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Max Payne (2008)
Not faithful to the game, and is just a disappointing movie regardless.
I was so looking forward to this movie, the Max Payne games are some of my favorite video games ever. They had a dark, awesome, melodramatic script, along with over the top but brilliant voice acting. It had a gripping crime noir story, where all the characters mattered, and you really cared what happened to them. It even had some black humor. The thing that stood out most in the game though, was the John Woo style bullet time action. The movie is faithful to the game in pretty much none of these ways.
First of all, pretty much every character is miscast. Mark Wahlberg is a great actor, but for Max Payne, no way. His mannerisms, his voice, just can't pull it off. And to top it off, he just doesn't have any of the style or humor that Max Payne should have. Mila Kunis is also terribly out of place. If anyone knows the character of Mona Sax, you'll be thinking throughout the movie, what were they thinking? She just feels far to young and... I don't know, she just doesn't have the presence that Mona Sax should have. That's just the two main characters. Get ready to see Ludicrus play Police Chief Jim Bravura, who was an old fat guy in the game! What the poo??? Then you have I can't remember his name playing BB, that just didn't fit. BB was a smooth talking, double crossing pretty boy. Now he's an old dude who is a mentor/friend to Max.
Even the way the movie ended wasn't true to the game! The person who was behind it all is totally different to who it was in the game, that just boggled my mind, what the poo... The only thing that really stayed faithful to the game was the look of the film. Dark, snowy, and a very bleak, but awesome visual style. Everything looks the part, but it just isn't.
I'll get down to the action now, which is one of the biggest disappointments here. The action itself is impressive, well choreographed, and stays true to what the game offered. To some extent. The last few scenes of the movie are truly awesome. But if only the whole movie was this way. There is actually very little action here. There is literally NO ACTION until we hit somewhere past the halfway mark. So that means, if you're just looking for a decent action movie, with no interest in the game whatsoever, Max Payne will fail you.
And then I'm just going to say, the story didn't follow the game at all, and it makes you wonder if the movie makers or the actors even played it, I'm pretty sure they didn't. I would personally have chosen to show the death of Max Payne's family at the beginning of the movie, just as the game did. Otherwise, to people who don't know the original storyline, Max's goals are mostly unclear.
This review is a late, so everyone knows that the Max Payne movie is a disappointment, for fans of the game, and for people who just want a good revenge/action movie. I feel like I could remake this movie, and it would be 10 times better.
Sucker Punch (2011)
A great movie, but you have to keep your mind wide open to enjoy it.
First off, there are A lot of negative reviews for this movie. I know, I've read them. And while I agree and support the fact that Sucker Punch is definitely not for everyone, it's still a great, unique, and entertaining movie. I don't think this is one of those films where people should say "go in expecting nothing but CGI, loads of over the top action, and zero story," to me Sucker Punch was more than that. No other movie has had me lost for words at the end. I've always enjoyed venting my opinions to people straight after I've seen a movie, but this was different. I had no idea what to say. Hopefully I can muster up some sort of explanation that will encourage you to see the movie though, so I'll do my best. Sucker Punch's story is a unique one, again, not to everyone's taste. A girl's wicked stepfather abuses and beats her and her sister, until one day he beats her sister to death. This girl, nick named "Baby Doll" attempts to shoot her wicked stepfather, but fails, and so he puts her in a mental institution. Pretty bleak right? At the mental institution, Baby Doll meets some other girls who agree to try and escape with her. Pretty much most of the movie is spent in this alternate reality in which the girls imagine themselves. There are a few layers of this, and it leaves a lot to the imagination and personal opinion on what is actually happening. As I said, you have to have a REALLY open mind, otherwise this movie will fail you, like the critics who were being far too skeptical. Well obviously, there's the reality. Then there's the second layer where the girls imagine themselves, the mental institution is now a brothel where they work, and the leader of the institution is now a mobster. The third layer is where things get exciting, and Zack Snyder's imagination gets unleashed. For those who don't know, this is his first film without any sort of source material to base it on. To escape from the asylum, our leads need to find 5 items, and each time they go for an item, they imagine this crazy fantasy world with zombies, dragons, robots, samurai, and many other things which aren't normally seen in the same film together. Whatever happens in the fantasy world, vaguely mirrors reality. That went on a while, so I hope I've made the plot clear enough. Some people may not like having to have such an open mind, but the way I see it, you needed it for Inception, and that was one of the best movies of 2010. Same goes with Sucker Punch. I actually really loved the story, it took me a while, but the full effect