Movie Review: Mr. Nice Guy

Mr. Nice Guy (Yat goh ho yan) a.k.a No More Mr. Nice Guy a.k.a  Mister Cool a.k.a SuperChef a.k.a A Nice Guy
Golden Harvest, Company Hong Kong, Australia, 1997.

Jackie (Jackie Chan) is a popular TV-chef. Ruthless drug lord Giancarlo (Richard Norton) wages a gang war with the Demons Gang. Reporter Diana (Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) and her crew were just filming a messy drug deal when the bad guys noticed them. Only Diana gets away with the video tape. Luckily she meets Jackie, who knows kung-fu. While escaping the criminals there is a mix up and Diana gets a tape demonstrating Jackie's cooking skills.

Diana

Garbage day!

Jackie wanted to be a cop but his father thought that it was too dangerous. Family friend Baggio (Barry Otto) made sure that Jackie pursued safe cook's career. It will not stay safe as Giancarlo's men crash the cooking event searching for the video tape and also Demons join the fun with gang bosses Sandy (Rachel Blakely) and Victor (David William No). Jackie and his Chinese girlfriend Miki (Miki Lee) escape.

Miki

Victor and Sandy

To add more women to the story, there is Jackie's assistant Lakisha (Karen McLymont). There is a potential for harem comedy, as Miki is jealous and also Diana drops in to find the video. But that's enough drama and romantic comedy as the action soon continues. Even mild mannered Jackie gets mad when the baddies blow up his home and kidnap Miki.

Giancarlo

Miki, Diana and Lakisha

Knock knock!

Although Jackie's golden era was in the 1980s Jackie Chan made also numerous entertaining films in the 1990s.  This is the film that contains:

-horse carriage chase

-Jackie fights in a van

-Jackie plays hide-and-seek with bad guys in a corridor of doors.

-Cool fight on a construction site with bad guy getting stuck in a concrete mixer

-Jackie demolishes bad guy's house with haul truck.

Distributor New Line Cinema cut the movie to 84 minutes (originally 97 minutes). Although the story is paper thin and all the plot threads remain loose in the end (for example Diana just gets knocked unconscious and disappears from the story before the end, maybe it is just New Line Cinema's editing or then Sammo just didn't care), it has still good action, turbo-paced and comical in the way of best Jackie Chan films. It has fun slapstick comedy and crazy stunts. Director Sammo Hung has a small role as a hapless cyclist. The henchmen of Giancarlo are nameless, there is a blonde thug who seems to be right hand man but he is undistinguished in the credits listed probably under "Giancarlo's men." Also familiar Western face from Jackie's 1990s era films, stunt actor and stunt choreographer  Bradley James Allan is among the baddies.

Unknown blonde thug

Rating: Good

Starring: Jackie Chan, Richard Norton, Miki Lee, Karen McLymont, Gabrielle Fitzpatrick, Vince Poletto, Barry Otto, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Emil Chau, Joyce Godenzi, Peter Houghton, Peter Lindsay, David William No, Rachel Blakely, Judy Green, Stefan Fredrich, Stuart Ritchie, Jonathan Isgar, Kyne Sedgman, Steve Kahlua, Matt Trihey, Matthew Meersbergen, Les Vzice, Karl Ajami, Frederick MacGlure, Bradley James Allan, Douglas Macdonald, Paul Andreovski, Robert Lowe, David Baldwin, Ian Mall, Kerry Blakeman, Zeq McCoy ,Mark Campbell, Mike Menzies, Terry Carter, Jason Murphy, Dennis Lundin, Michael Noonan, Tony Doherty, George Novak, Cameron Douglas, Grant Page, Paul Douglas, Puven Pather, Stuart Ellis, Harry Pavlidis, Mark Fitzpatrick, George Popovich, Stuart Fraser, Johnny Raaen, Michael Hammad, Joseph Sayah, Habby Heske, Gary Shambrooke, Brent Houghton, Vess Svorcan, Richard Huggett, Graham Jahne, Davin Taylor, Chris Kemp, Darko Tuscan, Jade Weitering, Damon Young ,Aaron Notarfrancesco, Jake Notarfrancesco, Frederick Miragliotta, Nick Carrafa, Rod Catteral, Ben Mitchell, Mark Neal, Jerome Pride, Keith Agius, Greg Jamieson, Matthew Dyktynski, Salik Silverstein, Lynne Murphy, Nicholas Bufalo, Shane Alexander, Carla Bonner, Glen Chin, Dan Tucker

