Home :: DVD :: Art House & International :: Asian Cinema  

Asian Cinema

British Cinema
European Cinema
General
Latin American Cinema
The Duel

The Duel

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $17.96
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 >>

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: far from a real duel
Review: after reading a lot of reviews this movie seemed to have mixed emotions from a few folks, so i rented it instead of buying it, and thank god i did. this movie is bad. there is zero kung fu or real sword play in this movie. the title is very misleading.
this is a cheesy comedy at best. i give it one star because i laughed a few times, i gave it the second star because Zhao Wei is in the film, one of the hottest woman on earth. don't buy this movie thinking its going to look great next to Hero and CTHD and Iron Monkey, this movie is crap compared to those films. did i mention everone flys around like superman? rent before you buy is all i can say.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: far from a real duel
Review: after reading a lot of reviews this movie seemed to have mixed emotions from a few folks, so i rented it instead of buying it, and thank god i did. this movie is bad. there is zero kung fu or real sword play in this movie. the title is very misleading.
this is a cheesy comedy at best. i give it one star because i laughed a few times, i gave it the second star because Zhao Wei is in the film, one of the hottest woman on earth. don't buy this movie thinking its going to look great next to Hero and CTHD and Iron Monkey, this movie is crap compared to those films. did i mention everone flys around like superman? rent before you buy is all i can say.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I liked it- Andy was great!
Review: Andy is such a great actors...
I don't know the name, but the guy to the right of Andy in the pix of this movie was great, too.
Ekin... although was great, barely came out. TT sad for Ekins' fans....

Fun, fast-going and enjoyable!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: More special effects/comedy than kung fu...
Review: Despite the film's title and it's otherwise serious trailer, "The Duel" plays off as more of a slapstick comedy with interesting special effects, than the hybrid Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon/Matrix extravaganza it claimed to be. So, does this essentially make it a bad film? Yes, if you're martial arts fan looking for some great fighting scenes (that aren't all CGI enhanced) and a film with a serious tone. However, if you're looking for something more lighthearted and far less serious, this is film is for you.

Overall, "The Duel" will awe you with its special effects, beautiful cinematography and colorful characters. Where the film is weakened however, is in its plot, which is riddled with holes (especially the end), and its sometimes overdone humor. For the martial arts fans, remember that these actors are not martial artists, so anything spectacular is mostly done through computer enhancement rather than pure skill. For film buff, this movie may give you headache trying to make sense of it all, so I wouldn't recommend it. Watch "The Duel" for the special effects, "one-liners" and the mere campy charm of the whole film, because although there are moments of seriousness, they don't linger long...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: More special effects/comedy than kung fu...
Review: Despite the film's title and it's otherwise serious trailer, "The Duel" plays off as more of a slapstick comedy with interesting special effects, than the hybrid Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon/Matrix extravaganza it claimed to be. So, does this essentially make it a bad film? Yes, if you're martial arts fan looking for some great fighting scenes (that aren't all CGI enhanced) and a film with a serious tone. However, if you're looking for something more lighthearted and far less serious, this is film is for you.

Overall, "The Duel" will awe you with its special effects, beautiful cinematography and colorful characters. Where the film is weakened however, is in its plot, which is riddled with holes (especially the end), and its sometimes overdone humor. For the martial arts fans, remember that these actors are not martial artists, so anything spectacular is mostly done through computer enhancement rather than pure skill. For film buff, this movie may give you headache trying to make sense of it all, so I wouldn't recommend it. Watch "The Duel" for the special effects, "one-liners" and the mere campy charm of the whole film, because although there are moments of seriousness, they don't linger long...

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: THE WORST
Review: DON'T BUY IT AT ALL!!
I bought that as a Christmas gift. Why? The actors and the one who made the movie were the reason.

The result is COMPLETE DECEPTION. I am a fan of swordfighting movie and watched more than 3 dozens martial art movies. But this is worst than amateur.

I don't know why the two main actors picked this script. Were they out of money?

The bad points:
.There's no real story.
.The useless speeches last at least 95% of the movie.
.The speeches are done by secondary actor( what they call dragon nine)
.The action scenes use acceleration process in a pathetic way.

