. But the film does
a lot more than just tell a story梚n fact, it
seems to eschew story in favor of a widening look
at character and random genre situation. The result
is a combo product: a tense thriller that possesses
both a wide-ranging genre tale and a compelling, laser-precise
focus on character and theme. There are some missteps
along the way, but One Nite in Mongkok jumps
right to the top of Hong Kong's best films for 2004.
Alex Fong Chung-Sun
is Officer Milo, a dedicated CID officer who gets
involved in a deepening case on Christmas Eve. Rival
crimelords Tim and Carl get into an argument over
the death of Tim's son, who was offed in a car accident
by Carl's lackey Franky . Tim's
men off Franky, but they're unable to get Carl, who
scurries into the crowds and is promptly lost. Enter
Liu , who brokers deals with mainland
hitmen. The assigned shooter: Lai Fu ,
a bespectacled neophyte killer who arrives in Hong
Kong to perform the hit on Carl梐s well as chase
a few personal demons. Meanwhile, Officer Milo and
his crew are on the case every step of the way, and
after surmising that Liu is the handler, they try
to beat the bushes for Lai Fu. But thanks to luck,
circumstance, and the fact that he's hiding in the
dense urban jungle of Mongkok, getting to him isn't
going to be easy.
Lai Fu has his own issues,
some of them unexpected ones. He befriends Mainland
prostitute Dan Dan , who
hails from a neighboring village back in China. She
becomes his personal Mongkok tour guide when he saves
her from a violent john, but she's unaware that he's
planning on killing someone. What she does know, however,
is that Lai Fu is carrying a boatload of cash, and
is willing to spend it freely. He's also pretty damn
handsome ,
so Dan Dan has no problem spending extra time with
him. The two take to the streets to escape her violent
customer, but the cops are suddenly after Lai Fu,
too. As the crowds teem and the night grows older,
the two weave in and out of Mongkok's streets and
alleys, finding rest and maybe even romance in each
other's company. Meanwhile, Officer Milo and his crew
tighten their resolve to find Lai Fu, unless something
terrible happens first.
Which it does, though
only through the most believable of coincidental circumstances.
Derek Yee's screenplay sets up a "hitman and
hooker go on the run" storyline that seems like
it'll be the main story, except it's not. The path
taken by Lai Fu and Dan Dan is just a part of the
evening and not the means or the end of the film.
One Nite in Mongkok is about exactly what the
title suggests, a night in Hong Kong's most densely
populated city blocks, where myriad people and circumstance
crop up every two or three feet. Yee spreads his focus
to all characters and situations. Besides Lai Fu and
Dan Dan's flight, Yee is equally intent on showing
the procedural politics of Milo's CID team, and the
human attitudes and anxieties that crop up at every
turn. The cops have to work on Christmas Eve, which
pisses them off. The team has a new rookie, Ben , whose itchy trigger finger is both his strength
and ultimate weakness. Milo has his own personal issues,
as do Dan Dan, Lai Fu, and even Liu. Each and every
character and situation is given unbiased attention,
and stuff just seems to happen. Events occur, characters
act in individual, believable ways, and the night
and its seemingly random circumstances moves towards
a compelling and bleak end.
The screenplay of One
Nite in Mongkok is obvious, but the way it's presented
makes it seem like it's not really there. Derek Yee
adds minutiae for every character and inch the film
covers, and it's all most definitely planned. Details
get bandied about, from common Mandarin-Cantonese
misunderstandings, to the individual personalities
of even the most minor people in Officer Milo's squad.
But the details are handled subtly, and not overtly.
Dan Dan may look like a hooker with a heart of gold,
but her eyes show that she's a little over-concerned
with the bills Lai Fu carries. Lai Fu is ruthlessly
violent, but seemingly righteous when it comes to
those he cares for. Ben is a rookie greenhorn, and
a rather typified character, but juxtaposed with his
older, more grizzled partners , his wide-eyed innocence seems to carry
its own life. Derek Yee uses handheld camerawork,
intimate spaces, and quick-cutting rhythm to place
us within the film, and the result is that it feels
alive and immediate. There are a number of cinema
shortcuts present, but the overwhelming feeling that
One Nite in Mongkok carries is one of spontaneity.
This is, quite simply, exciting, vibrant filmmaking.
As mentioned earlier,
the film does take a few shortcuts, and the genre
situations and characters are part of them. Nothing
that occurs in the film really sets off the originality
meter, but really, that's just fine. If good film
is about how a story and emotions are conveyed, then
One Nite in Mongkok easily qualifies as good
film. It's stylish without being over-directed, intimate
without being cloying, and powerful without being
bombastic. The situations presented have been seen
before, but the energy and dark-edged humanity in
every scene seem both true and sometimes frightening
in their difficult honesty. If One Nite in Mongkok
has a major audience deterrent, it would have to be
that it's not the happiest film around. Justice is
in the eye of the beholder, life holds no fairness,
and there is good and bad in everyone. Evil is just
a word, and people do what they have to do simply
to hold onto what's dear to them. The construction
and thematic territory of One Nite in Mongkok
almost seem to indicate a slice-of-life film, but
the mounting tension, pulse-pounding Peter Kam soundtrack,
and the final connection of events and characters
is pure cinema. But hey, it's pretty damn good cinema.
Performance-wise, the
cast does generally well, and manages to smooth over
most of the rough spots. Sadly, some of the rough
spots are pretty noticeable. Daniel Wu, while turning
in a pitch-perfect emotional performance, does not
sound like a Mainland Chinese, and Cecilia Cheung
is too glamorous to be completely believable as a
Mainland hooker. She hits the right emotional notes,
but the post-production Mandarin dubbing is distracting.
It certainly sounds like her, which indicates that
she probably did her own dubbing in post to attempt
a better Mandarin accent, but she sounds like someone
trying to speak Mandarin, and not someone who really
speaks it. Attention to accent may seem like nitpicking,
but in a film with such authentic-feeling situations,
even lousy accents can hurt matters. However, Lam
Suet and Chin Kar-Lok are excellent, and even Anson
Leung is effective as the rookie cop. If anyone stands
out, though, it's Alex Fong, whose Officer Milo is
low-key but emotionally felt. It's a great role for
the actor, who should probably be remembered when
year-end awards roll around.
One Nite in Mongkok
does end on somewhat of a forced thematic note. When
it's all over, there seems to be an effort to impart
defining truth, as if the two hours leading up to
the end credits could be summed up in two sentences
of extraordinary depth. It would be disappointing
if Derek Yee really wrote and directed this film with
the idea that he was trying to say something specific,
because he really didn't have to. The stuff that One
Nite in Mongkok is about is wide-ranging and fascinating,
and is plainly dispensed from minute one all the way
up to minute one hundred-and-twenty. The characters
and situations, while obviously written, still create
their own life, and the actors inhabit them with believable
emotion. The stylish direction, attention to genre
and character, and uncompromising narrative make this
simply terrific, compelling stuff. In the pantheon
of great Hong Kong Cinema, One Nite in Mongkok
may not break the highest echelon, but as of this
summer, it can have 2004's top spot.
New Police Story
Year:2004
Director:Benny Chan Muk-Sing
Cast:Jackie Chan, Nicholas Tse Ting-Fung, Charlie Young Choi-Nei, Charlene Choi Cheuk-Yin, Daniel Wu, Dave Wong Kit, Andy On Chi-Kit, Terence Yin, Hayama Hiro, Coco Chiang Yi, Deep Ng Ho-Hong, Ken Lo Wai-Kwong, Tony Ho Wah-Chiu, Timmy Hung Tin-Ming, Hung Tin-Chiu, Andrew Lin Hoi, Carl Ng Ka-Lung, Samuel Pang King-Chi, Mandy Chiang Nga-Man, Maggie Lau Si-Wai, Asuka Higuchi, Liu Kai-Chi, Yu Rong-Guang, Kenny Kwan Chi-Bun, Steven Cheung Chi-Hung, Wu Bai, Tats Lau Yi-Tat, John Sham Kin-Fun, Winnie Leung Man-Yi, Philip Ng Won-Lung
Description:
Finally,
Jackie Chan returns to Hong Kong! And no, those Twins
Effect movies don't count. New Police Story
represents a watershed development for longtime HK
Cinema fans. First, it marks the Chanmeister's return
to Hong Kong Cinema after too many American or American-influenced productions. Second, it reunites
Jackie Chan with director Benny Chan, who was responsible
for arguably Jackie Chan's last decent Hong Kong film,
Who Am I? Excitement would be an understandable
response.
