Mini Reviews:

Fantastic Four
Cast: Ioan Gruffud, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian MacMahon
Director: Tim Story
Review:
Quite a Fun action hero movie. I was never a Fantastic 4 fan and had low expectations for this movie given the lacklustre previews. Thankfully, the movie is light, fun and had a great sense of humor and I came out entertained. The cast that made up the Fantastic Four are great especially Chris Evans as Human Torch and Michael Chiklis as The Thing. Jessica Alba is miscast but she's hot, so that made up for it. Not all are good though. the special effects are sometimes way too obvious - the body stretching of Mr Fantastic; and they could definitely make Dr Doom more powerful - after all he is one of the most powerful villain in the Marvel universe. But overall, it's a fun popcorn flick.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Mr and Mrs Smith
Cast: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Vince Vaughn, Adam Brody
Director: Doug Liman
Review:
An interesting hybrid of romantic and action movie that fizzles at the end. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had good chemistry. For the first half of the movie or so, it was funny to see both of them trying to outsmart each other. However, towards the end of the movie, the whole thing just becomes a full blown action movie that is actually not very exciting, since there is no real villain to speak of and the action is so overblown, it looks generic. Everything is forgettable... except the blatant Fight Club reference - gotta love it when they play with the audience.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5

War of the Worlds
Cast: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins, Justin Chatwin and Miranda Otto

Director: Steven Spielberg

Synopsis:
Ray Ferrier is a working class man living in New Jersey. He's estranged from his family, his life isn't in order, and he's too caught up with himself. But the unthinkable and, ultimately, the unexpected happens to him in an extraordinary sense. His small town life is shaken violently by the arrival of destructive intruders: Aliens which have come en masse to destroy Earth. As they plow through the country in a wave of mass destruction and violence, Ray must come to the defense of his children. As the world must fend for itself by a new and very advanced enemy not of this world, it's inhabitants must save humanity from a far greater force that threatens to destroy it. (taken from imdb.com)


Review:
Reviewing War of the Worlds is quite a frustrating experience for me. There are some movies whose beginning and middle are great but ultimately crashed and burned at the end. War of the Worlds is one of them. For the first 3/4 of the movie or so, I was convinced that I was watching one of this year's best film. It truly felt like commercial moviemaking at its finest and Steven Spielberg return to the form that made him such a revered filmmaker. However, no matter how good Spielberg is, he has a weakness and it's so unfortunate that the film was let down by it that it prevented the film from fulfilling its potential as a truly great movie.

I will start spoiling the movie more below. So, if you don't want to be spoiled, stop now. In short, it's hard for me to recommend the movie based on the ending. But whatever goes before the ending was a great non-stop thrilling experience (with great action, scares, drama and special effects) that should not be missed and I would highly recommend the movie just based on that alone; at least it's better than an out-and-out bad movie. Here's hoping Spielberg will learn from his mistakes.

/*SPOILER BELOW*/

I'm going to talk about the great stuffs first. The first 3/4 of the movie was so awesome, it stayed with me for a couple of days after I watched it. The first (and probably most memorable) standout scene was the first appearance of the tripod - boy, it was a wonder to behold, with its machine-like Godzilla-inspired sound announcing its arrival and start zapping people with its laser guns. It happened in one long continuous uninterrupted(?)-like take, creating a huge tension. I was blown away by that. and it was only the beginning and Spielberg has more in store.

The next great scene was when Tom Cruise character came out of his ex-wife's house to discover that it has been destroyed by a plane crash. What stood out in this scene is not the plane crash (although the revealing shot was jaw-dropping) but the part in which he met with a surviving news crew and learnt the horrible capability of the aliens that he (and the audience) never knew. Apparently taking a leaf out of M Night Shyamalan's Signs, the movie never show huge city destruction scene ala Independence Day but instead tries to convey it through something as minimalist as television footage that made the scene more horrifying because you can't see it fully. The "show not tell" approach has never been more successful. Speaking of Signs, there is also other scenes in WotW that mirrors Signs: the scene where Tom Cruise tried to make bread for his kids is similar to the 'last dinner' scene in Signs and also the scene where Tom Cruise try to put Dakota Fanning to sleep by singing a lullaby recalls the scene in Signs where Mel Gibson tries to calm his children by telling the story of their birth. Since Shyamalan was inspired by Spielberg, it's only fitting that Spielberg is inspired back.