Director: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung

Movie Review: The Touch (Tian mai zhuan qi)

The Touch (2002)  (Tian mai zhuan qi) 

Aruze, China Film Co-Production Corporation, Han Entertainment, Media Asia Films, Mythical Films, Pandasia Entertainment, Tianjin Film Studio, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, 2002. 

Pak Yin Fay (Michelle Yeoh) belongs to ancient Chinese acrobat family. Malicious art collector Karl (Richard Roxburgh) gets the Heart of Dun Huang that could lead to a container of magic essence that could make people immortal. Yin's ex-boyfriend and thief Eric (Ben Chaplin) steals the relic and asks Yin's help. Karl's stupid henchmen kidnap Eric and Yin goes to save him as Karl plans to make soup whose main ingredients are Eric's hands. Treating Eric's injuries rekindles Yin's feelings about him. 

Yin

Eric

Karl

Meanwhile Yin's brother Tong (Brandon Chang) and his girlfriend Lily (Margaret Wang) snatch the Heart and go to search for the Dun Huang's hidden treasure. They also get kidnapped by Karl. Treasure-hunting continues and many dangerous traps wait in the temple. 

Morning exercise

Lily and Tong

The temple sequence is CGI-heavy

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" cinematographer Peter Pau turned into a director. Film starts as an action comedy in the spirit of Jackie Chan-films and turns into adventure with the closest comparisons being the "Tomb Raider" films. It is not Michelle Yeoh's best. It is fairly entertaining adventure yarn but not as original and energetic as it could be. Although the first half is good, the temple sequence is horrible.  The story lacks the energy of Yeoh's 1990s films and has too cheesy special effects and wire-fu jumping. Ben Chaplin as her side-kick / lover is adequately funny. There was also a comical henchman Bob (Dane Cook) whose potential in the story was wasted. The locations are great and Basil Poledouris' music is good. Considering all the talent and effort that was put into this film it is a disappointment. 

Rating:Average 

Starring: Michelle Yeoh, Ben Chaplin, Richard Roxburgh, Sihung Lung, Brandon Chang, Margaret Wang, Dane Cook, Emmanuel Lanzi, Kenneth Tsang, Gabriel Harrison, Winston Chao, Zhenhai Kou, Chang Sheng Liu, Hua Qin, Sua Lang Rao Deng, Dawangdui, Ya Dong Duo Ji, Zhong Bian Ba Ci Ren, Zha Xi Dun Zhu, Qilong Li, Zhang Ci Ren Ba, Wang Biao, Harald Burchardt, Li Na Chen, Long Chen, Kai Cui, Jing Po Di, Hao He Dong, Bing Hong, Yiu King Lee, Gui Qin Li, Xiao Ming Li, Xing Li, Yue Qi Li, Wei Liang, Ken Liao, Yang Liu, Ling Long, Dorrise Mok, Wei Ren, Er Hua Song, Ge Song, Jiao Long Sun, Na Sun, Xiao Wei Sun, Jerald Tan, Chan Juan Wang, Don Wong, Jia Hui Wu, Pu Zha Xiao, Rong Xiao, Jackie Yeung, Shi Yao Yu, Xing Chao Yuan, Er Lei Zhang, Hao Zhang, Jin Ting Zhang, Yan Zhang, Yin Chuan Zhang, Ying Mei Zhang, Xiao Qing Zuo

Director: Peter Pau 

Movie Review: Blood Brothers (Tian tang kou)

Blood Brothers (Tian tang kou) 

CMC Entertainment, Sil-Metropole Organisation, Lion Rock Productions, China Film Co-Production Corporation, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, 2007.