However, blind excitement
may be too great. While a polished, entertaining,
and suitably glossy action picture, New Police
Story is still quality-impaired compared to Chan's
greatest works. Plus, it comes with an extreme price:
collusion with the Emperor Entertainment Group's band
of questionably talented popstars. Chan's primary
co-star is EEG badboy Nicholas Tse, and his co-stars
include EEG products Dave Wong Kit , Charlene
Choi , Kenny Kwan , Stephen Cheung
, and Deep Ng .
The film also co-stars a virtual who's who of young
Hong Kong actors, meaning somebody out there was working
overtime during a marketing meeting. While his paycheck
may be awash in music industry kickbacks, the inclusions
do the movie little favors.
But enough griping.
The obvious Jackie Chan meets Gen-X Cops marketing
aside, New Police Story is a suitably entertaining
action picture that presents the aging Chan in a new
light: as an aging cop whose life takes a precipitous
tumble. A decorated cop, Chan Kwok-Wing
meets his match in a vicious group of young thugs,
who kill cops for fun and "x-treme" satisfaction.
After Wing boasts that he'll snag this group of young
punks in three hours, the group proceeds to dismantle
his ten man squad with expert precision and more than
a little stylish flair. Among the dead cops is Wing's
future brother-in-law , a factoid that leaves
Wing crying and drinking his guts out...or perhaps
the reverse. Either way, he becomes a broken guy.
Enter young Frank Cheng , an overly-sprightly
young cop who makes it his personal mission to bring
Wing back from the brink of self-destruction. Will
he succeed? And will EEG sell records as a result
of this old-young merger?
The answer to that last
question is unknown, but the former one is easy: of
course he will! This is a movie after all, meaning
the presence of the ultra-cute young cop is enough
to bring Wing back to supreme cop status, and enough
to get the girls swooning. As young Frank, Nicholas
Tse eschews his usual bad boy act for a happy-go-lucky
comic relief persona that the young actor handles
with surprising facility. His dialogue is sometimes
cheesy and clunky, but it's easy to like Tse when
he isn't preening like his popstar status requires.
It's also easy to like Charlene Choi here, especially
since she gets so little screen time that her whiny
girlishness is reduced to only one or two scenes.
Sadly, the much-vaunted return of Charlie Young, who
plays Wing's girlfriend Ho-Yee, is in a disappointing
flower vase role that gives the charming actress little
room to maneuver. Basically, she shows up, looks concerned,
occasionally cries, then becomes imperiled. New
Police Story may gun for modern hipness, but some
of the content is strictly out of the Dark Ages.
Equal simplicity is
applied to the bad guys. Made up of Daniel Wu, Terence
Yin, Andy On, Hayama Go, and Coco Chiang, the gang
of evildoers is given pseudo-understandable psychosis
by the screenplay. This group isn't really bad; they're
more like misunderstood kids who've simply taken their
disaffection too far...into murder and completely
over-the-top crime sprees. While some minor seriousness
is proffered in this theme of rich kids gone bad,
the performances all err on the cartoony side. These
bad seeds overact with abandon, flailing their arms
and mugging ferociously. The performances are more
than a little over-the-top, but there are bright spots.
Andy On demonstrates a welcome physicality in two
flying fists encounters with Jackie Chan, and Daniel
Wu gives his limited range a full workout. As disaffected
leader Joe, Wu gets to smoulder and preen like a miniature
knock-off of Francis Ng梬ith generally effective,
though ultimately overrated results. Wu recently won
the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor for
New Police Story, which is odd considering
that his performance wasn't that noteworthy. It's
not a bad performance by any stretch of the imagination,
but Best Supporting Actor?
Still, taking the Golden
Horse Awards selection committee to task is not the
big deal here. No, the big deal is Jackie Chan, and
how he handles being a middle-aged action star among
a cast of young and less-wrinkled kids. The answer
to that: not bad at all. Chan still manages a few
terrific stunts and fight sequences, and though there's
a bit more cutting than ten years ago, the effort
is appreciable. Chan also takes his elder statesman
role and gives it a surprising weight and dignity梬hen
he isn't overacting. Chan gives his character heavy
emotions, but his acting has matured little from the
overacting, sweaty displays of manly emotion that
have marked nearly every Chan performance since the
early days of his career. Chan puts his character's
emotions out there for everyone to see, but the effect
can sometimes be more embarrassing than affecting.
However, this is the
moment where the masses should rise up and say, "Come
on, it's just a movie! Don't be so harsh!" Well,
for once the masses have got it right. Despite the
gripes and the groans of New Police Story being
not as good as previous Jackie Chan works, it does
succeed at being an efficient and entertaining action
adventure film. Director Benny Chan gives the film
polished style and flair, and Jackie Chan certainly
works overtime to produce an entertaining, and sometimes
even emotionally engaging commercial film. Jackie
Chan is undisputably one of the world's greatest entertainers,
and New Police Story is further proof that
the man will go to great lengths to thrill, entertain,
and perhaps simply placate his fan base. The man has
made concessions to insure lasting stardom, but hasn't
forgotten to plug Hong Kong with every ounce of spare
time that he has. Despite the massive flop that was
Around the World in 80 Days, Chan didn't have
to make New Police Story. But he did, not only
to satiate his home audience but also to further the
careers of some kids who could use the boost. Whether
or not his charges will ever hit it big is debatable
,
but let's put it on the table: Jackie Chan tries.
And with New Police Story, he mostly succeeds.
Director:Benny Chan Muk-Sing
Cast:Jackie Chan, Nicholas Tse Ting-Fung, Charlie Young Choi-Nei, Charlene Choi Cheuk-Yin, Daniel Wu, Dave Wong Kit, Andy On Chi-Kit, Terence Yin, Hayama Hiro, Coco Chiang Yi, Deep Ng Ho-Hong, Ken Lo Wai-Kwong, Tony Ho Wah-Chiu, Timmy Hung Tin-Ming, Hung Tin-Chiu, Andrew Lin Hoi, Carl Ng Ka-Lung, Samuel Pang King-Chi, Mandy Chiang Nga-Man, Maggie Lau Si-Wai, Asuka Higuchi, Liu Kai-Chi, Yu Rong-Guang, Kenny Kwan Chi-Bun, Steven Cheung Chi-Hung, Wu Bai, Tats Lau Yi-Tat, John Sham Kin-Fun, Winnie Leung Man-Yi, Philip Ng Won-Lung
Description:
Finally,
Jackie Chan returns to Hong Kong! And no, those Twins
Effect movies don't count. New Police Story
represents a watershed development for longtime HK
Cinema fans. First, it marks the Chanmeister's return
to Hong Kong Cinema after too many American or American-influenced productions. Second, it reunites
Jackie Chan with director Benny Chan, who was responsible
for arguably Jackie Chan's last decent Hong Kong film,
Who Am I? Excitement would be an understandable
response.
However, blind excitement
may be too great. While a polished, entertaining,
and suitably glossy action picture, New Police
Story is still quality-impaired compared to Chan's
greatest works. Plus, it comes with an extreme price:
collusion with the Emperor Entertainment Group's band
of questionably talented popstars. Chan's primary
co-star is EEG badboy Nicholas Tse, and his co-stars
include EEG products Dave Wong Kit , Charlene
Choi , Kenny Kwan , Stephen Cheung
, and Deep Ng .
The film also co-stars a virtual who's who of young
Hong Kong actors, meaning somebody out there was working
overtime during a marketing meeting. While his paycheck
may be awash in music industry kickbacks, the inclusions
do the movie little favors.
But enough griping.
The obvious Jackie Chan meets Gen-X Cops marketing
aside, New Police Story is a suitably entertaining
action picture that presents the aging Chan in a new
light: as an aging cop whose life takes a precipitous
tumble. A decorated cop, Chan Kwok-Wing
meets his match in a vicious group of young thugs,
who kill cops for fun and "x-treme" satisfaction.
