Latest From Hong Kong Movie Reviews

My Schoolmate the Barbarian (2002) Movie Review

I’m always a little hesitant to assume things about foreign popular culture that I’ve never studied in-depth (i.e. college courses). Hong Kong is one of those places. I bring this up only because the movie “My Schoolmate the Barbarian” takes place in what I assume is some sort...

July 11th, 2002 | Read More

Hit Team (2001) Movie Review

The most infuriating thing about Dante Lam’s Hit Team is that it’s obviously not a low budget production, and yet so little time and effort was spent on the English translations that one wonders if there is one person in all of Hong Kong that knows proper English. Why oh why couldn’t...

July 10th, 2002 | Read More

Swordsman (1990) Movie Review

“Swordsman” is your standard Hong Kong-produced period martial arts movie. All the conventions of the genre are present, including the always popular girl mistaken for man because she wears man’s clothes big (this “confusion” will become comedy fodder at various intervals);...

July 9th, 2002 | Read More

The Eye (2002) Movie Review

The phrase “Two minds are better than one” seems to hold sway when it comes to sibling filmmakers. Which might explain the recent boom in multiple filmmakers from the same family attached to the same film project. America boasts almost a half dozen that comes immediately to mind, with the...

July 5th, 2002 | Read More

Legend of the Wolf (1997) Movie Review

Donnie Yen’s “Legend of the Wolf” is an absurdly amusing and immensely enjoyable failure. It’s a failure in that its efforts to tell a story comes up lacking and the core of its purpose for being — its action — is a mixed bag of high-octane martial arts showcase and...

July 4th, 2002 | Read More

Legend of Speed (1999) Movie Review

As the saying goes, it is a stupid man who keeps coming back for more punishment from the same source. I am that stupid man, since Legend of Speed is the second movie directed by Andrew Lau and starring Ekin Cheng that I have seen in as many days. Why, oh why, did I not learn my lesson? Legend of Speed...

June 23rd, 2002 | Read More

The Duel (2000) Movie Review

I don’t give out 1-star ratings often (and in fact, I can count all the movies I have given 1-star ratings to on one hand), because I usually reserve them for special occasions. Andrew Lau’s The Duel is the kind of movie that leaves you with your jaw on the floor — for the simple reason...

June 22nd, 2002 | Read More

First Shot (1993) Movie Review

Back in the “˜80s and “˜90s, you could walk into a Hong Kong video store and walk out with a dozen movies like David Lam’s First Shot. You could go back the very next day and come out with another dozen, all-new films in the same genre. The point is, movies like First Shot are a dime...

June 18th, 2002 | Read More

High Risk (aka Meltdown, 1995) Movie Review

Many Hong Kong filmmakers and filmgoers are addicted to what I like to call Absurdist Hong Kong — a subgenre of Hong Kong-produced action/comedy films that seems to describe 2 out of every 3 Hong Kong films I’ve seen over my lifetime. The main conventions of Absurdist HK films is a sequence...

May 29th, 2002 | Read More

Black Mask (1996) Movie Review

Movies like Jet Li’s Black Mask is the kind of film that gave Hong Kong its reputation as an industry unconcern with story but addicted to adrenaline-inducing action. The film, directed by Daniel Lee and written by an army of screenwriters, is a Chinese Superhero tale that like many other Hong...

May 24th, 2002 | Read More

Dance of a Dream (2001) Movie Review

When it comes to ballroom dancing, I’m an ant working around an anthill — re: I am clueless. Having said that, I couldn’t tell you if the actors in Andrew Lau’s Dance of a Dream actually knew what they’re doing or if they were butchering their ballroom dance steps. Dance...

May 20th, 2002 | Read More

Tokyo Raiders (2000) Movie Review

Tokyo Raiders is an action/comedy that stars one of my favorite Hong Kong actors, Tony Leung, who plays a dashing private investigator/ spy/ government agent/ ladies man. Prolific actor Ekin Cheng once again rears his head along with another favorite, Cecilia Cheung. The film purports to include a scene...

May 11th, 2002 | Read More

Skyline Cruisers (2000) Movie Review

There are a lot of differences between a Heist film and a Caper film. A Caper film concerns itself with looking “cool” as its protagonists steal from or break into high-tech security systems, buildings, etc. using gadgets that won’t be invented for another 50 years or so. Heist films...

May 11th, 2002 | Read More

Avenging Fist (2001) Movie Review

Hong Kong actor Ekin Cheng (Second Time Around) is prolific, but unfortunately it’s the kind of prolific that goes for quantity over quality. I can scarcely sit down to watch a Hong Kong film without seeing the man’s name attached to it in one form or another. Most recently Cheng has been...

May 9th, 2002 | Read More

The Bride With White Hair 2 (1993) Movie Review

Ronny Yu’s The Bride With White Hair 2 is a good example of a sequel that shouldn’t have been, and the two White Hair films, put together, is a good example of a movie that shouldn’t have been cut in half and made into two separate films. White Hair 2 opens with a flashback to The...

May 4th, 2002 | Read More

The Bride With White Hair (1993) Movie Review

The Bride With White Hair looks more like an overly produced and big budgeted stage play than an actual movie. As written and directed by Ronny Yu (with co-writer David Wu) The Bride With White Hair looks overproduced, overacted, but strangely simplified in story. Hong Kong regular Leslie Cheung stars...

April 27th, 2002 | Read More

Young and Dangerous 6: Born to be King (2000) Movie Review

Young and Dangerous 6: Born to be King is the latest chapter in the Young and Dangerous series, which began in 1996 and has become something of a phenomenon in Hong Kong. There have been so many sequels, prequels, and spin-offs that it’s hard to keep track of them all. Having heard so much about...

April 25th, 2002 | Read More

Second Time Around (2001) Movie Review

My never-ending enthusiasm for Time Travel movies is one of the few things I can depend on about myself. Jeffrey Lau’s Second Time Around is a Time Travel movie, and like all Time Travel movies, it utilizes a fantastical plot device to get our hero back in time, and employs the Back to the Future...

April 20th, 2002 | Read More

China Strike Force (2003) Movie Review

As the writer/director of a movie you know you’ve done something grossly wrong when your audience would rather spend time with your villains than with your heroes. Such is the case with Stanley Tong’s China Strike Force, a Hong Kong production with an international cast that purports to take...

April 14th, 2002 | Read More

Killer 2 (2003) Movie Review

“Killer 2″ purports to be a sequel to 2000’s “Killer”, starring Jordan Chan and Simon Lui as knife assassins on the verge of retirement. But while getting into the killing business is as easy as picking up a knife, getting out isn’t quite so easy, as our heroes quickly...

April 12th, 2002 | Read More