Reviews

Make no mistake about it, Fearless is the best straight-ahead martial arts film since Jackie Chan's seminal Drunken Master 2. Director Ronny Yu crams more bone-jarring, well crafted fight scenes into the first forty minutes of this movie than most films can match in their entire runtime. This is a canny move, as it pulls in the viewer via the blurring action before beginning to develop the film's narrative in the middle third. While the story is a well used one (kung-fu bully comes to realise his skills can be used to educate rather than brutalise), it's a perfect structure on which to hang the film's many excellent confrontations. It's obvious that this film is Li's love letter to his Wu Shu background and martial arts in general. In dramatic terms, Fearless never reaches the heights of recent wuxia movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Hero and so is unable to feel truly fulfilling as a great movie per se. It is however up there with Jet Li's very best work in the genre, OUATIC & Fist of Legend for example, and if it is (sadly) true that it is to be his last period martial arts picture, it's a hell of a bang to go out on.

Goal! is a solid attempt at capturing the excitement of the modern game of football within a tried and trusted, 'Rocky'-esque sports underdog narrative. Director Danny Cannon's two big pluses are firstly the cinematic style used for the action scenes (slick camera-work and classy CGI integrating actors into real game footage) and secondly his casting of Kuno Becker in the lead role of Santiago Munez. Becker expertly conveys Munez's vulnerability in tandem with his desire to fulfil his footballing ambition, putting in a likable central performance that is key to making even the sometimes clichéd moments of the film seem forgivable. The supporting cast all put in decent performances, with Sean Pertwee's turn as the sleazy agent a nice standout. Sure, there's nothing particularly original about the film's plot, but there's plenty of atmosphere and sense of place, a cracking soundtrack and some excellent cinematography that almost makes Newcastle look like New York! In short it would be easy to deride Goal! for being lightweight predictable entertainment, but that's what it is and the filmmakers don't try and pretend otherwise. Go into watching the film with an open mind (and open heart) and who knows, you might just enjoy it.

Despite what others may claim Sha Po Lang is not up there with the best HK movies of it's kind made during the golden period of the 1980s, when the likes of Jackie Chan, John Woo and Ringo Lam were in their pomp. In fact, there have been better cop films than SPL released in more recent times in the territory, Infernal Affairs and Running Out of Time to name just two. What SPL does do successfully is tap into the style and tone of the type of films that made Hong Kong action film popular with western audiences during the 80s and 90s. In SPL, the line between right and wrong, good guys and bad guys, is blurred to the point of it almost becoming invisible (often a feature in John Woo's output). The fact that the film's most likable(?) character is a brutal mobster shows how there is no black and white in the world of Sha Po Lang, just differing shades of grey. It's Sammo Hung's excellent performance as gangster Po, committed family man yet also a ruthless, violent crime boss, that is at the heart of the film. Against him all the traditionally good cop characters seem to have to sacrifice their innate sense of right in order to achieve what they see as justice being done; resulting in them becoming more like the man they're trying to bring down. It all leads to regret, violence, death and a shocking finale that should live long in viewers memories. As for the action sequences, they are well executed if a little too brief, but none of them would make it into a ten (or twenty!) best HK fight scenes list. Simply put, Sha Po Lang is a well put together police thriller with decent action and a satisfyingly bleak, film noir-esquire tone. It's well worth seeing and if it kick-starts a return to the classic action style of Hong Kong cinema, even better!

Daniel Lee must have watched too many Michael Bay films, such is the speed of the editing in Dragon Squad. On top of that, the director throws in a myriad of cinematic tricks and gimmicks in an obvious attempt to try and capture a hip audience for his picture. Slow-motion, fast-motion, filters, crazy camera angles, bloody violence, a group of young actors that could pass for designer clothes store mannequins; your average thirteen year-old would probably think this is one of the best films ever made. Maybe that's the point. To a more (ahem) mature viewer, however, the movie plays like an extended pop video, where a long fringe or moody look is supposed to give our anguished heroes some depth. It doesn't. In fact as you watch the film, it begins to resemble an ultra-violent version of the A-Team. For surely only in that classic of 80s t.v. could almost a dozen protagonists firing automatic weapons in a narrow alley not hit each other with a single shot for five minutes. Aren't these people supposed to be highly trained cops and ex-special forces nutters? Duh? But then it happens. One of our paper-thin leads takes a bullet to the brain and suddenly Lee's film hits the ground running, becoming a darker and more twisted bastard of a film. So what's to recommend to the curious viewer about this movie? Well, the last half-hour is certainly more satisfyingly gritty, if just as silly, as all that has preceded it. On top of that, with our fledgling super-cops a charisma-free zone, it's up to old hands to give Dragon Squad some bite. Fortunately, (though given little to work with) Maggie Q, Michael Biehn, Sammo Hung and Jun-ho Heo managed to interject some weight into proceedings through sheer force of personality. Sammo and Heo's characters personal battle within the narrative is the film's highlight, culminating in a decent punch-up that is well choreographed by Hung protégé Chin Kar Lok. The numerous gun battles are also finely staged, certainly more brutal and bloody than the balletic shootouts of John Woo's justifiably lauded Hong Kong output. The film also has an excellent original soundtrack and there are some fun cameos, including Simon Yam (somewhat wasted), Kung-fu legend Gordon Lui (funny) and Hong Kong film expert Bey Logan (wooden). So if you're looking for a popcorn action flick with an Asian flavour, I guess you could do worse than Dragon Squad. You could also do a lot better.