After Wing boasts that he'll snag this group of young
punks in three hours, the group proceeds to dismantle
his ten man squad with expert precision and more than
a little stylish flair. Among the dead cops is Wing's
future brother-in-law , a factoid that leaves
Wing crying and drinking his guts out...or perhaps
the reverse. Either way, he becomes a broken guy.
Enter young Frank Cheng , an overly-sprightly
young cop who makes it his personal mission to bring
Wing back from the brink of self-destruction. Will
he succeed? And will EEG sell records as a result
of this old-young merger?
The answer to that last
question is unknown, but the former one is easy: of
course he will! This is a movie after all, meaning
the presence of the ultra-cute young cop is enough
to bring Wing back to supreme cop status, and enough
to get the girls swooning. As young Frank, Nicholas
Tse eschews his usual bad boy act for a happy-go-lucky
comic relief persona that the young actor handles
with surprising facility. His dialogue is sometimes
cheesy and clunky, but it's easy to like Tse when
he isn't preening like his popstar status requires.
It's also easy to like Charlene Choi here, especially
since she gets so little screen time that her whiny
girlishness is reduced to only one or two scenes.
Sadly, the much-vaunted return of Charlie Young, who
plays Wing's girlfriend Ho-Yee, is in a disappointing
flower vase role that gives the charming actress little
room to maneuver. Basically, she shows up, looks concerned,
occasionally cries, then becomes imperiled. New
Police Story may gun for modern hipness, but some
of the content is strictly out of the Dark Ages.
Equal simplicity is
applied to the bad guys. Made up of Daniel Wu, Terence
Yin, Andy On, Hayama Go, and Coco Chiang, the gang
of evildoers is given pseudo-understandable psychosis
by the screenplay. This group isn't really bad; they're
more like misunderstood kids who've simply taken their
disaffection too far...into murder and completely
over-the-top crime sprees. While some minor seriousness
is proffered in this theme of rich kids gone bad,
the performances all err on the cartoony side. These
bad seeds overact with abandon, flailing their arms
and mugging ferociously. The performances are more
than a little over-the-top, but there are bright spots.
Andy On demonstrates a welcome physicality in two
flying fists encounters with Jackie Chan, and Daniel
Wu gives his limited range a full workout. As disaffected
leader Joe, Wu gets to smoulder and preen like a miniature
knock-off of Francis Ng梬ith generally effective,
though ultimately overrated results. Wu recently won
the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor for
New Police Story, which is odd considering
that his performance wasn't that noteworthy. It's
not a bad performance by any stretch of the imagination,
but Best Supporting Actor?
Still, taking the Golden
Horse Awards selection committee to task is not the
big deal here. No, the big deal is Jackie Chan, and
how he handles being a middle-aged action star among
a cast of young and less-wrinkled kids. The answer
to that: not bad at all. Chan still manages a few
terrific stunts and fight sequences, and though there's
a bit more cutting than ten years ago, the effort
is appreciable. Chan also takes his elder statesman
role and gives it a surprising weight and dignity梬hen
he isn't overacting. Chan gives his character heavy
emotions, but his acting has matured little from the
overacting, sweaty displays of manly emotion that
have marked nearly every Chan performance since the
early days of his career. Chan puts his character's
emotions out there for everyone to see, but the effect
can sometimes be more embarrassing than affecting.
However, this is the
moment where the masses should rise up and say, "Come
on, it's just a movie! Don't be so harsh!" Well,
for once the masses have got it right. Despite the
gripes and the groans of New Police Story being
not as good as previous Jackie Chan works, it does
succeed at being an efficient and entertaining action
adventure film. Director Benny Chan gives the film
polished style and flair, and Jackie Chan certainly
works overtime to produce an entertaining, and sometimes
even emotionally engaging commercial film. Jackie
Chan is undisputably one of the world's greatest entertainers,
and New Police Story is further proof that
the man will go to great lengths to thrill, entertain,
and perhaps simply placate his fan base. The man has
made concessions to insure lasting stardom, but hasn't
forgotten to plug Hong Kong with every ounce of spare
time that he has. Despite the massive flop that was
Around the World in 80 Days, Chan didn't have
to make New Police Story. But he did, not only
to satiate his home audience but also to further the
careers of some kids who could use the boost. Whether
or not his charges will ever hit it big is debatable
,
but let's put it on the table: Jackie Chan tries.
And with New Police Story, he mostly succeeds.
Naked Weapon
Year:2002
Director:Ching Siu-Tung
Cast:Maggie Q, Anya, Daniel Wu, Jewel Li Fei, Cheng Pei-Pei, Almen Wong Pui-Ha, Andrew Lin Hoi, Dennis Chan Kwok-San, Monica Lo Suk-Yi, Carl Ng Ka-Lung
Description:
Babes,
bullets and lots of kicking are the selling points
of this Naked Killer-rehash, and in that Naked
Weapon is a total success. You get babes , bullets ,
and lots of kicking . The
rest of the film features nonsensical storytelling,
egregious English dialogue, laughably bad acting,
and some ugly moments that could only be called "tasteless
exploitation." Not surprisingly, this is a Wong
Jing production.
Naked Weapon
tells the tale of a female assassin ring trained and
operated by Madame M . When her one-and-only
assassin gets offed, she regroups by kidnapping the
world's most athletic and fight-ready young girls,
and whisks them away to a private island. There, she
subjects them to rigorous training over the course
of six years. The girls are schooled in the arts of
guns, computers, feminine wiles, and the requisite
martial arts. Charlene , Katt and
Jill are among them, and the ensuing battle
royale leaves them as the designated hitwomen for
Madame M's future business exploits.
Of course, this leads
to the inevitable problems. Charlene still misses
her mother , and jeopardizes a Hong
Kong hit by running into her. Meanwhile, dope CIA
agent Jack Chen is hot on Charlene's tail.
Jack means to arrest Charlene, but he's so nice梐nd
horny梩hat he finds himself drawn to her. Madame
M is hardly happy with Charlene's new distractions,
so you expect that she'll do something nasty to retain
her property. Plus, ridiculously evil Japanese guy
Ryuichi shows up to terrorize the girls
and the audience with some heavy overacting. And there's
flashes of skin and a love scene, involving involuntary
aphrodisiac, a deserted beach and really bad dialogue.
To elaborate more would cause pain.
Big surprise: it was Wong
Jing who took sole screenwriting credit for this poorly-developed
exploitation piece. His plot is stolen from half-a-dozen
over films, and the storyline possesses not even a
semblance of logic. Why doesn't Charlene, a trained
assassin, kill Jack right away? Why doesn't Madame
M, who runs an elaborate assassin training program,
recognize that her chosen assassins are too compassionate
for the job? And shouldn't an internationally-wanted
woman who runs a multimillion dollar criminal operation
do background checks on her clients? The situations
and characters could use a lot more credibility.
Also, the script blows.
Wong Jing and Media Asia went the "international
distribution" route, and deliver a completely
English soundtrack through some sync sound and some ADR .
Unfortunately, neither the dubbed or the sync speakers
sound good in English, because the script is absolutely
terrible. The actors aren't so hot themselves ,
but singling anyone out for their lousy acting would
ignore the fact that they were really given nothing
to say. Not even the cast of The Lord of the Rings
could make this stuff sound like anything other than
pseudo-hard boiled swill. Your ears may undergo internal
hemorrhaging.
Not that it's all bad.
The ins-and-outs of Wong Jing's lurid celluloid world
certainly look great. The cinematography is pleasingly
manufactured, and the women are all leggy and fetchingly
made up. Everybody moves in slow motion, and the wind
always seems to be blowing at the most appropriate
times. Red blooded males everywhere should be happy
with the the camera's worship of Maggie Q's form.
And there's lots of action, which Ching Siu-Tung serves
up in trademark creative style. Some of it is too
obviously posed and out of continuity, but for the
most part the over-the-top splashiness of it is welcome.
Those who watch the film while drunk could find this
an entertaining bit of trashy exploitation.
But if you're sober
then you may be in trouble. Not only does the dialogue
kill brain cells, but Wong Jing's usual misogyny mucks
things up. He
degrades his starlets as much as the Category IIB
rating will allow, heavily reducing the guilty enjoyment
factor. The sexual violence he dredges up is more
than a little off-putting. Wong Jing has been partial
to this stuff before ,
but he seems to hit a new low here. Plus, the film's
most heinous acts go largely unpunished.