Spielberg also understand that, like Signs, the movie would just be an empty spectacle without a good story/drama and characters that you would care about. Taking the Signs route (again), Spielberg chose to focus on the 'everyday' guy Ray Ferrier (played by Tom Cruise) and his attempts to protect his family and staying alive. Granted, given the nature of the film, the drama was established rather quickly and the characters are at best, two dimensional. But the actors rose to the challenge to make us care for the characters. Tom Cruise is surprisingly good at portraying the jerk, lousy father character instead of the usual heroic top-gun roles that he has been (sometimes unfairly) associated with him. We cared for him when he changes and become more serious and caring to protect his children. Dakota Fanning is also very talented but comes close to overact in some situations.

Speaking of Spielberg, there has been a continuing recent trend where he tries to tackle darker and bolder subjects in his recent movies like AI and Minority Report (his next film about Munich Olympics murder will continue the trend). This movie is no exception. Before the ending comes, I felt that Spielberg has never made a more terrifying movie than this (Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List are war movies, they are a bit different), daring to suggest the idea of a world helpless against an invading force and what people would do for survival - this is what makes the movie especially more frightening, not the destructions, but the idea. Spielberg also slips in some scenes which are open to social commentary interpretations. One scene was about what people would do to get a car was frightening. There was one other standout scene which made me clap my hand in the middle of the movie. Clapping my hand made me look like an idiot but the scene really resonated with me strongly. It was (right after Dakota Fanning saw the body flowing down the river) when Tom Cruise son, played by Justin Chatwin, saw the incoming trucks of armies going to fight the invaders moving in the opposite direction and he tried desperately to join them. Tom Cruise, upon seeing him doing that, tried to stop him and both ended up quarreling. Tom Cruise, who has seen what the aliens are capable of earlier, obviously know that the army was helpless against them and tried to convince his son that moving to the direction of the attack site is pointless. The son thought differently; it was like it's much safer if they had stayed with the army. The scene resonated with me because it reminded me about the war in Iraq and many americans' gung-ho attitude about their army. Some americans believe that just because they are superpowers, they could or are 'right' to do everything without knowing or thinking about the consequences of their actions including their decision to go to war in Iraq.

Now, I will talk about what don't work. The movie starts its downhill slide the moment Tim Robbins appear and the movie suddenly switches to a claustrophobic mode. The scenes here are interesting all right, but they feel a little out of sync with what came before it. Then comes the ending, which was anti-climatic and extremely disappointing. Before, I go further, let me explain the ending: basically, the aliens could not adapt to the earth's environment and died naturally (it is never said but it was implied by the narration and the ending animation follows the book microbes ending) and Ray founds his ex-wife and her family including her husband and her parents are still alive. Not only that, the house light is still on too and the son who was missing earlier when he decided to go to the battlefield survived and apparently made it ALL THE WAY TO BOSTON (I guess by himself). Now, the Spielberg weakness that I was referring too just now was that it seems that he needs to have every single movie by him end with a happy ending. Furthermore, not only must it be a happy ending, it must be as 'happy' as possible, even if the movie is probably better without a happy ending. Let me make it clear that it is not the happy ending that annoyed me, but it's the need for it and the way Spielberg presented it. Remember Minority Report? /*Minority Report spoiler ahead */ In that movie, not only does the bad guy got his comeuppance, but Tom Cruise wife get pregnant again, which was 'happy' because Tom Cruise lost his only son and his marriage broke down because of that in that movie - the ending ensures us that they live happily ever after... which was not really necessary /*End Spoiler*/. I believe that given the darker material presented throughout the movie, the ending should be at least a little melancholic if it has to be a happy one. If the wife and son had died, it would probably make the character development of Tom Cruise's character more poignant since he becomes a better person at the end, but with some sacrifice. But instead of that, we got both of them alive in a ridiculously stable condition, as if nothing has happened to them. It's really a waste what a great movie it could have been had it ended differently.