In 1930s China Ah Fung (Daniel Wu) and his friends Kang (Ye Liu) and Kang's little brother Hu (Tony Yo-ning Yang) decide to go to Shanghai after better life. Fung is naive, Kang is tough and overly ambitious and Hu has a soft-heart and wants to go home. 

Ah Fung and Su Zhen

Kang, Hu and Fung

In Shanghai the life is not rosy and they end up in low paid jobs. One night Fung saves the life of hitman Mark (Chen Chang) who tried to assassinate his boss Hong but failed and remained incognito. Fung's romance with village girl Su Zhen (Xiaolu Li) goes to back seat when he meets a nightclub singer Lulu (Qi Shu). Gowever Lulu wants to be a famous actor and there she needs Triad-boss Hong's (Honglei Sun) support. Also Lulu and Mark have a secret affair. The boys get involved in Hong's gun smuggling operation. 

Lulu

Hong

Mark

Mob scheming and betrayals follow. The more the boys sink into the mob world the more strained their brothership becomes. Their loyalties are divided with tragic consequences. Eventually it is a time for vengeance!

Rival mob boss Chen (Jie Gao)

The story is kind of remake of John Woo's "Bullet in the Head" minus the war scenes. It is not bad but pales in comparison to the original brutally emotional story. The costumes and sets look expensive. However the script feels like a collection of weirdly detached scenes as the plot seems to drag while the plot driving scenes seem to jump ahead without much explanation. The boys rise in the mob ranks in no time, things happen making the otherwise simple plot hard difficult to follow. Also the atempt to sentimentality does not work well as the characters are left very shallow. The action scenes are okay for a gangster film but lack the raw energy of Woo's original. Also without the political allegories of the original, it feels disappointingly bland and middle-of-the-road gangster drama. It is a pity as the cast, and production values are great.

Produced by Terence Chang and John Woo.

Rating: Average 

Starring: Daniel Wu, Ye Liu, Qi Shu, Tony Yo-ning Yang, Xiaolu Li (as Lulu Li), Honglei Sun, Chen Chang, Jun Zhao, Dian Lun Zhang, Jie Gao, Yong Xin Gui, Li Qiu Zhang, Ren Yuen Wu, Xiao Hu Ding, Xiang Hu, Zheng Zheng, Yi Heng Shao, Zhen Ying Yao, Young Fu Fan, Zhiyong Zhang, Jing Sun, Jing Ni Luo, Yin Wen Pu, Zhao Li, Wen Jia Ji, Min Gui, Duoduo Qian, Lin Ma, Yi-Ching Lu, Jiaolong Sun, Hai Ruo Wu, Chen Yang, Yu Hua Wang, Jian Hua Song, Renee Yuan (as Xin-yu Yuan)

Director: Alexi Tan

Movie Review: As Tears Go By

As Tears Go By (Wong gok ka moon) a.k.a Carmen of the Streets 

In-Gear Film Production, Hong Kong, 1988. 

Low-level Triad-gangster Ah-Wah (Andy Lau) gets visitor, his cousin Ah-Ngor (Maggie Cheung) who has lung-problems. Wah's "little-brother" Fly (Jacky Cheung) is hot-tempered but lacks authority that is needed in debt-collecting business. Wah does his best to protect him. 

Ah-Wah

Ah-Ngor

Fly

Wah's girlfriend Mabel (Ang Wong) gets an abortion without asking Wah first. In a fit of rage Wah wrecks his apartment being rude to Ngor. Later Wah apologises and there is romantic sparking between the two. Meanwhile Fly and his friend Ah-Site (Ronald Wong) get indebted to billiard parlor thug (Chi Fai Chan) and they get badly beaten up. Wah goes to seek revenge. Ngor returns home but invites Wah to visit sometime.