After what she does to the girls, she deserves more
than she gets.
Naked Killer
is absolutely superior to Naked Weapon, which
may not seem immediately obvious. In truth, Naked
Killer contained many of the same tasteless elements
that Naked Weapon does, and it wasn't cleverly
plotted or scripted, either. And Naked Weapon
has more polished action and better production values.
But Naked Killer had a marvelously sick sense
of humor and some genuinely fun subtext. The women
in Naked Killer killed
evil, misogynist men, and the male hero was an impotent
cop . Princess and Kitty killed to assert
their power over men, and not just because they were
hired to. In that film, the joke was on the sleazy
men who found the women sexy, because the women would
just as soon take a gun to their privates. Killing
is just a job in Naked Weapon. Charlene and
Katt kill because they're told to, and that's it.
This time out, it looks like the joke is on them.
Director:Ching Siu-Tung
Cast:Maggie Q, Anya, Daniel Wu, Jewel Li Fei, Cheng Pei-Pei, Almen Wong Pui-Ha, Andrew Lin Hoi, Dennis Chan Kwok-San, Monica Lo Suk-Yi, Carl Ng Ka-Lung
Description:
Babes,
bullets and lots of kicking are the selling points
of this Naked Killer-rehash, and in that Naked
Weapon is a total success. You get babes , bullets ,
and lots of kicking . The
rest of the film features nonsensical storytelling,
egregious English dialogue, laughably bad acting,
and some ugly moments that could only be called "tasteless
exploitation." Not surprisingly, this is a Wong
Jing production.
Naked Weapon
tells the tale of a female assassin ring trained and
operated by Madame M . When her one-and-only
assassin gets offed, she regroups by kidnapping the
world's most athletic and fight-ready young girls,
and whisks them away to a private island. There, she
subjects them to rigorous training over the course
of six years. The girls are schooled in the arts of
guns, computers, feminine wiles, and the requisite
martial arts. Charlene , Katt and
Jill are among them, and the ensuing battle
royale leaves them as the designated hitwomen for
Madame M's future business exploits.
Of course, this leads
to the inevitable problems. Charlene still misses
her mother , and jeopardizes a Hong
Kong hit by running into her. Meanwhile, dope CIA
agent Jack Chen is hot on Charlene's tail.
Jack means to arrest Charlene, but he's so nice梐nd
horny梩hat he finds himself drawn to her. Madame
M is hardly happy with Charlene's new distractions,
so you expect that she'll do something nasty to retain
her property. Plus, ridiculously evil Japanese guy
Ryuichi shows up to terrorize the girls
and the audience with some heavy overacting. And there's
flashes of skin and a love scene, involving involuntary
aphrodisiac, a deserted beach and really bad dialogue.
To elaborate more would cause pain.
Big surprise: it was Wong
Jing who took sole screenwriting credit for this poorly-developed
exploitation piece. His plot is stolen from half-a-dozen
over films, and the storyline possesses not even a
semblance of logic. Why doesn't Charlene, a trained
assassin, kill Jack right away? Why doesn't Madame
M, who runs an elaborate assassin training program,
recognize that her chosen assassins are too compassionate
for the job? And shouldn't an internationally-wanted
woman who runs a multimillion dollar criminal operation
do background checks on her clients? The situations
and characters could use a lot more credibility.
Also, the script blows.
Wong Jing and Media Asia went the "international
distribution" route, and deliver a completely
English soundtrack through some sync sound and some ADR .
Unfortunately, neither the dubbed or the sync speakers
sound good in English, because the script is absolutely
terrible. The actors aren't so hot themselves ,
but singling anyone out for their lousy acting would
ignore the fact that they were really given nothing
to say. Not even the cast of The Lord of the Rings
could make this stuff sound like anything other than
pseudo-hard boiled swill. Your ears may undergo internal
hemorrhaging.
Not that it's all bad.
The ins-and-outs of Wong Jing's lurid celluloid world
certainly look great. The cinematography is pleasingly
manufactured, and the women are all leggy and fetchingly
made up. Everybody moves in slow motion, and the wind
always seems to be blowing at the most appropriate
times. Red blooded males everywhere should be happy
with the the camera's worship of Maggie Q's form.
And there's lots of action, which Ching Siu-Tung serves
up in trademark creative style. Some of it is too
obviously posed and out of continuity, but for the
most part the over-the-top splashiness of it is welcome.
Those who watch the film while drunk could find this
an entertaining bit of trashy exploitation.
But if you're sober
then you may be in trouble. Not only does the dialogue
kill brain cells, but Wong Jing's usual misogyny mucks
things up. He
degrades his starlets as much as the Category IIB
rating will allow, heavily reducing the guilty enjoyment
factor. The sexual violence he dredges up is more
than a little off-putting. Wong Jing has been partial
to this stuff before ,
but he seems to hit a new low here. Plus, the film's
most heinous acts go largely unpunished.
After what she does to the girls, she deserves more
than she gets.
Naked Killer
is absolutely superior to Naked Weapon, which
may not seem immediately obvious. In truth, Naked
Killer contained many of the same tasteless elements
that Naked Weapon does, and it wasn't cleverly
plotted or scripted, either. And Naked Weapon
has more polished action and better production values.
But Naked Killer had a marvelously sick sense
of humor and some genuinely fun subtext. The women
in Naked Killer killed
evil, misogynist men, and the male hero was an impotent
cop . Princess and Kitty killed to assert
their power over men, and not just because they were
hired to. In that film, the joke was on the sleazy
men who found the women sexy, because the women would
just as soon take a gun to their privates. Killing
is just a job in Naked Weapon. Charlene and
Katt kill because they're told to, and that's it.
This time out, it looks like the joke is on them.
Naked Ambition
Year:2003
Director:Dante Lam Chiu-Yin, Chan Hing-Kai
Cast:Louis Koo Tin-Lok, Eason Chan Yik-Shun, Cherrie Ying Choi-Yi, Niki Chow Lai-Kei, Josie Ho Chiu-Yi, Denise Ho Wan-Si, Jo Koo, Tats Lau Yi-Tat, Tin Kai-Man, Clifton Ko Chi-Sum, Lam Chi-Sin, Danny Lee Sau-Yin, Matthew Chow Hoi-Kwong, Yuri Komuro, Bey Logan, Fruit Chan Gor
Description:
The man with the tan, popular actor Louis Koo, takes on
producing duties with Naked Ambition, an entertaining
but problematic look at Hong Kong's sex industry. Based
on the true-life exploits of co-writer Frankie Chung Kin-Keung,
the film details the rise of two guys from lowly editors at a magazine to kings of
the local porn industry. Along the way there's laughs, jabs
at the porn industry, digs at their consumers, appearances
by some comely Hong Kong actresses, occasional no-name skin,
and then a final dip into the conflicts and moral issues
that might arise from running your own porn empire. That's
where Naked Ambition eventually derails. Directors
Dante Lam and Chan Hing-Kai let their
film degrade from a potential satire into a pandering comedy-drama
that touts the strength of brotherhood. Huh?
John and Andy
are two comic section editors for a local publication who
get downsized unceremoniously. They join forces with some
of their former colleagues to publish their own magazine,
and use the savings of Andy's sweetheart girlfriend Pamela
to fund the enterprise.
Still, their first efforts aren't so well received, so they
turn to the lowest common denominator: porn. With the bottom
line as their guide, they decide to mimic Japanese sex guides
and create their own inside look at Hong Kong's underground
sex culture. The attempt turns out to be a success, and
soon they start their way up the industry's food chain.
They become a couple of guys who can make or break the fortunes
of prostitutes, massage parlors, and gentleman's clubs across
the territory, and as a result find an extreme amount of
popularity. Before too long they're the toast of their particular
niche market.
The details of John and Andy's
rise from nobodies to porn superpowers are actually telling
and quite funny. After publishing a negative review of a
particular establishment, they're approached by triads who are unhappy with how they were rated. Some
of the prositutes Andy and John profile become celebrities
after seeing print. One gets lazy and resorts to
using a stand-in, meaning complaints to the magazine that
they're falsely informing their readers. Another gets high marks for her fellatio technique, which leads
to more business than her jaw can handle. While off-color
and sometimes tasteless, the jokes lampooning the sex industry
do entertain in a self-deprecating, dirty sort of way.
