Downtown Torpedoes (1997) User Reviews

Nice packaging but not much substance

[avleong · 5/10 · 17 September 2000]

Very typical of Hong Kong movies, "Torpedoes" provides a superficial package to look "nice", but lacks the substance to really make the movie complete. Quite a number of places just do not add up eg. No MI5 agents showed up in Budapest to stop the bad guy when they knew of his where about. The movie looks "slick","cool" & "entertaining", but it makes MI5 & some audiences look ridiculous!

Does the job

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 5 June 2021]

A Hong Kong version of the popular Hollywood spy thrillers from the 1990s, particularly MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and GOLDENEYE. This one offers globetrotting mayhem and a cool young cast, just like the RAIDERS film series, but if you're looking for originality or anything beyond the superficial then you're likely to be disappointed. I found myself enjoying this slick, fast-paced story which offers oodles of twists and turns and a series of fun, exhausting action sequences set in typically picturesque locales. Takeshi Kaneshiro is as cool and slick as they come as the lead and well supported by the youthful cast including Jordan Chan and Therese Lee. No great shakes as a film, but it does the job well enough.

good style, good movie

[nik-67 · 8/10 · 30 April 2002]

don't expect a plot that makes a whole lot of sense - it's all about cool special/free-for-hire agents and double-crossings and out- smarting and stuff - sort of like a james bond without the cheesyness.

but this movie really surprised me for it's very well executed and creative action scenes. even now, years later, i vividly remember how a gangster boss gets shot up: first, they cut the power and come in with infrared goggles and shower everything in bullets, then the bad guys catch on and put on their own nightvision gear - they are prepared, of course. next thing, the heroes swap goggles for sunglasses and throw flares... so they outsmart the gangsters, but, perhaps more importantly, they also LOOK way, way cooler - and that is the whole point!

excellent stuff.

More Excellent Chinese "Mission Impossible"

[rustyangel13 · 21 December 2002]

DOWNTOWN TORPEDOS: Here's the first of three JORDAN CHAN "secret-spy, Mission Impossible, over-the-top stuntwork, supra hi-tech gadgits and futuristic weapons" action movies that have made it to my import DVD collection. DOWNTOWN TORPEDOS, directed by TEDDY CHAN, is one of the better Hong Kong super-spy films and it's the closest thing to watching an American Hollywood movie I've seen from Asia in a long time. It also stars "pretty boy" Japanese actor TAKESHI KANESHIRO (from SPACE TRAVELERS) with co-starring roles going to CHARLIE YEUNG, KEN WONG (also in Chan's SKYLINE CRUISERS reviewed below) and (silent but super-cute) TERESA LEE. It starts off with our group as spiffy international thieves who enjoy big profit, high risk gigs. After completing their latest heist, they are set to retire but (as it always seems to go) they get nabbed by the G-Team (Hong Kong's secret service) and, in return for their freedom, they are forced to work for the government to track down a set of counterfeit American "Supernote" ($100 dollar bills) printing plates. We are now introduced to bad guy ALEX FONG (co-star of CASINO and in Chan's THE CHEATERS reviewed below) and he's the government agent in charge of the group. So the plans are made and everything goes pretty well until they actually succeed in their mission and get the plates back. They are then double crossed which kills their computer-hack expert Phoenix (TERESSA LEE) and from here on, we get a fast paced, twist-a-minute, thrill-a-moment "Who Done It?" storyline that I really can't talk too much in detail about if I want to avoid any plot spoilers. But needless to say, it's loaded with enough Hollywood-style car chases, big budget explosions, dynamic fisticuffs, and heart pounding gun battles that you'll sit back and tell yourself that it's most certainly unbelievable in terms of realism but it's REALLY fun to watch if you leave your brain at the door. DOWNTOWN TORPEDOS is ranked... Thumbs up!

Best Hong Kong made movie yet!!!

[Marcus69 · 10/10 · 3 December 1999]

This movie is superb. From the action, to the cinematography, to the technological aspects, to the superb fight scenes, it is awesome. The technology they use makes Bond look like he's using rubber bands and paper clips. This is a must see. Great plot, with action in the air, the water, and the streets.