Billiard parlor thug

Tony

Ah-Site gets married and leaves behind the gangster life. Later gangster named Tony (Alex Man) comes to demand debts from Fly. Wah tries to solve the debt problem by robbing Tony's boss (!). Local godfather Uncle Kwan (Ching Wai) must intervene and order Tony, Wah and Fly to cool-off. Kwan also orders that one of the three must kill snitch Big-Mouth Kay (Tat-Wah Gan) before trial. As Fly is too reckless, he gets a job selling street food but he messes even that up. 

Wah goes to Lantau Island to meet Ngor and almost leaves his gangster life to stay with her. Fly gets into trouble with Tony and Wah's loyalty towards him forces him to return to Hong Kong. Fly wants to do something that would make him respected in the Triad-society although Wah warns that there is no honour in mob life.

Fly wants respect

Wong Kar-wai started his directing career with stylish gangster drama. It is not John Woo- style bullet ballet but more realistic crime film, kind of remake of Scorcese's "Mean Streets." It is a tragic tale of a gangster who wants to leave the crime business but is constantly getting dragged back by his reckless friend. Stylistically it looks more hazy than other HK crime flicks of the era with jerky slow-motion (that he used also in "Ashes of Time") and cold neon lights creating the urban atmosphere. In contrast the scenes in Lantau island use warm natural light. Before this Kar-Wai wrote scripts to mainly forgotten flicks, and his skills as director are not yet fully refined but already show hints of his trademark style especially in the scenes with Lau and Cheung. The crime story itself is quite straightforward and follows the genre traditions of friendship, revenge, duty and honour. The theme of unrequited love is explored further in almost all later Wong Kar-wai films. Soundtrack has good 1980s HK-pop including Cantonese version of "Take My Breath Away" by Sandy Lam Yik Lin.

Part of The 2016 Movie Watching Challenge (#10. The first movie of a celebrated director)

Rating: Good 

Starring: Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, Jacky Cheung, Alex Man, Ronald Wong, To-Hoi Kong, Ching Wai, Kau Lam, William Chang, Ang Wong, Pa-Ching Huang, Chi Fai Chan, Man-Ho Chan, Tseng Chang, Wing-Cheung Cheung, Wing-Hon Cheung, Kam Kong Chow, Kwai-Bo Chun, Pak Fei, Tat-Wah Gan, Fan Hui, Chi Kit Lee, Kong Long, Keung-Fai Pong, Tai Wo Tang, Chi Wai Wong, Kim Fung Wong

Director: Wong Kar-wai

Movie Review: Heroic Trio 2: Executioners

Heroic Trio 2: Executioners (Jin doi hou hap cyun) 

China Entertainment Films Production, Paka Hill Productions, Hong Kong, 1993. 

After the events of the "Heroic Trio" the city has been destroyed by nuclear attack. Still most of the city seems to be intact. Anarchy reigns and the Heroic Trio- group has dispersed. Ching (Michelle Yeoh) drives a truck and delivers medicine. Clear Water Corporation has monopoly on water. Chat (Maggie Cheung) is now water bandit stealing water mostly for herself. Tung (Anita Mui) has a daughter Cindy (Sze Ning). Tung's husband Inspector Lau (Damian Lau) tries to keep law and order but the people are rioting because water quality is low and price is rising all the time. 

Chat

Tung

Ching

Expeditioners tried to find clean water but the searchers were killed by radiation. White Solar Society's religious leader Chong Hon (Takeshi Kaneshiro) asks government for answers, but someone arranges a massacre in demonstration. Quite many Honk Kong movies of the 1990s had references to 1989 student riots in Tiananmen Square. Anti-government sentiment is rising and Colonel (Paul Chun Pui) wants Lau to assassinate Chong Hon. 