Contrary to some people, I didn't find the way the aliens were defeated to be annoying/bothersome, if you think about what was said in the narration and that it was the ending of the actual book, the whole thing is actually reasonable.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

A Lot Like Love

Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Amanda Peet, Kathryn Hahn, Kal Penn, Ali Larter, Taryn Manning, Gabriel Mann, Jeremy Sisto
Director: Nigel Cole
Synopsis:
On a flight from Los Angeles to New York, Oliver (Kutcher) and Emily (Peet) make a connection, only to decide that they are poorly suited to be together. Over the next seven years, however, they are reunited time and time again, they go from being acquaintances to close friends to ... lovers? (taken from imdb.com)

Review:
Upon the first glance on trailer or synopsis of A Lot Like Love, I can't help but feel that this movie is a lot like When Harry Met Sally (the #1 romantic comedy ever made?). Other romantic comedy tend to be similar to WHMS one way or another but it's just that A Lot Like Love is so similar, it wouldn't be wrong to call this movie a remake. But this doesn't make this movie bad. In fact, as romantic comedy goes, it's pretty watchable. It's all thanks to a surprisingly good performance by Ashton Kutcher and a not-so-surprising but somewhat original and poignant plot development that occured in later part of the movie. Ashton Kutcher, better known as Mr Demi Moore or that obnoxious host from MTV's Punk'd, acted really well as Oliver, despite a few "off" moments, bringing some vulnerability to the character. It's not that he is like a Billy Crystal already, but he could be in the future if he wants to work harder. In many scenes, I actually believed that he was not Ashton the actor but the character Oliver. Now that I've seen him, I'm not so surprised that the great Cameron Crowe once considered Ashton for the lead of his upcoming movie Elizabethtown. I can't give the same amount of praise to Amanda Peet though. Although she brings a lot of sexiness to the role and does not do anything seriously bad, I found something lacking. Perhaps it's just that the character wasn't really that 'good'. Thankfully, the chemistry between both leads are good, which is key to the success of a romantic comedy like this.

Another thing that makes this movie stands out a little is a somewhat unexpected event that occured later in the movie. For the first half or so, the movie played out like a typical rom-com. However, things gets subtly bleaker and harder for the pair and then that event (don't worry - nobody dies, nobody gets pregant) just happened which makes the movie somewhat compelling (I will discuss this below - spoilers warning). It also helps that by the time it happens, the movie's has become pretty serious and actually works as a good movie. It's just a little too bad that the movie starts and ends like a typical rom-com. Not that you can help it, but there is some potential for this movie to push things a bit further towards the end. Nevertheless, while never reaching WHMS level, at least this movie also never reaches the badness level of any Freddie Prinze Jr rom-coms. That's why, if there's nothing better to do/watch, consider watching this.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Plot discussion:
/*=======SPOILER WARNING ==============*/


In the movie, Oliver (played by Kutcher) is an aspiring start-up businessman who wanted to start a successful internet company and that's one reason why he did not really want to start a serious relationship with Emily. Oliver actually seemed to be on the road to success when he secured financial backing from venture capitalists. I thought I know where this movie was going - he will be successful but realize that life is empty without love or something like that and will therefore approach Emily. But then, that did not happen and instead disaster happens and his business failed. This plot development in my opinion, was a somewhat refreshing twist and makes the motivation of Oliver to pursue Emily a little more compelling than what it could have been the other way around. To explain more, I would have to talk more about what happens earlier but my point is that this kind of plot development was very succesful and the movie is better because of that. One wonders why nobody has ever thought of this before (or maybe have, but I just don't remember / not aware).


/*==========================================*/

The American President

Cast: Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J Fox
Director: Rob Reiner
Writer: Aaron Sorkin
Synopsis:
A widowed President of The United States fall in love during his election year. (written by yours truly)

Review:
I'll keep it short. I just watched it on TV when I have nothing to do. What a wonderful discovery! I haven't felt this good about romantic comedy since I last watched Notting Hill or My Sassy Girl. The fact that I wrote this soon after I finished watching it on TV says on how impressed I was. This movie is just one of those rare few that can make you feel good no matter how ridiculous the concept would be in reality, like a well told fairy tale fantasy. The idea of president falling in love is ripe for all sorts of political satire and backlash and that's why the approach used by Reiner to tell a straight romantic love story that works so well is wonderfully surprising. What makes the film works is also that we believe the president character played by Michael Douglas is a truly good and sympathetic man and that the romance between the President and the lobbyist (played by beautiful Annette Bening) feels really true as well; we really root for them to be together against all odds. Yes, in reality, we live in a cynical, unfair world where most US presidents are like GW Bush. However, if you could just accept the fact that this movie is not about real life, then you would probably be entertained and heartened by what this movie has to offer. This movie was made about 10 years ago and I feel that it has been kind of forgotten, which is too bad because I feel that this is the kind of movie that should not be forgotten easily. I hope that this review would encourage you to make a wonderful discovery out of this movie, if you haven't already.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Cast: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst and Tom Wilkinson
Director: Michael Gondry
Writer: Charlie Kaufman
Synopsis:
In the futuristic present day when a technology that can erase memory exists, a couple who had just had a bad breakup (played by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet) decided to have their memory of the relationship erased, only to discover that it can't keep them apart. (written by yours truly)