of the movie came after I'd finished watching it, and I immediately wanted to see it again. But for most, the story wont be the attraction as much as the crazy, fantastical action sequences. These are just insane. Extremely imaginative, Zack Snyder handles his action so well, there is plenty of slow motion and CGI, all used to brilliant effect. The crazy stuff that is actually in this movie, I've never seen altogether in one film before. It's ridiculous, but it works, and the film is worth seeing for the action scenes alone if you're in to that sort of thing. All the acting was great in my opinion, I really liked Emily Browning here. A very broken character, she plays it very well. The music was also a highlight here, I don't usually pay much attention to stuff like that in movies, but here I couldn't help it. Just brilliant, matches the tone of the film perfectly and really enhances the motion often going on on the screen. A lot of it is just covers of classic songs, but again, it all works very well. Wrapping up now, Sucker Punch is DEFINITELY not for everyone. A lot of people wont enjoy this, and I see why. It just isn't to everyone's taste, but I strongly recommend you give it a try. If you wanted to see it, but weren't sure because of the negative response, see it. And apparently, there were a lot of highly important scenes that Zack Snyder had to cut out that will all be available on the DVD release. Every single one. The story is a little hard to grasp sometimes, and I'm pretty sure the DVD release will fix all these problems. So if you're still not sure, wait for that, it will almost definitely be a better, and easier to understand movie.
The Replacement Killers (1998)
Enjoyable, but pretty bland.
Chow Yun-Fat is extremely famous for his work with director John Woo. He has established an ice cool persona, and is highly recognized for his "diving through the air with dual pistols" signature. Director of The Replacement Killers seeks to play to Chow Yun-Fat's strengths, by making a movie that is in many ways similar to a John Woo movie. But it doesn't quite succeed. While The Replacement Killers seemingly offers everything your average Chow Yun-Fat/Woo film does, it is all delivered in a fairly bland fashion, resulting in a fairly forgettable movie. First and foremost, the is HEAPS of action in this movie. Chow Yun-Fat fires his two guns like he always does. There's shootouts in car washes, there's shootouts in apartments, there's shootouts in video arcades, there's shootouts in cinemas, and a variety of other places. The problem is, the action just seems pretty uninteresting, and the answer to why I can't quite explain. The story is decent for an action movie, and resembles that of The Killer, one of the most famous Chow Yun-Fat/Woo collaborations. Chow Yun-Fat himself looks pretty much exactly like he did in that movie. All the acting is quite good, with the exception of the HIGHLY ANNOYING Michael Rooker. There's some pretty big names in this movie. All in all, The Replacement Killers is a decent movie, but it doesn't really do anything above average, and just comes off as fairly uninteresting and bland. A shameless copy of a John Woo movie. Yet that isn't an entirely bad thing.
Dip huet gai tau (1990)
Incredibly hard to watch, but worth it if you do.
Bullet In The Head is John Woo's most personal film. I don't know why that is, but this movie is definitely the most grueling, brutal, and certainly the darkest movie of John Woo's entire career. The harrowing events that take place on screen will make even those with strong stomachs squirm. And it's not really even the gore that is disturbing, it's the stuff that our three lead characters are put through, the true hell of what war can be. In case you didn't know, Bullet In The Head is a story about three very close friends, Ben (Tony Leung), the natural leader of the group, Frank (Jacky Chung), the friendly one who will do anything for his friends, and Paul (Waisse Lee), the one who tends to give in to his darker impulses. All these characters are played superbly, I've always liked Tony Leung, and Jacky Chung was just brilliant. Out three main characters travel to Vietnam during the 60's to escape from the law and hopefully earn a bit of profit from the war going on. Things start going wrong very quickly, and eventually our leads are flung into a world that they have never experienced before, and they all adapt quite differently. Bullet In The Head is about how even the closest of friends can be torn apart, and it offers none of the hope that is seen in most John Woo films. This movie is greatly depressing, and as I said, usually very hard to watch, and at the end you'll be emotionally exhausted by what you have just seen. But this is why Bullet In The Head is so great. John Woo is famed for his action, so I guess I should mention how BITH holds up in that department. Obviously, very well. I hadn't really heard much about the action in this movie as I had about the depressing story, but it's just as good and the quality is just as high. When Chow Yun-Fat is nowhere to be found, Simon Yam is your go to guy, and he plays the ice cool character of Luke to perfection. The action is explosive and impressive, just what you would expect from Woo. The acting is all awesome, as is the pacing. There's some cheese here and there, especially at the beginning when we see 3 grown men jump rope together and ride bikes... yep... Other than that, Bullet In The Head is perfect and highly recommended to any action fan, John Woo fan, or anyone who wants to see some of the most intense and sad events ever put on film.