Chong Hon

Colonel

President's deputy (Eddy Ko Hung) sends Ching to find clear water. Ching tries to resurrect Heroic Trio but Tung has promised her husband to leave the Wonder Woman days behind. Also Chat wants to follow her own path and earn money. To make a point Ching destroys what I believe to be her invisibility cloak. Or might as well be Shroud of Turin. Somehow the cloth was important symbol for the Heroic Trio. Anyway Invisible Woman is no longer invisible. 

Chong Hon is the puppet of scarred Clear Water Corporation boss Mr. Kim (Anthony Wong). Kim wants to control the government. Ching and her friend Kau (Anthony Wong) prevent the assassination attempt. Both of them seem to be followers of White Solar Society. Ching is also an government secret agent. So Kau survived after all, reformed and became Ching's servant. Heck, whereas the first film had flashback scenes this movie sure does not bother explaining things!

Kau

Tak

President's deputy suspects some kind of conspiracy and puts Tak (Ching Wan Lau) to study it. Mr. Kim conspires with military. Lau is murdered and Tong is captured so Ching and Chat must stop the military coup alone. Chat, Tak and Cindy go to find pure water but Clear Water Corporation tries to eliminate all who find it. At one point Ching fights against a guy (Vincent Lau Tak) who can punch through things and people. Maybe he has learned some punches from "Riki-Oh." 

Michelle Yeoh

Killer (Vincent Lau Tak)

Finally the members of Heroic Trio combine thir forces. The final battle between good and evil occurs in the abandoned church. Also Mr. Kim knows "Riki-Oh" techniques. The ending reduces the Heroic Trio to Heroic Duo. 

Wonder Woman returns

Chat, Tung and Ching

The sequel to "Heroic Trio" abandons the superhero elements until the final moments and is more a post-apocalyptic political thriller. The first movie had dark moments too, but this is set in dystopian future without many comic reliefs. The darker story has many of the characters from the first movie killed. Sacrifices have to be done for greater good. The story is quite complicated and the three women all have their own adventures with less teamwork. Ching tries to protect the President (Guan Shan), Chat searches for pure water and Tung sits mostly in jail planning for revenge. 

Compared to the comic book style of the first film the second movie does not fully integrate to the same fantasy universe and would have worked better as a stand-alone film. Also when the Heroic Trio returns to full force in the end, the otherwise good fantasy-wuxia action mismatches the otherwise semi-realistic style. In the first film the Trio battled against ancient monarchistic demon, now against greedy corporation. Although the film disappoints as a sequel, it offers entertaining political thriller with some good gun fu and wuxia action. 

Bubble bath scene!

Anthony Wong appears heavily masked like psychotic "Phantom of the Opera" and if American remake is ever considered Mickey Rourke would be good candidate for the role of Mr. Kim. This movie was Takeshi Kaneshiro's first movie debut.

Mr. Kim

This review is based on the uncut German DVD-print "Johnnie To Double Feature Heroic Trio Teil 1&2"  published by HDMV that contains also "Heroic Trio." Although the two movies are on one disc this edition is highly recommended as the picture quality is good and the films contain English, Cantonese and German audio tracks and English subtitles. However the subtitles of "Heroic Trio 2" contain many translation errors.

Rating: Good 

Starring: Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, Damian Lau, Anthony Wong, Kaneshiro Takeshi, Lau Ching-Wan, Paul Chun Pui, Guan Shan, Eddy Ko Hung, Sze Ning, Lam Kin-Fai, Vincent Lau Tak, Cher Yeung Suet-Yee, Dion Lam Dik-On, Yu Ngai-Ho, Leung Kei-Hei, Cheng Ka-Sang, Wan Seung-Lam, Kong Foo-Keung, Wong Wai-Fai, Ho Chi-Moon, Law Wai-Kai, Chang Seng-Kwong, Sam Hoh Choi-Chow, Kong Miu-Deng 

Directors: Siu-Tung Ching (as Ching Siu Tung), Johnnie To