Review:
Okay, I am such a procascinator. I have anticipated this movie way before it came out. Yet, when it came out last march, due to some procascination and bad luck (I got lost in a highway when trying to find a cinema that plays it), I managed to skip it at the cinema. Now that one year, more procascination and exams have passed, I have finally got the dvd and watched it.

Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind is truly one of the most romantic film I have ever seen. It is not romantic in the same way as a typical romantic comedy starring hugh grant / tom hanks - meg ryan. It is a rather original love story that uses science fiction to explore the the fragile nature of love, feelings, relationships and human nature. One idea that I found compelling personally is that the memory can be erased but that does not mean the feelings will go away too. There are other themes too, but saying more would spoil the movie, I would encourage this movie to be discovered on its own instead.

I would also like to talk about the great job done by french director Michael Gondry and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. In case it is not clear, this movie does not play like your typical hollywood movie and knowing who makes it would tell you why. Gondry is a very creative director - he tells the story in a non-linear fashion and he displays a huge bag of visual tricks (lots of spotlights) and beautifully melancholic cinematography. Writer Kaufman who has developed a reputation as one of the most talented screenwriter ever for his unconventional scripts, has delivered perhaps his most accessible work yet (definitely way more accessible than the slightly overrated Adaptation) . Whatever these two men do here are not for showing off but contribute to the perfect delivery of the storytelling process of the movie. They are also assisted by a great cast. Jim Carrey gives perhaps his best performance ever here. From the first time he is onscreen, you would notice that Carrey the clown is not present; Instead, Carrey does a very good character acting in this one, bringing a lot of vulnerability to the character. Kate Winslet also did well and she had great chemistry and interaction with Carrey. Elijah
Wood acted surprisingly well as a jerk.

I would definitely reccomend this movie strongly. It's very smart, original, challenging, thought - provoking and ultimately romantic rewarding experience.

Rating: 4 out of 5 (might rise to 4.5 upon repeated viewings)

House of Flying Daggers (十面埋伏)

Cast: Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Ziyi, Andy Lau and Song Dandan
Director: Zhang Yimou
Synopsis:
Near the end of the Tang Dynasty, police deputies Jin (Kaneshiro) and Leo (Lau) tangle with Mei (Zhang), a dancer suspected of having ties to a revolutionary faction known as the House of Flying Daggers. Enraptured by her, the deputies concoct a plan to save her from capture, and Jin leads her north in what becomes a perilous journey into the unknown as Jin and Mei unexpectedly fall in love with each other. (taken from movies.yahoo.com. revised by yours truly)

Review:
Since its release in 2002, no chinese movie has fascinated the world so much than Zhang Yimou martial arts epic, Hero. Fresh off its success, Zhang then went on to make another martial arts epic and the anticipation for this movie can't be more salivating. The promising cast include popular asian actors Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Ziyi, Andy Lau and initially, the late Anita Mui. Many of the Hero crew is back including action director Ching Siu-Tung and Oscar-Winning costume designer Emi Wada (although DP Chris Doyle is sadly not). The only one who is not back is MiramAxe (thank god). I am a big fan of both Hero and Andy Lau. When I heard the news of Zhang Yimou following up Hero with another kungfu movie with Andy Lau in it, I was in for a treat. I followed the development of this movie, House of Flying Daggers as closely as I could up to its cannes premiere. Apart from the costumes worn, I felt that it was going to be a great movie, and the critics's reaction in Cannes could only support that. With anticipation this high, a lot of times the movie can turn out to be a disappointment. This turns out to be the case for this movie.