Ying hung boon sik II (1987)
The change in style is too dramatic to be a truly impressive sequel.
The original A Better Tomorrow is one of my all time favorite films. The sequel, not so much. The serious change in style really hurts this muddled sequel. The main focus of the film seems to be undecided, obviously it should have been on our two lead brothers in the first film, Kit and Ho. But they seem to take a back seat to newbie Dean Shek, and the returning Chow Yun-Fat. SPOILER ALERT Now wait a minute... didn't Chow Yun-Fat's character die at the end of the original A Better Tomorrow? The character of Mark Gor was definitely dead at the end of the original, so Chow Yun-Fat returns to play his twin brother! That makes perfect sense, but it would have been better if there was any mention of him in the original movie. Instead, it feels like Chow Yun-Fat was just shoe horned in to meet popular demand. Our new character Ken is cool, although he is quite different to his brother. He more resembles Tequila, the character Mr Chow played in Hard Boiled, both physically, and in the way he acts. Apart from the lack of focus, A Better Tomorrow II is just too silly to properly be compared to its predecessor. Dean Shek's character seems to be able to casually drift in and out of sanity, and with Chow Yun-Fat yelling at him and throwing food all over the place it's hardly going to help him come back to health. This was actually one of those scenes that was so bad it was good. There are various other things that don't make sense, the majority of them being when Dean Shek's character went insane, which just shouldn't have happened in the first place. Now I watch A lot of action movies, and I always love a good stupid movie. But this is the last thing A Better Tomorrow should be, and so it left me disappointed. Still, the film has it's high points. Why else would I have given it a 7? The ridiculous "eat the rice!" scene is hilarious and memorable. The action is a huge improvement over the first movie, the ending action scene is one of the best of John Woo's entire career. Every action scene here is standard Woo, and then some, so they definitely get the job done. The movies drama isn't all bad, the story is pretty interesting (for this kind of movie). Still, in these areas, the sequel isn't a shadow of the original movie. The acting is all relatively good, not really any complaints (except when Dean Shek went insane). All in all, A Better Tomorrow II is a good movie, but it's lack of focus and serious change in style really hold it back, along with its silliness. It's widely known that there was a lot of behind the scenes squabbling that went on between Woo and producer Tsui Hark. And I can't help wonder, if Woo had just been left to make the movie we wanted, what kind of sequel would we have gotten?
Ying hung boon sik (1986)
A Better Tomorrow made history, it started the career of Chow Yun-Fat and John Woo.
An excellent movie. I love John Woo movies a lot because of the action. But A Better Tomorrow is one I didn't actually love for that reason. It does deliver action, and it's the graceful, balletic stuff that we expect from Woo, nothing less. But there isn't as much of it, and this is a good thing, because this is A Better Tomorrow, the story of two brothers, one a criminal, and one a cop, and how their different lives tear them apart. And then there's Chow Yun-Fat, who stars in the movie that practically started his entire career. This is one of his best performances, the charismatic, smart alec Mark. Did I mention, he is super, super cool. The movie isn't really even about him, yet he steals it completely. The script is well written, the melodrama that is now classic Woo may not be for everyone, but for devoted fans like me, it is just art in action. Everyone here does a great job acting, our two lovable gangsters Ti Lung and Chow Yun-Fat. Our young, bright spirited cop Leslie Cheung. The ever friendly Kenneth Tsang. And evil bad guy Waisse Lee (I hope I spelt that okay). All these characters are incredibly memorable, and the way they are at the end of the movie is quite different to how they were at the beginning. The story progresses at a nice pace, the action never intrudes, and comes in balanced doses. The story is the real star here, I just loved it, it's a shame that the sequel didn't love up to the grandness that is the original A Better Tomorrow. This movie made history, it would be a shame if you didn't go to your local video store right now and buy this movie.
Lat sau san taam (1992)
The most action in any movie ever.