Initially, you've got to ask why Peter Jackson made this film. If you were a big fan of Raiders of the Lost Ark (and you should be) and someone offered you millions of dollars to remake it, would you think "yeah, I could do a better job than Spielberg" or say to yourself "this film's a classic and to attempt to remake it would be disrespectful to the original and my feelings for it"? Personally, the latter comment would sum up for me how I would feel in that situation. One wonders what Jackson's motivation was for deciding to serve up this re-hashed cinematic turkey. That's not to say there haven't been good remakes in the past, but when you're taking a thin premise that just about sustained the original's runtime and doubling it, you better have a good reason for doing so. Note to Peter Jackson: boring, overlong CGI sequences involving giant insects and/or dinosaurs or pointless, embarrassing ones trying to 'humanise' Kong do not meet this criteria. Talking of CGI, don't believe anyone who tells you this movie's use of it is ground-breaking, as the overall standard ranges from decent to very poor. Jurassic Park is over a decade old and it's effects are far superior and in that film no human character punches out a dinosaur (I kid you not)! The dialogue, characters and performances are just plain dull. You care not a bit for any of the humans, or Kong for that matter. By the film's long drawn-out finale, I was praying for those planes to put the big monkey, and me, out of our collective misery. Peter Jackson allegedly suffered a physical and mental breakdown while filming this movie, probably because he realised halfway through making it what an awful mistake he had made. Following up the Lord of the Rings trilogy was always going to be tough, but the director loses much of the deserved kudos he received for those films thanks to this ill-advised vanity project. If there is any justice, this film should suffer the same fate as the awful Hulk movie, where word of mouth saw it's box-office sharply fall after the opening weekend. I think it's fair to say King Kong will not be worrying the next Academy Awards in any way, shape or form. Avoid.

What do you want from your movies? A shaolin monk turned stripper/bodybuilder with psychic abilities? A young female Hong Kong cop cursed by her former life as a murderous WW2 Japanese soldier? A mysterious mountain-dwelling, serial-killing hermit who's evaded the authorities for five years? A karmic feud between two men dating back generations? A rage-filled police chief who thinks nothing of beating and/or killing suspects to get results? Well, look no further than Running on Karma! Co-Directors Johnny To and Wai Ka Fai throw all these ingredients into the mixer and come up with one original cinematic cocktail. By turns funny, tragic, romantic, horrific and action packed, Running on Karma is a film that could only have been made in Hong Kong. Great performances from Cecilia Cheung and Andy Lau make you care about the characters and their fates, despite the loopy/deep(?) storyline that will have your brain spinning. No description of this film is a match for actually seeing it, so what are you waiting for?

Andy Lau and Lau Ching-Wan are both superb in Johnny To's tautly directed crime thriller which puts most Western efforts to shame. Think of it as the Hong Kong 'Heat', only better! Everything about the film screams class; from the performances to the soundtrack, the cinematography to the script. The tone remains serious throughout, but the film has a nice line in black-humour, friendship and romance at it's heart. Sure, it gets a little preposterous later on, but it would be a hard-hearted viewer who didn't find something to love about this movie. Thank God, Hollywood hasn't (yet) re-made and ruined a classic. Do yourself a favour and see this film!