But random observations about
the wacky life in the porn business can only get you so
far. Our heroes do make it big, but what are the repercussions
on their personal lives? Andy has the innanely supportive
Pamela at home for him, and John has steady girlfriend Fanny
, who also works for the magazine. Given the
fact that they're red-blooded males who rub elbows with
sexually active AND alluring females every day, you'd expect
SOMETHING to occur. Which it does. John and Andy may not
intend on straying from their significant others, but they
eventually do with sometimes pronounced glee. Look at it
this way: if you set some kids loose in a candy shop, THEY
WILL eat the candy. The morality of their business always
seems to be etched in stone, i.e. the guys are doing it
for the money. But, when your daily business leads you into
personally compromising positions, something's gotta give.
Something does give, though
it's not John and Andy. Their personal lives take hits,
but those losses are lingered on with only the bare minumum
of attention. More attention is given to what happens between
John and Andy, which is the usual rivalry one would expect
from two buddies who make it big. Andy has always been the
top man, and eventually John chafes at being second banana.
The two fight, part ways, and eventually meet once again,
but by the time all that happens, one has to wonder: is
this why we're watching this movie? To witness the affirmation
of friendship between two guys who let their libidos ruin
their personal lives, when frankly they should be given
good beatings? Naked Ambition never seems to moralize,
but the picture it paints isn't very comforting. Basically,
these two heels regularly cheat on their better halves,
the result of which is heartache or even more lies
.
Then they take out their problems on each other, kiss and
make up, and we're supposed to be happy?
Granted, not every movie should
be a family-friendly counsel on how to run our lives the
prescribed Christian way, but the filmmakers do their audience
a disservice by routinely running away from any and all
tough conflicts. Louis Koo's Andy is a slimy guy, but he's
eventually given a pat on the back for his "integrity"
in the ways of journalism. Likewise, Eason Chan's John gets
away with adultery, and he's still supposed to be a great
guy. That the two fellows remain friends is supposed to
be the payoff of this two-hour commercial for the Hugh Hefner
lifestyle, but shouldn't there be more at stake than the
buddy-buddy relationship of two cheaters? Louis Koo and
Eason Chan do play their roles with likable smarmy charisma,
but that doesn't change the fact that they're total heels.
With the above in mind, Naked
Ambition ultimately comes off as somewhat superficial.
It explores a ripe subject, but only milks some fun laughs
out of it. At the very least the actresses turn in some
fine supporting work. Josie Ho is impressive in a rather
sordid role, and Jo Koo and Niki Chow are animated and sexy.
It's a shame that the females are pushed behind the males
in this story, because they're infinitely more likable than
the guys leading the way. Where Naked Ambition fails
is not in its fun factor, as it provides eye candy and dirty
laughs for fans of the stars. Where it does fail is in its
handling of the subject matter, which could have been so
much more than a slight biopic celebrating the brotherhood
of two bozos. Those themes shouldn't be surprising, as they've
been shoehorned into nearly every film made by writer/director
Chan Hing-Kai since 1996. Well enough is enough; someone
should let him know that it's time to find some new material.
Director:Dante Lam Chiu-Yin, Chan Hing-Kai
Cast:Louis Koo Tin-Lok, Eason Chan Yik-Shun, Cherrie Ying Choi-Yi, Niki Chow Lai-Kei, Josie Ho Chiu-Yi, Denise Ho Wan-Si, Jo Koo, Tats Lau Yi-Tat, Tin Kai-Man, Clifton Ko Chi-Sum, Lam Chi-Sin, Danny Lee Sau-Yin, Matthew Chow Hoi-Kwong, Yuri Komuro, Bey Logan, Fruit Chan Gor
Description:
The man with the tan, popular actor Louis Koo, takes on
producing duties with Naked Ambition, an entertaining
but problematic look at Hong Kong's sex industry. Based
on the true-life exploits of co-writer Frankie Chung Kin-Keung,
the film details the rise of two guys from lowly editors at a magazine to kings of
the local porn industry. Along the way there's laughs, jabs
at the porn industry, digs at their consumers, appearances
by some comely Hong Kong actresses, occasional no-name skin,
and then a final dip into the conflicts and moral issues
that might arise from running your own porn empire. That's
where Naked Ambition eventually derails. Directors
Dante Lam and Chan Hing-Kai let their
film degrade from a potential satire into a pandering comedy-drama
that touts the strength of brotherhood. Huh?
John and Andy
are two comic section editors for a local publication who
get downsized unceremoniously. They join forces with some
of their former colleagues to publish their own magazine,
and use the savings of Andy's sweetheart girlfriend Pamela
to fund the enterprise.
Still, their first efforts aren't so well received, so they
turn to the lowest common denominator: porn. With the bottom
line as their guide, they decide to mimic Japanese sex guides
and create their own inside look at Hong Kong's underground
sex culture. The attempt turns out to be a success, and
soon they start their way up the industry's food chain.
They become a couple of guys who can make or break the fortunes
of prostitutes, massage parlors, and gentleman's clubs across
the territory, and as a result find an extreme amount of
popularity. Before too long they're the toast of their particular
niche market.
The details of John and Andy's
rise from nobodies to porn superpowers are actually telling
and quite funny. After publishing a negative review of a
particular establishment, they're approached by triads who are unhappy with how they were rated. Some
of the prositutes Andy and John profile become celebrities
after seeing print. One gets lazy and resorts to
using a stand-in, meaning complaints to the magazine that
they're falsely informing their readers. Another gets high marks for her fellatio technique, which leads
to more business than her jaw can handle. While off-color
and sometimes tasteless, the jokes lampooning the sex industry
do entertain in a self-deprecating, dirty sort of way.
But random observations about
the wacky life in the porn business can only get you so
far. Our heroes do make it big, but what are the repercussions
on their personal lives? Andy has the innanely supportive
Pamela at home for him, and John has steady girlfriend Fanny
, who also works for the magazine. Given the
fact that they're red-blooded males who rub elbows with
sexually active AND alluring females every day, you'd expect
SOMETHING to occur. Which it does. John and Andy may not
intend on straying from their significant others, but they
eventually do with sometimes pronounced glee. Look at it
this way: if you set some kids loose in a candy shop, THEY
WILL eat the candy. The morality of their business always
seems to be etched in stone, i.e. the guys are doing it
for the money. But, when your daily business leads you into
personally compromising positions, something's gotta give.
Something does give, though
it's not John and Andy. Their personal lives take hits,
but those losses are lingered on with only the bare minumum
of attention. More attention is given to what happens between
John and Andy, which is the usual rivalry one would expect
from two buddies who make it big. Andy has always been the
top man, and eventually John chafes at being second banana.
The two fight, part ways, and eventually meet once again,
but by the time all that happens, one has to wonder: is
this why we're watching this movie? To witness the affirmation
of friendship between two guys who let their libidos ruin
their personal lives, when frankly they should be given
good beatings? Naked Ambition never seems to moralize,
but the picture it paints isn't very comforting. Basically,
these two heels regularly cheat on their better halves,
the result of which is heartache or even more lies
.
Then they take out their problems on each other, kiss and
make up, and we're supposed to be happy?
Granted, not every movie should
be a family-friendly counsel on how to run our lives the
prescribed Christian way, but the filmmakers do their audience
a disservice by routinely running away from any and all
tough conflicts. Louis Koo's Andy is a slimy guy, but he's
eventually given a pat on the back for his "integrity"
in the ways of journalism. Likewise, Eason Chan's John gets
away with adultery, and he's still supposed to be a great
guy. That the two fellows remain friends is supposed to
be the payoff of this two-hour commercial for the Hugh Hefner
lifestyle, but shouldn't there be more at stake than the
buddy-buddy relationship of two cheaters? Louis Koo and
Eason Chan do play their roles with likable smarmy charisma,
but that doesn't change the fact that they're total heels.
With the above in mind, Naked
Ambition ultimately comes off as somewhat superficial.
It explores a ripe subject, but only milks some fun laughs
out of it. At the very least the actresses turn in some
fine supporting work. Josie Ho is impressive in a rather
sordid role, and Jo Koo and Niki Chow are animated and sexy.
