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Edwin_Bailey
Reviews
Wu ji (2005)
Great... If You Can View it With the Right Mindset
I read a lot of negative reviews of this film prior to taking the risk of buying it on DVD... Fortunately, however, I found that by approaching the story not as another artistic martial-arts drama along the lines of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Hero", or "House of Flying Daggers", but rather as a lavishly done children's fairy tale, I was able to enjoy it immensely. OK, so the events in the film don't always make sense, and the story jumps around from plot point to plot point like the people who made it were on crack - but it's really not that far removed from the whimsical randomness of a story that you tell while gathered with your family in front of a fire, or sitting at a child's bedside. And for capturing the essence of that type of story, I think "The Promise" succeeds admirably. Even when the special effects range from gorgeous to laughably bad, since it's never really exactly supposed to be realistic anyway (a guy running so fast he can fly a woman tied to a length of rope like a kite?), so IMHO, it doesn't really detract from the story.
That being said, I'm sure there will be many viewers who will find the story moronic, the acting deplorable, and the technical aspects terrible even despite approaching it from the angle that I described above... And that's fine. Personally, however, I liked it a lot.
Boh lei chun (1999)
I Really Wanted To Like This, But....
... It's probably one of Jackie's worst 90's action flicks.
First of all, the plot is just... messed-up. Chan's about 40 years old now... But the female lead in this movie can't be more than 17! Maybe it part of it was due to the voice they chose for her in the English-dubbed version, but the age difference between her and Jackie just made things really... awkward.
Anyway, the next problem for me was the lack of action... There's really just three "true" fight scenes in this movie. One only lasts for about a minute (the baseball bat sequence, which is pretty cool but way too short), and another isn't all that special because, according to the plot, Jackie isn't supposed to be able to fight very well... yet.
Still, the ending fight is something to see... Possibly one of the best 1-on-1 slug-fests ever seen in a Chan movie, mainly because everything looks so... convincing (unlike the final battle in "Drunken Master II" which, while truly awesome, is also completely over-the-top). This little boxer guy that Jackie fights is incredibly fast, and does some *truly* amazing stuff with his legs & feet. I watched this scene, altogether maybe 7 minutes long, over and over 'till I felt I had gotten my money's worth for the tape rental.
Still, the rest of the movie is just really bad. Surprising, considering that "Who Am I?", released just two years earlier, was so damn good. About 3/4 of the cast here seems to be gay, and whenever anyone fights, it's never with the intent to hurt or kill... The final battle ends with both fighters getting so dizzy that they can't hit each other any more and end up falling down.
Thus, this movie only gets a 6 out of 10, and while you'll probably still want to see this one if you're a true fan of the Chan-man, I strongly suggest you go rent either Chan's infinitely better "Project A", or Jet Li's wonderful "Tai-Chi" (AKA "Twin Warriors"), which were *also* released on tape this month, instead.
Happiness (1998)
Not Very Good...
I think the thing that really tipped me off to this movie being bad was the sudden realization that my close friend Drew, who hated "Pulp Fiction", and thought that it was hilarious when Kevin Spacey was shot in "American Beauty", would just love this film.
Really, this movie didn't do anything for me. To me, it's just a bunch of perversions masquerading across the screen, trying to be passed off at "deep". "American Beauty", I could identify with completely. "Happiness", with its pederasts, pervert phone stalkers, and hideously open take on masturbation (handled *much* better in "Beauty"), I could not. At all. And personally, I think that anyone who says they *can* identify with this movie is pretty damn sick.
Granted, there are some funny bits in this movie, especially the opening and perhaps the first hour or so, but mostly it was just plain stupid. Nothing touched me, moved me, or even shocked me.
It just bored me.
Swimming with Sharks (1994)
A Grim Little Marvel
One thing's for sure: This Movie Is NOT a comedy.
It starts off being pretty humorous, but then, before you really notice, it's suddenly disturbing and not-at-all funny and you realize that it hasn't actually been funny for a while.
Now, don't get me wrong. I really loved this movie. Kevin Spacey gives what I think is the third-best performance of his career (besides "American Beauty" and "The Usual Suspect") as boss-from-hell Buddy Ackerman, who at first starts off as simply a two-dimensional demon, yelling, cursing, and generally making life miserable for everyone, but after a while, as more is revealed about both Buddy's life and the way Hollywood *really* works, becomes almost understandable. Not sympathetic.
Understandable.
It's got some comedic parts, yes. But they're intermixed so often with what I thought were some rather unsettling torture scenes (not because I thought they were graphic... more because they seemed so believable) that you feel a little guilty laughing at anything.
All in all, I think everyone did a good job in this movie, and unlike a lot of people, I thought the ending was just right. Not right for a comedy, mind you. But like I said, this movie really isn't a comedy...
She he ba bu (1978)
A Lot More Fun Than It Looked
This movie's actually really good, especially considering how old it is... There's a wonderful cast of characters, each with their own particular weapon/style, and it doesn't dwell too much on plot like some earlier pics. Jackie Chan refers to this in his book as his "First Dream Project", and it shows, because it really looks like he's in control with the action and story. Not bad at all.