Unlike Hero (i'm going to repeat these 2 words), which was some kind of ambitious Rashomon-like, somewhat philosophical and very political film (and I would argue a perfect deconstruction of Martial Arts genre), House of Flying Daggers is made with more traditional genre: tragic romance drama, a genre which reminds us of Hero's predecessor, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (another reason to raise expectation). While I have never watched any Zhang's movie except Hero, he has a reputation of making good human drama film in the past. Hence, I was confident that he could create a movie as good as, if not better than, CTHD. However, that is clearly not the case with this movie. Firstly, unlike Hero, HOFD has a bad script (by the same writers of Hero: Wang Bin, Li Feng and Zhang himself). The simple tragic love triangle story was accompanied by a complex but ridiculous and ultimately meaningless spy and counterspy plot. However, the main problem with the script is how it handles the love story itself: it is as tragic as the soap opera that you watch daily on TV. The main plot just wasn't interesting and frankly, most movies with this basic problem is pretty much doomed to fail. I read that Hero script took 3 years to complete and the script for HOFD was written during the production of Hero, one can clearly see the difference in quality.

If there is a strong belief that I hold can save a movie is the acting of the cast. Great acting, however, was nowhere to be foundin this film. Unlike Hero, which has great actors such as Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Maggie Cheung, and a great introductory performance by Chen Daoming, we are offered only three questionably good actors. Takeshi Kaneshiro gives his best performance I have ever seen - a decent performance; this is not saying much since I have always thought of him as Keanu Reeves of Asia. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of his too. He has good charisma, screen presence and the "cool factor" that no one else have, however, watching him trying to emote is another matter altogether (watch Returner to see what I mean). Zhang Ziyi is Zhang Ziyi, she is a good actress and her performance here is ok, but she has not really impressed since she shot to fame in CTHD; at least she is not stuck in a useless role like the one in Hero. Most dissapointing however, is Andy Lau. As a big fan, I was hoping that he would kick ass because this is a great chance for him to capture some respectful international attention that has been eluding him (ie there are other talented actors from HK other than Tony LCW). However, having watched some of his films, I think it is safe to say that his talent is limited. Andy has given great performances before and I believe that he can do that whenever he is with a director (like Johnnie To) who could tap that good actor out of him. Zhang happens to be not that kind of director and as a result, Andy delivers only an okay performance. In some emotional scenes, it looks like he is trying very hard to add some emotional depth to his character that was just never there (because of the script) but ends up looking like he is overacting (in fact, it kind of reminds me of Takeshi's acting in Returner). I wouldn't say that the performances of the three principal actors are bad, but they are just fairly good at best and that does not save the movie from the poor script.

Shortcomings aside, there are things that actually managed to make the movie nearly worth watching. Unlike the cast and the script, Zhang the director is still in his element here and what a great show he gave. The martial arts sequence are still just as spectacular as those found in Hero. But that is not the only thing. Like Hero (I say this only once), he was assisted with great production values and there is no difference in here. The sceneries and visuals are really beautiful to watch; the musical score although somewhat a little bombastic, is still sorrowfully emotional. One scene stood out: when Leo and Jin prepares to duel in an open field surrounded by trees, the seasons change from spring to winter and what happens on the screen during it can't be described and has to be seen; it is that beautiful. However, as great the production values are, they could not make this a good movie. Like the normally complained special effects blockbusters of Hollywood, all these great production values could only do so much. The movie looks beautiful, the music is great, but somehow when I watch the lovers crying and confronting each other, I feel nothing ... it's so empty and meaningless. It's not a pleasant feeling and that's why I can't reccomend this movie. Hopefully, if Zhang were to make another wuxiapian, he could make a better one because if there is one thing that does not let him down in this movie, it's his imagination.

===

This review is written as a response to overwhelmingly positive reviews that has been given to this film by western/ english press - I think that It would get Oscar nomination / win soon. I have met many people who have similar feelings about the movie as I do. Therefore, this film has become really overrated, in my opinion. Well, at least Andy Lau has gained some attention.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5



House of falling daggers

Once A Thief (纵横四海)
Cast: Chow Yun Fatt, Leslie Cheung, Cherie Chung, Kenneth Tsang
Director: John Woo
Synopsis: Chow Yun-Fat, Cherie Chung and Leslie Cheung play three orphans who grew up together under the auspices of adopted father Kenneth Tsang Kong. Tsang also taught them how to be theives, and despite falling in with kindly cop Paul Chu Kong, the three grew up to be high-tech, high-stakes art thieves who terrorize the French Riveria and, presumably, museum curators everywhere. Chow eventually wants to leave the life, but their final score goes awry when a double-cross occurs. Chow appears to perish in a car accident, and Cherie is heartbroken at losing her lover.
Still, Leslie and Cherie must go on without Chow, and eventually begin their own romantic liason. Big surprise: Chow survived, though he's now confined to wheelchair. Despite that setback, and the newly-complicated romantic tension, the trio go about planning a new heist, though things aren't what they appear to be. (taken from lovehkfilm.com)