It's a shame that the females are pushed behind the males
in this story, because they're infinitely more likable than
the guys leading the way. Where Naked Ambition fails
is not in its fun factor, as it provides eye candy and dirty
laughs for fans of the stars. Where it does fail is in its
handling of the subject matter, which could have been so
much more than a slight biopic celebrating the brotherhood
of two bozos. Those themes shouldn't be surprising, as they've
been shoehorned into nearly every film made by writer/director
Chan Hing-Kai since 1996. Well enough is enough; someone
should let him know that it's time to find some new material.
The Myth
Year:2005
Director:Stanley Tong Kwai-Lai
Cast:Jackie Chan, Kim Hee-Sun, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Mallika Sherawat, Yu Rong-Guang, Choi Min-Soo, Patrick Tam Yiu-Man, Ken Wong Hap-Hei, Sun Zhou, Shao Bing, Jin Song, Ken Lo Wai-Kwong, Hayama Hiro
Description:
Calling
The Myth a good movie is a tough thing to do,
because it's not really a movie. The Myth is
actually two movies intertwined into a questionably
coherent time-spanning plotline that works better
in concept than in execution. Jackie Chan takes on
two roles; some of the time, he's a Qin Dynasty-era
general named Meng Yi, and the rest of the time, he's
Meng Yi's reincarnation, archaeologist Jack Lee. Basically,
what happened in the past fuels the plot in the present,
but the parts don't work as well as advertised. Still,
The Myth provides welcome flashes of Jackie
Chan's trademark cinematic panache - and even manages
to throw in a surprise or two. The film is also cheesy
and occasionally embarrassing, and features a SFX-enhanced
ending that's best left to a standard Hollywood
wannabe film. Sadly, you can't win them all.
When we're first introduced
to Jackie Chan, he's playing General Meng Yi. A supreme
leader and warrior, Meng Yi is assigned to receive
the Emperor's latest wife, a Korean princess named
Ok Soo, played by Korean megastar Kim Hee-Sun. Ok
Soo's union with the Emperor isn't heavily popular
with some Korean nationals, including General Choi
, who attacks Ok Soo's entourage to
get his point across. In the ensuing melee, Ok Soo
is endangered, and Meng Yi and his superpowered horse
manage to save her, but not without
getting cut off from the rest of the Chinese army.
Ok Soo and Meng Yi are stranded and must journey back
to China alone, during which romance blooms and the
overbearing orchestral score swells.
Meanwhile in the present,
archaeologist Jack Lee finds himself dreaming of his
past life and his love for Ok Soo...though he has
no idea it's his former life. Currently, Jack is involved
in a deal with scientist pal William . The
two are investigating meteorite fragments that possess
gravity-defying abilities. Basically, the rocks can
make things float, and there's a coffin in Dasar,
India that's proof of this special power. However,
in raiding the tomb, Jack stumbles upon a painting
of Ok Soo and an ancient sword that likely belonged
to Meng Yi. Past and present collide, and Jack soon
finds himself chasing a dream that may actually be
reality. Plus there's time-outs for comedy, Jackie
Chan-style action, a voluptuous yoga-practioner named
Samantha , and even
more flashbacks to ancient times. Somewhere in there,
there's content that's actually supposed to wring
some emotion out of the audience. Emotion in a Jackie
Chan film? No way.
Yes, way. Director Stanley
Tong and Jackie Chan have gone on record stating that
The Myth is meant to be a departure from the
usual Jackie Chan norm - and it is. Sometimes. The
present day story features the typical Jackie Chan
stuff, i.e. a mixture of stilted exposition, amusing
action and prop sequences, and uneven comedy that
would probably be funnier if it were dubbed. Chan's
Jack Lee is your typical nice-guy Chan character,
and is ultimately as interesting as that uncle you
see once a year at Christmastime. This is standard
post-nineties Jackie Chan stuff, and fun for what
it is. Tony Leung Ka-Fai plays an amusing "dope"
character, and Mallika Sherawat is supreme eye candy,
if nothing else. At its best, the modern day scenes
play like a kinder, gentler version of the original
Armour of God. At its worst, the scenes are
like leftovers from The Accidental Spy. Thankfully,
nothing here is as bad as anything in The Medallion.
The modern-day scenes are
a far cry from the Qin Dynasty-era stuff, and the
effect can be heavily jarring. While the present-day
scenes can be eager-to-please and throwaway, the sequences
set in the past go straight for the heartstrings.
Meng Yi's ill-fated romance with Ok Soo is given mega
importance, and the romantic sequences are presented
in a disturbingly bombastic way. Stanley Tong punctuates
every gooey scene with a swelling orchestral score
that's overbearing and damn near laughable. If the
romantic scenes work at all, it's because the insanely
beautiful Kim Hee-Sun manages compelling emotions,
plus Chan looks appropriately tortured as the conflicted
Meng Yi . Regardless,
the filmmakers wield a pretty heavy hammer for the
emotional moments - and they're not afraid to use
it. Subtlety, thy name is not Stanley Tong.
However, the scenes
in the past do yield the film's best surprises. Unlike
his usual "aw shucks" good guys, Jackie
Chan cuts a surprisingly heroic and even tragic figure
as Meng Yi. Chan gives the character a world-weary
honor that's quite effective, especially during the
harrowing battle sequences that reveal Meng Yi's ultimate
fate. Much of The Myth is set against true
Qin Dynasty lore, and while a sense of pageantry may
be missing, Tong and Chan do get the most out of their
Ancient China settings. Chan still engages in some
nimble fisticuffs, but Meng Yi is weighed down by
his sword, and armor, and the resulting effect on
the action sequences almost seems to work better than
the typical Chan action seen in the present-day scenes.
If the goal of The Myth was giving audiences
a Jackie Chan they've never seen before, then the
filmmakers accomplished their mission. That it works
as well as it does is practically a bonus.
Still, that's only part
of the time. Unfortunately, even the Qin Dynasty-era
scenes are not saved from silliness. Meng Yi's superpowered
horse has supreme kicking skills, and can even deflect
boulders without splintering his legs. The bad guys
use normal arrows on human beings, and silly-looking
big arrows on horses. The present-day stop in Dashar
bleeds silliness, especially when yoga-practicing
Samantha and her omnipresent navel enter the picture.
Then there's the ending, which decides to take past
and present plotlines and smash them together into
a goes-on-forever ending that feels less like Jackie
Chan, and more like Michelle Yeoh's egregious The
Touch. The ending itself manages to be unlike
any Jackie Chan film known to man, but that fact merely
renders The Myth noteworthy, and not necessarily
good. By the time the SFX-enabled ending rolls around,
there are likely to be many diehard Chan fans wondering
what went wrong.
They'll probably still
stick around though, which is what any Chan fan would
do. There's always the promise that something - anything
- will occur in a Jackie Chan film that will make
it more than just another movie. It's that promise
of something special that makes all Jackie Chan films
worth watching, even if they don't always deliver
- the result of which is usually a movie that's better
in parts than as a whole. The Myth sometimes
does deliver, as its patchwork plotline and tone manage
some moments of genuine surprise or entertainment.
Jackie Chan manages to do a few new things, and when
he doesn't, he compensates with some of the old. If
you can ignore the silly plot, concede Chan his advancing
age, and forgive Stanley Tong for China Strike
Force , then The Myth can
be a diverting yarn. Overall, the whole film isn't
that good - but like any Jackie Chan film, parts of
it can be.
Director:Stanley Tong Kwai-Lai
Cast:Jackie Chan, Kim Hee-Sun, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Mallika Sherawat, Yu Rong-Guang, Choi Min-Soo, Patrick Tam Yiu-Man, Ken Wong Hap-Hei, Sun Zhou, Shao Bing, Jin Song, Ken Lo Wai-Kwong, Hayama Hiro
Description:
Calling
The Myth a good movie is a tough thing to do,
because it's not really a movie. The Myth is
actually two movies intertwined into a questionably
coherent time-spanning plotline that works better
in concept than in execution. Jackie Chan takes on
two roles; some of the time, he's a Qin Dynasty-era
general named Meng Yi, and the rest of the time, he's
Meng Yi's reincarnation, archaeologist Jack Lee. Basically,
what happened in the past fuels the plot in the present,
but the parts don't work as well as advertised. Still,
The Myth provides welcome flashes of Jackie
Chan's trademark cinematic panache - and even manages
to throw in a surprise or two. The film is also cheesy
and occasionally embarrassing, and features a SFX-enhanced
ending that's best left to a standard Hollywood
wannabe film. Sadly, you can't win them all.