Okay, I just said before that Hard Boiled has the most action seen in any movie ever. That is not an understatement. Never before have I seen a non stop action sequence go for a whopping 45 minutes. This 45 minutes of mind blowing amazement also contains the famous "2 minutes 45 seconds" scene, in which a whole entire take endures for... you get it. This is all action by the way. John Woo is a man known for his melodramatic, action packed movies, but Hard Boiled only contains the latter. Trust me, this will either give action fans EXACTLY what they are looking for, or it will just be too much. My own step dad, who loves a great action movie, thought that Hard Boiled was just too much. Basically the story follows lead Chow Yun-Fat, a cop named Tequila, who is trying to bring down the gun smugglers who are responsible for the brutal murder of his friend/fellow cop. During his vendetta, he finds out that the police have an undercover man within the triad, and so Tequila and our undercover man Alan team up to bring down the bad guys. And that's just about it. Sure, I actually did think for an action movie it was good enough, it got the job done. Tony Leung's performance as Alan was great, he made a character we cared about in the midst of... insane chaos I guess. And Chow Yun-Fat is... Chow Yun-Fat, an ice cool, tough as nails star. He shines in this movie just as much as he does in The Killer or A Better Tomorrow. So obviously, the story is okay, but not as impressive as previous Woo films. Heck, half the film was literally filmed without any script. The action is where Hard Boiled is at. And it's just insane. Completely mental. John Woo must have said, "Come on guys! This is the last movie I make before I completely ruin my career in America, so lets give it all we've got!" Hard Boiled is filled with iconic action scenes. You've got the close quarters tea house shootout less than 5 minutes into the movie, you've got the crazy warehouse shootout just as we pass the first quarter of the movie. Not long after there's a small, impressive shootout on the boat. And then all hell breaks loose not long after we hit the halfway mark when our characters enter the hospital. Utter madness. Butgloriously beautiful madness. And that's all Hard Boiled really is. If you're looking for an action movie with an above average story, you'll probably be disappointed. Go in expecting more than half the movie to be just full of insane action, and you'll be fine. Hard Boiled is a landmark film for a reason, there's just so many memorable moments here, I can't really describe it. Saying that this movie has so much action will either put you off, or get you excited for one of the most mind blowing movies you'll ever see.
Dip huet seung hung (1989)
Definitely John Woo's best film, as well as his most beautiful.
The Killer is praised as being one of the best, if not the best action film of all time. This statement is not overrating the film in any way. John Woo in hand is the most acclaimed action director ever, and The Killer is the apex of career. Here, every one of his trademarks are used to absolute perfection. Melodramatic, emotional characters. Two leads who are different, yet the same. Graceful, balletic, over the top action. And Chow Yun-Fat. It's all here. The story follows Ah Johng, played by Chow Yun-Fat, an assassin who hates his job, and throughout the movie tries to put it all behind him. But the criminals he works for aren't so kind, and they try to kill him throughout the movie. None of it's made any easier due to the fact that Ah Johng has a no nonsense cop hot on his trail, who effectively is Ah Johngs reflection in the mirror. Oh yeah, and he's trying to protect a nightclub singer who he accidentally made blind. Okay, so the story isn't wholly original, and it doesn't come up with a whole lot of new ideas. But it's the stunning perfection in which it's executed that makes it great. John Woo easily takes the normally clichéd, normally cheesy, and makes it beautiful and unique. Everything about The Killer is over the top. From the script, to the characters, to the action. This may some people off, but it is all just part of the movies effect on you. Not many movies make me as emotional as John Woo movies do, let me tell you. I got more sad at the end of this than I did Titanic! But no spoilers. The characters are all memorable and charming in their own ways. Chow Yun-Fat is the standout, the super cool assassin. Danny Lee hands in an admirable performance also, along with Sally Yeh. I'll also give praise to whoever played the character of Sidney, the undying loyal friend, but as The Killer shows, even the best of us make mistakes. The action is what John Woo is known for, and The Killer has it in spades. The choreography here is certainly the most beautiful in any John Woo film, the church shootout at the end is so incredibly emotional and beautiful. This also marks the first time Woo has used doves in his movies. The action is balanced just right with the story, as it always accents what is going on with the plot. If you're looking for Hard Boiled style thrills (another amazing movie) the action here isn't as hardcore and insane, but much, much more beautiful and balletic. If The Killer has one downfall, it's that sometimes it can get... just a little... too cheesy. Most of it I'll say is great, and makes The Killer what it is. But sometimes it does go a little far. All in all, no movie is perfect, as an action fan The Killer is my favorite movie, and those who want more substance to go with their action will enjoy this. The best John Woo movie ever.