Mini Review:
This is probably the worst John Woo film I've ever seen. John Woo might be a master of action, but he is not really quite good in directing drama (tend to go over the top) as Anthony Wong has publicly said before. This is very evident in this old movie of his, Once A Thief. This movie is outdated and it feels like it. John Woo made this movie for the lunar new year crowd and hence, while it still has actions and some of his usual heroic themes, this movie is quite lighthearted. However, this movie are problematic. The jokes are lame, the characters are uninteresting and (surprise! surprise!) the acting is uneven. Chow Yun Fatt has proven in other films to be a good comic actor, but here he is just annoying. The late Leslie Cheung did ok, but in some of the more emotional scenes, his acting is overdone (feels like it belong to some other movie). The action, especially at the end of the film, is the film's saving grace but it definitely did not save much. John Woo and CYF and Leslie has done better. This movie is better skipped.

Rating: 2 out of 5

New Police Story (新警察故事)

Cast: Jackie Chan, Nicolas Tse, Daniel Wu, Charlie Young, Charlene Choi, Andy On
Director: Benny Chan Mok-Sing
Synopsis:
Jackie Chan plays Wing, who were once HK top cop until one fateful day when his whole team was massacred in a mission to capture a group of punk robbers lead by Daniel Wu. One year later, he was no longer the man he was, he gets drunk every night, and he did not dare to face his girlfriend (Charlie Young) because he was deeply traumatized by that failed mission. It wasn't until a young cop came along to help him that he started to get back on his feet again to solve the case. But this time, the punk robbers would not let him off easily. Would he be able to stop the bad guys and bring them to justice? or most importantly, can JC redeem himself after the failure of Around the World in 80 Days (and also that piece of shit known as The Medallion)? can he return to form and win back his fans? - written by yours truly

Review:
Fate has not been kind recently to Jackie Chan. It seemed that it was a while ago that Rush Hour 2 became a huge hit that made him a star in america. Since then, however, he has been making one dud film after another like The Tuxedo, The Medallion (aka C.R.A.P), and Around The World in 80 Days. Many of his fans and the man himself have blamed the failure of such movies on the fact that they were made by Hollywood who do not understand Jackie Chan and try to "americanize" him. Hence, he decided to return to Hong Kong this time to make a 100% made in HK action film that he would be happy with. Initially, the prospect was promising: the film would be a re-invention of his successful Police Story series; Benny Chan, one of HK top commercial directors (responsible for the enjoyable Gen-X Cops and the unwatchable Gen-Y Cops) who has worked with Jackie in Who Am I was hired; and lastly, the casting of actress Charlie Young who has retired 7 years ago (she is my favourite HK actress even until now). Then, come the bad news: the movie would be financed by EMG (Emperor Multimedia Group), the company whose idea of a blockbuster is any movie starring their famous, manufactured artistes such as Twins and Boyz (i.e The Twins Effects !!!). Moreover, they are also the same company who financed the shithole known as The Medallion (why is that? well - the owner Albert is a good friend of Jackie). The casting of Charlene Choi + cameos by Boyz already raised some concern : Jackie Chan would have to satisfy some of his investor's demand which is casting crappy but "famous" cute young "actors" to draw the "youth market" - that would compromise his creative control. Still, as a big fan of Jackie, I try my best to give this movie a chance when I got to watch it (hey, I did that too for The Medallion). Sadly, a "Vintage Jackie Chan" this wasn't meant to be.

The signs that the movie is not going to turn out well can be seen in the opening scene showing a crying and drunk Jackie Chan. Words has already been out that this movie try to showcase a more serious and sensitive side of Jackie Chan. However, in that scene alone, I already feel that he is trying too hard to act out that scene - so hard he looks unconvincing. Then, after watching the film for a short while, a strange feeling came over me: for some reason, the Hong Kong in the film does not feel like the old Hong Kong of the old Jackie Chan films. Moreover, Jackie Chan was acting with a "new" cast that seemed unfamiliar to his old movies as well. I definitely felt like he was out of place in the movie. Not a good sign, and unfortunately, more problems is yet to come until the ending comes.

