Reviews

It's pretty much what you'd expect.

The action was crap, the dialogue was terrible, half the cast was melodramatic while the other half was wooden; even the props and costumes were nauseating. The martial arts/weapon ideas were the stuff of fanfiction. The audience was forced to sit through RZA's predictable backstory. Every second line was a cheesy metaphor. RZA was competing with Tom Hardy for the award for most inscrutable dialogue in a motion picture

The music was pretty good, but seemed really out of place.

It felt like RZA sincerely wanted this to be decent action movie, but then Tarantino decided to punk him and edited it into a B-grade flick post-production.

I can only assume Russell clobbered someone with a phone again and was blackmailed into starring in this.

Lucy Liu desperately tries to recapture the time when she was the go-to Asian-American actress.

Rick Yune is as bad as he's ever been. It's like he and John Choi are the the best Hollywood has to offer.

Then there were the few HK/Chinese actors who think this will help them break into Hollywood.

I seriously wouldn't have mind everything wrong with the film (which is basically everything) if they at least bothered to hire a decent action choreographer.

I fully expect Tarantino to pretend he was going for a deliberately cheesy movie to hide how bad it was.

If you find yourself overwhelmed with the large selection of kung fu movies available and unsure of what to watch first, then you can safely pass on this film knowing you aren't missing much.

Donnie Yen is a very versatile martial artist and choreographer. The fight scenes in his films alternate from realistic brawls to graceful wuxia pieces. Given his vast experience in the genre it's baffling as to why this film's action sequences are so mismatched and mundane.

In the beginning Yen's character, Chen Zhen, is capable of superhuman feats like dodging machine gun fire by sprinting at impossible speeds and propelling over tall buildings in a single somersault. Then for some reason Chen Zhen reverts back to a mortal where he uses Wing Chun that's lifted straight out of Ip Man 1 & 2. I don't mean inspired or improved upon; I mean the punches and kicks are literally copied, almost blow for blow, from his previous movies.

Except none of the fight scenes have the painstakingly created realism and inventiveness of his previous movies. There was the occasional weapon disarm here and deft parry there, but for the most part the fight scenes were lazy and lacklustre. Even the final showdown, the one that you expect will be at least half-decent, was a disappointment. Chen Zhen just repeatedly punches his opposite number in the face and ... well ... that's it really.

If it's not humdrum fight scenes its Donnie Yen striking silly melodramatic poses or poorly impersonating Bruce Lee. It doesn't look cool, just plain corny. The abrupt ending was probably due to Yen himself losing interest of the film half way through and just wanted to get it over and done with. That's certainly how I felt when I was watching it.

The acting was actually not bad, with decent performances by the supporting cast and especially Shu Qi. The set designs and costumes are also worthy of a mention.

But really, who picks up a Donnie Yen movie for anything else besides the action? Hopefully the next action movie about a Chinese hero resisting the tyranny of the British/Japanese will be better, because you can bet there will be more to come.