1988 was a good year for workaholic director and producer Godfrey Ho, having churned out no less than 17 cut-and-paste epics (as a director alone, mind you. How much he committed as producer remains nebulous).
Where lesser directors are only capable of producing one film, Godfrey Ho in his genius gives us (as always) TWO in one! As always, the shorter segments give us the various Gwailo-actors (transient Caucasian actors for hire), whom Ho dresses up in bright colorful Ninjas suits (it says so on their headbands), only to replace them with Chinese stunt-men for the fight scenes. The longer part of the movie seems to have been culled from a Thai or Philippine action-soap-melodrama, concerning itself (from what I could make out) with poverty, disease, dirt, misfortune and p**s-poor gangsters who steal from those who have nothing. Rarely has the stink of squalor penetrated the screen like it has here – even though we have no idea who these people are and what they could possibly want (other than a warm meal and perhaps vengeance for something).
As always, Richard Harrison steals the scenes – a veteran of the Ninja cut-and-paste sub-genre if there ever was one and by now, staring cross-eyed into the camera, Harrison looks like he's been drinking on the set (or even been forced to drink by Ho? God knows, we could not even blame him – Harrison that is, not Ho).
And only the sharpest of viewers may have noticed Hos' sly, yet subtle tribute to one of his heroes – yes, one of the main characters IS called Mickey Mouse! What else can one say about this epic film, where "The Last Samurai" meets "Salaam Bombay" and the "City of Joy"? Really nothing – we can only stare in awe and amazement and bestow the highest possible number of points because it doesn't violate IMDb's guidelines.
PS: As with every other review concerning the labors of Godfrey Ho and associates, this review too should be taken with a pinch of sarcasm.
Where lesser directors are only capable of producing one film, Godfrey Ho in his genius gives us (as always) TWO in one! As always, the shorter segments give us the various Gwailo-actors (transient Caucasian actors for hire), whom Ho dresses up in bright colorful Ninjas suits (it says so on their headbands), only to replace them with Chinese stunt-men for the fight scenes. The longer part of the movie seems to have been culled from a Thai or Philippine action-soap-melodrama, concerning itself (from what I could make out) with poverty, disease, dirt, misfortune and p**s-poor gangsters who steal from those who have nothing. Rarely has the stink of squalor penetrated the screen like it has here – even though we have no idea who these people are and what they could possibly want (other than a warm meal and perhaps vengeance for something).
As always, Richard Harrison steals the scenes – a veteran of the Ninja cut-and-paste sub-genre if there ever was one and by now, staring cross-eyed into the camera, Harrison looks like he's been drinking on the set (or even been forced to drink by Ho? God knows, we could not even blame him – Harrison that is, not Ho).
And only the sharpest of viewers may have noticed Hos' sly, yet subtle tribute to one of his heroes – yes, one of the main characters IS called Mickey Mouse! What else can one say about this epic film, where "The Last Samurai" meets "Salaam Bombay" and the "City of Joy"? Really nothing – we can only stare in awe and amazement and bestow the highest possible number of points because it doesn't violate IMDb's guidelines.
PS: As with every other review concerning the labors of Godfrey Ho and associates, this review too should be taken with a pinch of sarcasm.