There is way too much bad melodrama and moralizing (except one) in this film. While it is not a surprise to find moralizing in a Jackie Chan film, the way it is done here is way too much that it was becoming ridiculous. Blame must be placed on director Benny Chan (and also the screenwriter) who has done bad melodrama directing (including his previous movie, Heroic Duo) so many times, he will never learn. Consider how many SLO-MO scenes where the characters scream out loud "NOOOO........!!!!" and how many scenes where the characters CRY. Yes, people do die, oops ... CRY OFTEN in this film ... including the man himself. There was so much crying that I was felt like exploding: what a bunch of CRYBABIES!!! This is supposed to be an action movie! a guy movie! for god's sake! It doesn't help that the characters are mostly cliched (the spoilt rich punks, the comedic sidekick, etc) and the acting by most cast including Jackie, ranges from mediocre to plain suck - how many times must we see Charlene Choi "act cute" in a HK movie?

Of course, most people unlike a failed critic like me do not care about such things in a Jackie Chan film. They want to see some Action! Sadly, while there are plenty of action to be found in it, you have probably seen most of them before in older (and better) Jackie Chan films: the bus stunt (the original Police Story), the walking down a skyscraper (Who Am I), and the sliding of a huge banner (Rush Hour!). It is because you have seen them before, the action sequences do not feel that exciting anymore, it's just like rehashing the same old thing. Standard action definitely cannot redeem whatever bad qualities the movie already possess.

All is not so bad, however. There is Charlie Young, she does not do much in the movie, but whenever she is onscreen the movie suddenly comes alive. Maybe it's just me, but she does not need to do anything; frankly, she can be in any bad movie and any moment in which she looks pretty will be the best moment in the movie. Her comeback actually feels more welcome here rather than Jackie's "comeback" and fortunately, she does not seem uncomfortable onscreen; clearly she has been missed. More seriously, the movie is at its best towards the end with moments such as Jackie's fight with Andy On (probably the best action piece the movie has to offer) and Daniel Wu acting like he is really a dangerous villain. But it was all too late; the ending could only save the film from being the worst film I've seen 2 years in a row starring Jackie Chan.

On the final note, I would like to say a few things about Jackie Chan.I feel that as a Jackie Chan film, this movie fails on a lot of levels, but it's not his fault mostly. In terms of acting, while he act rather badly in this movie, he has shown in the past that he can act better, especially in the original Police Story (which makes this movie somewhat unfortunate in comparison). Some people wonder if Jackie still have what it takes to perform the dangerous stunts well because he is aging. The movie shows that he is still doing fine; but the truth is stilll out there. However, the problem why Jackie has not made a great action movie for a long time is not whether or not he is too old/unfit or whether it was made by Hollywood or Hong Kong. I feel that ever since the spectacular success of Rush Hour 2, Jackie Chan's popularity has exploded so much that now everyone wants a piece of him. He has become somewhat like George Lucas and the Star Wars prequel; he has become a money making machine. Gone are the days when he was with Golden Harvest; when he has total creative control on his movie (he actually directed some of his classics himself such as the Police Story, Armor of God, etc). Now, either he had to be make kid-friendly movies for Hollywood, appear in "promoting" cameos for EMG financed movies (such as Twins Effects 1 and 2), or make a HK movie which try to satisfy him and his EMG investor that ended satisfying no one (ie this movie and The Medallion - the Edison Chen and Nic Tse cameos are definitely not cool). Maybe he needs to step back and think back about what made him great in the first place or maybe he needed to take total creative control of his films (like Mel Gibson's The Passion) again without compromising with investors (no EMG financing unless they promise total casting decision up to Jackie) before age really caught up with him. However, maybe it's all just wishful thinking. It's all up to the man himself. I'm just a fan and that's all just my opinion and I wish him all the best. I still long for another (possibly last) great action film starring him. However, after watching 1 bad movies after another including this, my anticipation for whatever he comes up with next is not like what it used to be.

PS: Interestingly, there are two locations shot in the movie which also appear in Infernal Affairs movies (Sam's Bar and Police Office building in IA 3). Are Jackie trying to reference those films too? Clearly, this film ends up only embarrasing itself when compared to those superior films.

Rating: 2 out of 5