So we watched the movie after Christmas. I was on the sofa...
waiting for the story to begin . The first five minutes seemed OK. BUT then the next 45 mn, a secondary character was making some stupid jokes and I was saying " what is that imbecile doing there in that movie". Then there is a 5 mn action part. Then AGAIN the stupid talks. At the end there's 10 mn fighting. And then You'll ask :" was that a movie"

THIS IS THE WORST MOVIE YOU'LL EVER SEEN.
NOBODY can come up with worst. ....

I am HONEST writing that review so others won't do the same error.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: MINUS 10 if it was possible
Review: DON'T BUY IT AT ALL!!

I bought that as a Christmas gift. Why? The actors and the one who made the movie were the reason.

The result is COMPLETE DECEPTION. I am a fan of swordfighting movie and watched more than 3 dozens martial art movies. But this is worst than amateur.

I don't know why the two main actors picked this script. Were they out of money?

The bad points:
.There's no real story.
.The useless speeches last at least 95% of the movie.
.The speeches are done by secondary actor( what they call dragon nine)
.The action scenes use acceleration process in a pathetic way.

So we watched the movie after Christmas. I was on the sofa...
waiting for the story to begin . The first five minutes seemed OK. BUT then the next 45 mn, a secondary character was making some stupid jokes and I was saying " what is that imbecile doing there in that movie". Then there is a 5 mn action part. Then AGAIN the stupid talks. At the end there's 10 mn fighting. And then You'll ask :" was that a movie"

THIS IS THE WORST MOVIE YOU'LL EVER SEEN.
NOBODY can come up with worst.

Usually the Hong Kong movies are good but that one will surpass your imagination.

I Don't know why the amazon reviewer make it seems good, and the other reviewers also. I bought it based on their review also. Lost my money, could have spent it on Shrek for example.

I am HONEST writing that review so others won't do the same error.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Another Great movie!!
Review: Everything is great & perfect, some humor & fighting (computer effect)...But I just don't like the ending, TOO sad for me... :[

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great overall movie, not much action
Review: First off I want to say that I totally enjoyed this film. Than let me say if you only watch the Hong Kong movies to see fights do not buy this movie. Don't be fooled by the name there are about two fights in this film. The rest of the film is funny and romantic. Dragon 9 is really the central character. He is really funny, but if you don't like Hong Kong humor you won't agree with me. The women are beautiful the men are tough and graceful, and overall this film hits every major theme love,action, and humor. This film is very entertaining and actually has a decent script. It is like a whodunit that actually has a good third act. If you watch Hong Kong film to be entertained, not just blown away by fighting than buy this movie right away it is really entertaining. If you want to just see a lot of fighting buy Iron Monkey, or Tai chi master also great movies.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Very deceptive....
Review: First off, I would like to say that this is NOT a martial arts movie. The fight scenes were few, short, and unimpressive. The movie is entitled "The Duel," where two great sword masters will have a great duel to the death - so that is what this movie should build up to. But at the end, the duel was approximately 3-4 minutes long. And how they finished off the duel? Terrible. They could have done the finishing move at the very beginning of the fight if that's how they wanted to kill each other (if you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about). If the movie had longer fight scenes with actual fighting, this movie would have been better. Especially the ending fight.
However, despite the disappointing fight scenes, the humor and plot line save this movie from being a total disaster. Instead of a martial arts movie, we get a mix between comedy, mystery, drama, and action. You would have to watch the movie several times to understand what happens (as far as the mystery goes). The movie was also a bit touching between Yip and Princess Phoenix. Dragon 9 was funny. All the characters had good personalities and moved the story along well. The production and quality of this movie is outstanding. Everything is great (save the martial arts).
But, if you are looking for an awesome swordfighting and martial arts, this is definitely not for you. This movie is nothing like The Matrix and the only resemblance to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is that the actors had the same skin color. Don't be fooled like I was in thinking that this was going to be a great martial arts movie just from watching the trailers. But despite The Duel's major lacking in actual fight scenes, this is still a pretty good movie.


<< 1 2 3 4 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates