I must be getting old. after reading rave reviews in regards to this title ( best action movie in decades... sjeez..decades is a very long time, lots of movies)I sat down with anticipation. And I grew up on a steady diet of Jean Claude van Damme movies and all the copy cats, so my former education in this genre ought to be sufficient I guess.
I am not going into the plot,basically there is none and what there is is just a letterhead to get people into confined spaces where they can beat or shoot or mame the crap out of each other. When watching this movie my thoughts drifted away to another movie which had the same sort of rave reviews ( Laid to rest 2) which I also found a bit of a letdown. A completely different type of movie and genre ( this movie is far better made then laid to rest 2 will ever hope to be), but the same type of reviews promising - in that case- wall to wall gore. The problem I see with these type of movies is that there is no plot to speak of, just stages like in a video game where either a masked killer with a big knife ( laid to rest 2) or a guy who is REALLY good in kicking people asses gets into situations where he can do just that..again, and again, and again.
Its in a sense like a porn movie compilation, you leave all the not needed tidbits out and go right to the money shot, and put as much of those as you possible can into the running time.
Its a tiring experience to watch, and yes the main character - and basically all those involved- show an athletic skill that is off the chart but it gets repetitive..there just so many ways you can hurt someone with your bare hands, gun or knife. there is a parallel to the porn movie example I made somewhere here but I wont go into that.
And what I sensed after an hour or so is that I just didn't give a crap anymore who was beating who to pulp and I completely lost interest by the time the two good guys were beating up one bad guy who didn't get down even after getting a healthy portion of a light bulb stuck in his neck; talking about dedication. there was a feeling that the director also lost track of the proceedings because before I knew it they entered the liar of the main bad guy without to much resistance and the movie was basically done( rather literally because it was announced that every bad guy could go home because the show was over??) I read in another review that this was comparable to John Woo's hard boiled and that is in a way correct, although Yun Fat Chow has a lot more charisma then this main character and the character development was on a level you actually gave a crap what happened. And that is saying something because John Woo is no thespian in the plot department.
Of all the external reviews I found the one from Mr Ebert the most of my liking in the way that his experience was the same as mine.
So is this a bad movie, not really, just get the right mindset and go with the brainless, plot less flow..and be amazed what people can do when trained in martial arts with their bodies and with other peoples bodies.
I am not going into the plot,basically there is none and what there is is just a letterhead to get people into confined spaces where they can beat or shoot or mame the crap out of each other. When watching this movie my thoughts drifted away to another movie which had the same sort of rave reviews ( Laid to rest 2) which I also found a bit of a letdown. A completely different type of movie and genre ( this movie is far better made then laid to rest 2 will ever hope to be), but the same type of reviews promising - in that case- wall to wall gore. The problem I see with these type of movies is that there is no plot to speak of, just stages like in a video game where either a masked killer with a big knife ( laid to rest 2) or a guy who is REALLY good in kicking people asses gets into situations where he can do just that..again, and again, and again.
Its in a sense like a porn movie compilation, you leave all the not needed tidbits out and go right to the money shot, and put as much of those as you possible can into the running time.
Its a tiring experience to watch, and yes the main character - and basically all those involved- show an athletic skill that is off the chart but it gets repetitive..there just so many ways you can hurt someone with your bare hands, gun or knife. there is a parallel to the porn movie example I made somewhere here but I wont go into that.
And what I sensed after an hour or so is that I just didn't give a crap anymore who was beating who to pulp and I completely lost interest by the time the two good guys were beating up one bad guy who didn't get down even after getting a healthy portion of a light bulb stuck in his neck; talking about dedication. there was a feeling that the director also lost track of the proceedings because before I knew it they entered the liar of the main bad guy without to much resistance and the movie was basically done( rather literally because it was announced that every bad guy could go home because the show was over??) I read in another review that this was comparable to John Woo's hard boiled and that is in a way correct, although Yun Fat Chow has a lot more charisma then this main character and the character development was on a level you actually gave a crap what happened. And that is saying something because John Woo is no thespian in the plot department.
Of all the external reviews I found the one from Mr Ebert the most of my liking in the way that his experience was the same as mine.
So is this a bad movie, not really, just get the right mindset and go with the brainless, plot less flow..and be amazed what people can do when trained in martial arts with their bodies and with other peoples bodies.