Rating: Summary: Speed-vision Review: There are two big no-no's for me when it comes to martial arts movies. 1) Sped-up fight scenes, 2) wire-fu. This movie has both. Donnie Yen movies seem to always have fast-forward fight scenes, which cheapens the experience. The plot of this movie is very similar to The Prodigal Son (which is a better film in my opinion). I just can't get past the gravity defying movies. I prefer on-the-ground martial arts fighting. So, I give this movie three stars for Donnie's acting and dock two stars for the fight scenes and wire work. If you buy the Columbia/Sony Pictures version be aware there's no original language, only English dub. The woman that does the dub for the aunt in this film has such a grating voice you want to fast forward through it. And what's with the fake buck teeth?
Rating: Summary: 5 stars for Beggar So...none for Wong Fei Hung Review: This another portrayal off wong fei hung righting wrongs in his home town, and now he has a partner Beggar So(Donnie Yen) to help him.Let me just say that Donnie Yen is magnificent in this movie and all his fight scenes are great to watch.I place him up there with the magnificent four alongside Bruce Lee,Jet Li,and Jackie Chan.He's just so fast and I've never seen anyone kick as fluent and consistent as he does.The film...well, the plot is the usual Wong Fei Hung trying to rid of foreign opium traders and opium all together while a corrupt official tries to prevent that...Beggar So gets thrown in the middle and becomes an addict himself by the official, who wants to use Beggar So to kill Wong...plan fails, So gives up opium, and he join sides with wong..the movie's best fight scenes are only the ones with Donnie Yen...The actor playing Wong is kind of weak...not only that, but this movie gave a really bad portrayal of Wong...First off, Wong does't kill women regardles of whether they're bad(he killed 2)...Second, he doesn't look to kill willingly...In this movie, it seems like if someone needed to revenge his/her masters death against some official, Wong says, "No prob...Don't worry"...huh?...historically, Wong is not this kind of person...and lastly, no one ever takes Wong's fights...although i was glad Donnie came in to interfere and fight the last guy, the real Wong doesnt allow that...stick with Jet for Wong Fei Hung portrayals...nonetheless, Donnie was great as usual, but what kept this far from 5 stars were the inconsistency of Wong, some bad acting, and a lot of nonsense moments...there tend to be fights for no reason at all...also, theres a really ugly and annoying bucktooth girl plus some guy with a mohawk haircut...id suggest viewing before owning because donnie has far more better flicks than this...check out iron monkey, tiger cage I and II (awesome), Once upon a Time in China 2 along side Jet, and Wing Chun w/ michelle yeoh...Heroes is more die hard fans...thanks for reading
Rating: Summary: Trainspotting meets Dragon Inn????? Review: This movie was definitely missing something, and no I'm not talking about the baby crawling across the ceiling.I think an earlier reviewer hit the nail on the head: "Wong FE Hong(should have been played by Jet Li)" It was missing that one extra star. The guy playing Wong FE Hong just wasn't that good. It was obvious in the medical scenes that he just wasn't as good an actor as Jet Li. Also, that whole addicted to opium, fighting off the addiction, etc, etc was painful to watch, what horrible acting/directing. The relationship between the Dad and Sister In-law was fantastic though. That acting/directing relationship was done really well. The last fighting sequence made the whole movie worth watching. There is a little bit splashed here and there to keep you interested, the story is average at best, but the last fighting scenes are great. This movie is average as a whole, worth renting not buying, but definetly worth seeing. Anyone giving this movie 5 stars bought the movie b4 seeing it, so they're bias. But watch this movie for sure, then make your decision.
Rating: Summary: Trainspotting meets Dragon Inn????? Review: This movie was definitely missing something, and no I'm not talking about the baby crawling across the ceiling. I think an earlier reviewer hit the nail on the head: "Wong FE Hong(should have been played by Jet Li)" It was missing that one extra star. The guy playing Wong FE Hong just wasn't that good. It was obvious in the medical scenes that he just wasn't as good an actor as Jet Li. Also, that whole addicted to opium, fighting off the addiction, etc, etc was painful to watch, what horrible acting/directing. The relationship between the Dad and Sister In-law was fantastic though. That acting/directing relationship was done really well. The last fighting sequence made the whole movie worth watching. There is a little bit splashed here and there to keep you interested, the story is average at best, but the last fighting scenes are great. This movie is average as a whole, worth renting not buying, but definetly worth seeing. Anyone giving this movie 5 stars bought the movie b4 seeing it, so they're bias. But watch this movie for sure, then make your decision.
Rating: Summary: Potential, but... Review: Woo Ping really can't direct. I absolutely love his fight choreography, but this is one awful movie. I just wasn't able to get past the terrible sound quality, acting, and sheerly baffling moments in the script. Do yourself a favor and don't see this one.
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