The only redeeming part of this movie was the sumptuous cinematography and settings used. Simply breathtaking.
OK, now for the meat of it. It felt to me that Michelle Yeoh was leveraging off her dubious success in Tiger/Dragon and Tomorrow Never Dies to bridge the gap from HK chop-schlocky movies to something passably "international". Boy did she ever set her career back with this stinker. The plot was horribly derivative, and full of holes. The action sequences, albeit nicely choreographed, felt rushed and the fight pacing was jerky and obviously wired. The special effects were second-rate at best, with obvious seams visible and CGI clearly recognizable.
Roxburgh and Chaplin did their best in the movie, and Yeoh was shockingly wooden.
I had an attack of the giggles part way through the movie, and it worsened with the ludicrous plot developments, culminating in a full-fledged laughing attack when the Tibetan monk at the end spoke so badly they had to subtitle him... even though he was attempting to speak English.
In summary, I feel somewhat insulted at having had to pay to see this movie.
OK, now for the meat of it. It felt to me that Michelle Yeoh was leveraging off her dubious success in Tiger/Dragon and Tomorrow Never Dies to bridge the gap from HK chop-schlocky movies to something passably "international". Boy did she ever set her career back with this stinker. The plot was horribly derivative, and full of holes. The action sequences, albeit nicely choreographed, felt rushed and the fight pacing was jerky and obviously wired. The special effects were second-rate at best, with obvious seams visible and CGI clearly recognizable.
Roxburgh and Chaplin did their best in the movie, and Yeoh was shockingly wooden.
I had an attack of the giggles part way through the movie, and it worsened with the ludicrous plot developments, culminating in a full-fledged laughing attack when the Tibetan monk at the end spoke so badly they had to subtitle him... even though he was attempting to speak English.
In summary, I feel somewhat insulted at having had to pay to see this movie.