When we're first introduced
to Jackie Chan, he's playing General Meng Yi. A supreme
leader and warrior, Meng Yi is assigned to receive
the Emperor's latest wife, a Korean princess named
Ok Soo, played by Korean megastar Kim Hee-Sun. Ok
Soo's union with the Emperor isn't heavily popular
with some Korean nationals, including General Choi
, who attacks Ok Soo's entourage to
get his point across. In the ensuing melee, Ok Soo
is endangered, and Meng Yi and his superpowered horse
manage to save her, but not without
getting cut off from the rest of the Chinese army.
Ok Soo and Meng Yi are stranded and must journey back
to China alone, during which romance blooms and the
overbearing orchestral score swells.
Meanwhile in the present,
archaeologist Jack Lee finds himself dreaming of his
past life and his love for Ok Soo...though he has
no idea it's his former life. Currently, Jack is involved
in a deal with scientist pal William . The
two are investigating meteorite fragments that possess
gravity-defying abilities. Basically, the rocks can
make things float, and there's a coffin in Dasar,
India that's proof of this special power. However,
in raiding the tomb, Jack stumbles upon a painting
of Ok Soo and an ancient sword that likely belonged
to Meng Yi. Past and present collide, and Jack soon
finds himself chasing a dream that may actually be
reality. Plus there's time-outs for comedy, Jackie
Chan-style action, a voluptuous yoga-practioner named
Samantha , and even
more flashbacks to ancient times. Somewhere in there,
there's content that's actually supposed to wring
some emotion out of the audience. Emotion in a Jackie
Chan film? No way.
Yes, way. Director Stanley
Tong and Jackie Chan have gone on record stating that
The Myth is meant to be a departure from the
usual Jackie Chan norm - and it is. Sometimes. The
present day story features the typical Jackie Chan
stuff, i.e. a mixture of stilted exposition, amusing
action and prop sequences, and uneven comedy that
would probably be funnier if it were dubbed. Chan's
Jack Lee is your typical nice-guy Chan character,
and is ultimately as interesting as that uncle you
see once a year at Christmastime. This is standard
post-nineties Jackie Chan stuff, and fun for what
it is. Tony Leung Ka-Fai plays an amusing "dope"
character, and Mallika Sherawat is supreme eye candy,
if nothing else. At its best, the modern day scenes
play like a kinder, gentler version of the original
Armour of God. At its worst, the scenes are
like leftovers from The Accidental Spy. Thankfully,
nothing here is as bad as anything in The Medallion.
The modern-day scenes are
a far cry from the Qin Dynasty-era stuff, and the
effect can be heavily jarring. While the present-day
scenes can be eager-to-please and throwaway, the sequences
set in the past go straight for the heartstrings.
Meng Yi's ill-fated romance with Ok Soo is given mega
importance, and the romantic sequences are presented
in a disturbingly bombastic way. Stanley Tong punctuates
every gooey scene with a swelling orchestral score
that's overbearing and damn near laughable. If the
romantic scenes work at all, it's because the insanely
beautiful Kim Hee-Sun manages compelling emotions,
plus Chan looks appropriately tortured as the conflicted
Meng Yi . Regardless,
the filmmakers wield a pretty heavy hammer for the
emotional moments - and they're not afraid to use
it. Subtlety, thy name is not Stanley Tong.
However, the scenes
in the past do yield the film's best surprises. Unlike
his usual "aw shucks" good guys, Jackie
Chan cuts a surprisingly heroic and even tragic figure
as Meng Yi. Chan gives the character a world-weary
honor that's quite effective, especially during the
harrowing battle sequences that reveal Meng Yi's ultimate
fate. Much of The Myth is set against true
Qin Dynasty lore, and while a sense of pageantry may
be missing, Tong and Chan do get the most out of their
Ancient China settings. Chan still engages in some
nimble fisticuffs, but Meng Yi is weighed down by
his sword, and armor, and the resulting effect on
the action sequences almost seems to work better than
the typical Chan action seen in the present-day scenes.
If the goal of The Myth was giving audiences
a Jackie Chan they've never seen before, then the
filmmakers accomplished their mission. That it works
as well as it does is practically a bonus.
Still, that's only part
of the time. Unfortunately, even the Qin Dynasty-era
scenes are not saved from silliness. Meng Yi's superpowered
horse has supreme kicking skills, and can even deflect
boulders without splintering his legs. The bad guys
use normal arrows on human beings, and silly-looking
big arrows on horses. The present-day stop in Dashar
bleeds silliness, especially when yoga-practicing
Samantha and her omnipresent navel enter the picture.
Then there's the ending, which decides to take past
and present plotlines and smash them together into
a goes-on-forever ending that feels less like Jackie
Chan, and more like Michelle Yeoh's egregious The
Touch. The ending itself manages to be unlike
any Jackie Chan film known to man, but that fact merely
renders The Myth noteworthy, and not necessarily
good. By the time the SFX-enabled ending rolls around,
there are likely to be many diehard Chan fans wondering
what went wrong.
They'll probably still
stick around though, which is what any Chan fan would
do. There's always the promise that something - anything
- will occur in a Jackie Chan film that will make
it more than just another movie. It's that promise
of something special that makes all Jackie Chan films
worth watching, even if they don't always deliver
- the result of which is usually a movie that's better
in parts than as a whole. The Myth sometimes
does deliver, as its patchwork plotline and tone manage
some moments of genuine surprise or entertainment.
Jackie Chan manages to do a few new things, and when
he doesn't, he compensates with some of the old. If
you can ignore the silly plot, concede Chan his advancing
age, and forgive Stanley Tong for China Strike
Force , then The Myth can
be a diverting yarn. Overall, the whole film isn't
that good - but like any Jackie Chan film, parts of
it can be.
My Mother is a Belly Dancer
Year:2006
Director:Lee Kung-Lok
Cast:Crystal Tin Yui-Lei, Amy Chum , Sydney , Monie Tung Man-Lei, Pasha Umer Hood, Gordon Lam Ka-Tung, Ken Tong Chun-Yip, Cheung Wing-Hong, Lam Chi-Chung, Andy Lau Tak-Wah
Description:
Andy Lau-backed Focus Films strikes again with My
Mother is a Belly Dancer, an engaging, though
disjointed portrait of "see lai", or, as
defined by the Focus Films website, "sloppy housewives
suffering from loss of youthfulness, beauty, and passion".
That rather descriptive phrase is used to describe
a trio of middle-aged housewives, starting with Mrs.
Chan , a brassy type who broaches divorce
when she discovers that her husband may be sleeping
with a much younger woman. Meanwhile, Mrs. Lee
is meek and submissive, and endures the constant haranguing
of both her husband and her son, who suppress
her desire to continue learning. Finally, Mrs. Wong
has a loving, but jobless husband , but when she loses her job collecting rubbish
at their housing estate, her world crumbles. Without
the money to help support her family, it's suddenly
tough going for Mrs. Wong. With nowhere to go during
the day, she ends up following her pals to, what else,
belly dancing class.
The belly dancing classes
are offered by Pasha , who appears
as a replacement for the traditional dance teacher
who was supposed to be booked by the housing estate.
Many of the local women thumb their noses at belly
dancing, as it's seen as racy, and something only
an indecent woman would participate in. But Mrs. Chan
is intrigued, and soon gets Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Wong
to buy in. Before long, belly dancing is the highlight
of their days, and brings passion and purpose back
into their lives. Along with a fourth belly dancing
fan, yummy single mother Cherry ,
the women start to recruit others to their belly dancing
cause. The class grows in attendance, but the threat
of navel-baring women in a conservative Chinese housing
estate soon becomes a problem for the other locals.
Some, like Mrs. Wong's husband, are okay with it because
it brings happiness and color to otherwise humdrum
and even depressing lives. However, others, like Mrs.
Lee's husband, see it as a major, major problem. Soon,
the class is forced out, leaving the belly dancers
with nowhere to practice. Will they band together,
right these wrongs, and earn the respect of the local
populace through some sort of belly dancing display?
