kungfusamurai
08-25-2007, 07:21 PM
I thought I'd check out the new Jet Li flick. Yes, I was suckered in by the glossy trailers. Plus, I saw that Corey Yuen was the fight choreographer, and Statham did a reasonably good job in The Transporter.
Before I talk about the movie, I thought it was interesting to see an elderly lady (she must have been over 70) wheeling herself into the theater on her motorized chair. That was the last person I'd expect to be checking out a martial arts/action movie that is rated 18A.
Now the movie: The movie pretty much was a chore to watch from beginning to end. The story itself was okay, but nothing new or exciting. The fights were few and far between. And when they did happen, it wasn't exciting to watch. I think the fights in Unleashed were a thousand times better. Probably chalk it up to the novice director, I guess. The plot twists were interesting, but not intelligent or mind-blowing when you really stopped and thought about them.
SPOILERS.....
Not sure if there are spoilers, but just in case.
I thought the flashback sequence where Jason Statham is dreaming about visiting the burned out home, after we see him 3 years later in his new job checking out a bunch of dead Yakuzas, was very unnecessary. The transition was that he sees a particular bullet that The Rogue character is supposed to use. Then the director has flashbacks to the death of a friend scene; and even further back to the shootout that we saw at the beginning of the film. It was like the director was treating his audience like a bunch of 4 year olds, not putting together that they were the same bullet. Come on!
Now for the twist (I'm talking about the final twist). It was interesting, but it doesn't hold up when you really think about it. I mean, Statham's friend was an asian, but he didn't have a chinese accent. You're telling me that when he "became" Jet Li, he developed a strong mandarin broken english accent that he couldn't shake? I don't think plastic surgery can do that for you. It would have worked waaaay better if they had the Rogue character have a speech impediment due to the shot to the face, or some kind of nerve damage. That would have worked much better for me.
So, I'd say, don't all rush to the theatre to check out this flick. While there are some entertaining moments (i.e. humorous incidents), it's just such a mess of a movie that you shouldn't spend more than $10 to watch it.
KFS
Before I talk about the movie, I thought it was interesting to see an elderly lady (she must have been over 70) wheeling herself into the theater on her motorized chair. That was the last person I'd expect to be checking out a martial arts/action movie that is rated 18A.
Now the movie: The movie pretty much was a chore to watch from beginning to end. The story itself was okay, but nothing new or exciting. The fights were few and far between. And when they did happen, it wasn't exciting to watch. I think the fights in Unleashed were a thousand times better. Probably chalk it up to the novice director, I guess. The plot twists were interesting, but not intelligent or mind-blowing when you really stopped and thought about them.
SPOILERS.....
Not sure if there are spoilers, but just in case.
I thought the flashback sequence where Jason Statham is dreaming about visiting the burned out home, after we see him 3 years later in his new job checking out a bunch of dead Yakuzas, was very unnecessary. The transition was that he sees a particular bullet that The Rogue character is supposed to use. Then the director has flashbacks to the death of a friend scene; and even further back to the shootout that we saw at the beginning of the film. It was like the director was treating his audience like a bunch of 4 year olds, not putting together that they were the same bullet. Come on!
Now for the twist (I'm talking about the final twist). It was interesting, but it doesn't hold up when you really think about it. I mean, Statham's friend was an asian, but he didn't have a chinese accent. You're telling me that when he "became" Jet Li, he developed a strong mandarin broken english accent that he couldn't shake? I don't think plastic surgery can do that for you. It would have worked waaaay better if they had the Rogue character have a speech impediment due to the shot to the face, or some kind of nerve damage. That would have worked much better for me.
So, I'd say, don't all rush to the theatre to check out this flick. While there are some entertaining moments (i.e. humorous incidents), it's just such a mess of a movie that you shouldn't spend more than $10 to watch it.
KFS