Credit to Jackie, he does try to do something different with his Hong Kong films. It would be easy for him to churn out countless sequels to already established series, but he does try to vary his output. Well, that is in as much as the constraints of his fans expectations and his established film persona will allow, anyway. The Myth, as a film, suffers paradoxically because of these two things; trying to satisfy by offering something new, while fulfilling audience expectation based on Jackie's previous output. The historical side of the film works best, providing Chan with a role (Army General bound by honour, compromised by love) that is unfamiliar and more interesting largely because of that. The action is more gritty and brutal in these sequences, with lots more blood on show than in typical Jackie fare. The present day character is classic Jackie, though the comedic set pieces and brief fight scenes don't have quite the inventiveness or sparkle of yesteryear. You can imagine the glue factory scene in particular being more involving and exciting if it had been choreographed twenty, or even ten, years ago. Stanley Tong's handling of the material is, due to the nature of his script, very uneven. The presentation of the modern day settings is fine, if a little uninspiring; especially when you consider some of the film's spectacular locations. However, the historical battles look and feel dull and lack any kind of epic quality. This may have been down to budget constraints, but watching the film you feel that if more clever camera-work had been employed, this effect could have been conveyed. Ultimately, it's a pity Jackie wasn't brave enough to do a straight, serious historical action/drama, because under The Myth's familiarity there's a different Jackie Chan film trying to get out.

Christopher Nolan blows the opportunity to make a definitive Batman movie by delivering a tepid, poorly structured effort that wastes the impressive acting talent assembled to re-tell the origins of the Dark Knight. It all starts reasonably well with a decently thought out, if a little rushed, origin story, but the film quickly unravels upon Bruce Wayne's return to Gotham. What awaits him (and us) is a dull, contrived tale with weak villains handled by a director whose talents obviously do not stretch to handling this kind of material. The action scenes in particular have you crying out for someone who knows what they're doing, while the character development and story (Nolan's supposed strengths) lack cohesion. Watching the film you have to assume its massive budget was spent on paying the actors, because it's certainly not up there in terms of design, settings or effects. It all adds up to a terrible waste of talent. Unfortunately, returns speak volumes and I'm sure Warner Bros. are already rubbing their hands at the prospect of equally banal, box-office conquering sequels. I only hope Superman Returns delivers a more satisfying, better quality effort and that one day someone will make a movie that truly captures the essence of the Batman of Dark Knight Returns & The Long Halloween.

I didn't hold out much hope for Revenge of the Sith. The previous prequels were so dire, I was actually considering not bothering going to see this chapter at all. Seeing the final trailer for ROTS on the big screen twisted my arm into getting to the cinema to see it. And guess what, I'm glad I did! The story's darker edge is evident almost from the start, making this a more satisfying, grown-up Star Wars movie that neatly dovetails the original films. For the first time in the prequel trilogy, George Lucas actually focuses more on plot & character rather than overdosing on CGI nonsense. While the dialogue still has a few clunky moments & some of the humour doesn't work, the plot & the pacing of the film is good enough to see it's long running time fly by. Of the actors the much-maligned Hayden Christiansen comes off best, this time more tortured soul than whiny brat. The much-talked up final sabre fight isn't a patch on Episode 1's three-way dust up (it's sole saving grace), but the film has easily more genuinely emotive moments than it's two forerunners put together. See it!

Let's get one thing straight from the off; I really wanted to like Ong-Bak. I'd seen several trailers and read many independent reviews that hailed it as the greatest thing to hit martial arts film-making in years. Maybe that was the problem. I was so looking forward to seeing this film that it was almost inevitable that it was going to end up a disappointment. The fact that the plot is paper-thin is not a problem for me. The majority of martial arts films are not exactly defined by their intricate plotting and depth of character. We're dealing with stock heroes and villains here, with a couple of sidekicks thrown in to provide comic relief. Ting's simplistic quest is also an ideal one on which to hang the fight/chase set pieces that the genre demands. And that's really where the problem lies. The set up is adequate, it's in the execution of the rest of it's job that the film fails. The editing is all over the place and the general pacing is far too slow. It is no exaggeration to say that the first major fight of any kind doesn't occur until 45 minutes in, almost half the movie's running time! The Muay Thai-styled action is brutally impressive at first but it's cinematic limitations soon show through. As for the films two chase sequences, the car chase is plain boring and poorly handled and the alley chase staged just to show how acrobatic Jaa can be. There's nothing wrong with this, but better filmmakers have managed to fit this kind of sequence into their films more organically(i.e. Jackie Chan). On the positive side, the film generally looked great due to the excellent cinematography and the actor who played the role of comedy sidekick George/Dirty Balls did so to the hilt and was definitely the heart and soul of the movie. Tony Jaa is an impressive action performer with a bright future ahead of him, but to talk of him being in the same company as Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee at this time is nonsense. Ong-Bak is a commendable first effort, but it's a long way from Enter the Dragon or Drunken Master 2.