Uh...no, they won't.
That's because My Mother is a Belly Dancer
is not an overtly commercial film that uses crowd-pleasing
dance displays to demonstrate joy and female empowerment.
In those types of films , the big deal is usually
the determination and discipline applied to mounting
an actual dance performance, with character growth
appearing as the payoff earned along the way. However,
My Mother is a Belly Dancer oddly gives the
belly dancing only superficial coverage. The women
are brought in by Pasha's first enticing demonstrations,
but they become belly dancing fanatics seemingly overnight,
and little time is actually spent covering their growth
as dancers. The joy and beauty brought by belly dancing
becomes an instantly accepted detail, and even when
the class gets booted out by the locals, the belly
dancing plotline never seems to take on much prominence.
It surrounds their lives, maybe, but there's no overarching
structure that the audience can follow, and no story
that gives the film momentum.
Thankfully, the characters'
lives and emotions prove fascinating and eminently
watchable. The daily plight of these see lai
is given real, believable emotional weight, and the
actors engender
sympathy without overplaying the situations. The lone
exception could be Monie Tung's Cherry, who's a 2
young single mother who neglects her child before
discovering that her stylish new boyfriend doesn't
want someone else's rugrat. Her issues are far out
of see lai territory, and are resolved in a
manner that feels a bit out of touch with the film's
emotional realism. Still, Tung carries the role well,
and the scenes between she and her child's surrogate
father prove
effective too. As an inspirational film in the Shall
We Dance mold, My Mother is a Belly Dancer
is lacking, but as a portrait of aging Hong Kong
women at a crossroads, the film succeeds handily.
When the film nears its end, the belly dancing scenes
become more fantastic than real, and winningly illustrate
the color and spirit the dance supposedly brings to
these women's lives.
For the most part, the emotions
and resolutions in My Mother is a Belly Dancer
feel engaging and real. We get that the women are
partly liberated by their exposure to Pasha's belly
dancing instruction, but there isn't a mega-happy
ending for everyone. Liberation is experienced by
the women, but that feeling won't necessarily repair
a marriage, or make loneliness much more bearable.
My Mother is a Belly Dancer is ultimately more
bittersweet than triumphant, and creates complex emotions
that resonate beyond the immediacy of what's happening
onscreen. The film's generous focus on the women and
their emotions helps shore up the film's more manufactured
concessions, e.g. an egregious All About Love
reference, plus the requisite Focus Films Andy Lau
cameo. The film looks and sounds incredibly good too;
Paul Wong of Beyond handles the music, and the cinematography
and production design are exceptional. One major star
of the film is the colorful housing estate, which
is actually located in Choi Hung, Kowloon, and is
captured attractively by the HD Video cameras employed
for all films in the Focus Films HD Project. My
Mother is a Belly Dancer is probably not for audiences
with short attention spans, and indeed, its lack of
a cohesive storyline can be frustrating to even more
discerning viewers. Still, the film's striking visuals,
effective melodrama, and uncommon focus on local Hong
Kong people make it very worthwhile.
Director:Lee Kung-Lok
Cast:Crystal Tin Yui-Lei, Amy Chum , Sydney , Monie Tung Man-Lei, Pasha Umer Hood, Gordon Lam Ka-Tung, Ken Tong Chun-Yip, Cheung Wing-Hong, Lam Chi-Chung, Andy Lau Tak-Wah
Description:
Andy Lau-backed Focus Films strikes again with My
Mother is a Belly Dancer, an engaging, though
disjointed portrait of "see lai", or, as
defined by the Focus Films website, "sloppy housewives
suffering from loss of youthfulness, beauty, and passion".
That rather descriptive phrase is used to describe
a trio of middle-aged housewives, starting with Mrs.
Chan , a brassy type who broaches divorce
when she discovers that her husband may be sleeping
with a much younger woman. Meanwhile, Mrs. Lee
is meek and submissive, and endures the constant haranguing
of both her husband and her son, who suppress
her desire to continue learning. Finally, Mrs. Wong
has a loving, but jobless husband , but when she loses her job collecting rubbish
at their housing estate, her world crumbles. Without
the money to help support her family, it's suddenly
tough going for Mrs. Wong. With nowhere to go during
the day, she ends up following her pals to, what else,
belly dancing class.
The belly dancing classes
are offered by Pasha , who appears
as a replacement for the traditional dance teacher
who was supposed to be booked by the housing estate.
Many of the local women thumb their noses at belly
dancing, as it's seen as racy, and something only
an indecent woman would participate in. But Mrs. Chan
is intrigued, and soon gets Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Wong
to buy in. Before long, belly dancing is the highlight
of their days, and brings passion and purpose back
into their lives. Along with a fourth belly dancing
fan, yummy single mother Cherry ,
the women start to recruit others to their belly dancing
cause. The class grows in attendance, but the threat
of navel-baring women in a conservative Chinese housing
estate soon becomes a problem for the other locals.
Some, like Mrs. Wong's husband, are okay with it because
it brings happiness and color to otherwise humdrum
and even depressing lives. However, others, like Mrs.
Lee's husband, see it as a major, major problem. Soon,
the class is forced out, leaving the belly dancers
with nowhere to practice. Will they band together,
right these wrongs, and earn the respect of the local
populace through some sort of belly dancing display?
Uh...no, they won't.
That's because My Mother is a Belly Dancer
is not an overtly commercial film that uses crowd-pleasing
dance displays to demonstrate joy and female empowerment.
In those types of films , the big deal is usually
the determination and discipline applied to mounting
an actual dance performance, with character growth
appearing as the payoff earned along the way. However,
My Mother is a Belly Dancer oddly gives the
belly dancing only superficial coverage. The women
are brought in by Pasha's first enticing demonstrations,
but they become belly dancing fanatics seemingly overnight,
and little time is actually spent covering their growth
as dancers. The joy and beauty brought by belly dancing
becomes an instantly accepted detail, and even when
the class gets booted out by the locals, the belly
dancing plotline never seems to take on much prominence.
It surrounds their lives, maybe, but there's no overarching
structure that the audience can follow, and no story
that gives the film momentum.
Thankfully, the characters'
lives and emotions prove fascinating and eminently
watchable. The daily plight of these see lai
is given real, believable emotional weight, and the
actors engender
sympathy without overplaying the situations. The lone
exception could be Monie Tung's Cherry, who's a 2
young single mother who neglects her child before
discovering that her stylish new boyfriend doesn't
want someone else's rugrat. Her issues are far out
of see lai territory, and are resolved in a
manner that feels a bit out of touch with the film's
emotional realism. Still, Tung carries the role well,
and the scenes between she and her child's surrogate
father prove
effective too. As an inspirational film in the Shall
We Dance mold, My Mother is a Belly Dancer
is lacking, but as a portrait of aging Hong Kong
women at a crossroads, the film succeeds handily.
When the film nears its end, the belly dancing scenes
become more fantastic than real, and winningly illustrate
the color and spirit the dance supposedly brings to
these women's lives.
For the most part, the emotions
and resolutions in My Mother is a Belly Dancer
feel engaging and real. We get that the women are
partly liberated by their exposure to Pasha's belly
dancing instruction, but there isn't a mega-happy
ending for everyone. Liberation is experienced by
the women, but that feeling won't necessarily repair
a marriage, or make loneliness much more bearable.
My Mother is a Belly Dancer is ultimately more
bittersweet than triumphant, and creates complex emotions
that resonate beyond the immediacy of what's happening
onscreen. The film's generous focus on the women and
their emotions helps shore up the film's more manufactured
concessions, e.g. an egregious All About Love
reference, plus the requisite Focus Films Andy Lau
cameo. The film looks and sounds incredibly good too;
Paul Wong of Beyond handles the music, and the cinematography
and production design are exceptional. One major star
of the film is the colorful housing estate, which
is actually located in Choi Hung, Kowloon, and is
captured attractively by the HD Video cameras employed
for all films in the Focus Films HD Project. My
Mother is a Belly Dancer is probably not for audiences
with short attention spans, and indeed, its lack of
a cohesive storyline can be frustrating to even more
discerning viewers. Still, the film's striking visuals,
effective melodrama, and uncommon focus on local Hong
Kong people make it very worthwhile.
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