Police Story Lockdown 2013 Review China 警察故事2013

Police Story: Lockdown (aka Police Story 2013)

Although this entrant is probably the weakest of the Police Story series, it is still a decent dramatic thriller with JC getting to execute his acting chops.

Police Captain Zhong Wen (Chan) knows all about sacrifice. He's always been too busy chasing bad guys to be a father to his daughter, Miao. Tonight however, he's seeing her for the first time in years, and meeting her fiance, club owner, Wu Jiang (Liu Ye, Curse of the Golden Flower). But, Wu has a dark side, and a secret score to settle with his soon-to-be father in law, and plans to take Zhong, Miao and the whole club hostage. Only Zhong can avert the carnage, but is he willing to risk everything to stop this night going down in history?

First you need to realise that Jackie was nearly 60 when this was made. Don't go in expecting his fast paced Kung Fu and incredible stunts. Instead you will get a more dramatic story with some small more grounded action scenes.



Jackie has adopted a MMA style in the sparse fight scenes we get in Lockdown. The main fight being a one on one inside a cage which is hard hitting and brutal. This is actually a very well done fight and the newly adopted style takes any humour out of the fight along with adding believability. The bulk of the action is over by that point, and we don't get the usual big action finale like in old school Jackie films. The end fight is more of a tussle, although it is still executed rather excitingly.

The story is very compelling with twists and turns along the way which all lead up to the big reveal. Although the reveal is exciting, there is too much exposition. There are a lot of flashbacks to explain what happened which can be a little tiresome. In fact this is prominent throughout most of the film. This ends up being convoluted with the villains main plan being questionable.




Police Story Lockdown looks brilliant and has a great style. Director Ding Sheng(Little Big Soldier) has an eye for detail and delivers stylish productions. This puts it ahead of a lot of mainland China and Hong Kong films just in terms of look and visuals. However, the editing in Lockdown is pretty wild, so many quick cuts can be jarring. The fight scenes could have been filmed in this way as Jackie has aged and can’t go as well as he used to. But it's edited like this throughout, even in slow dialogue scenes. It does seem to become less noticeable and persistent as the film progresses.

The main thing to take away from Lockdown is that Jackie is a superb actor. He really delivers those dramatic scenes so well. His face is always full of emotion to the point were if Jackie is sad, then you are sad. Many people have complained there isn't enough action in this film. But Jackie has gave us so much of his health and body over the years that now he can really do whatever the hell he wants. He is getting older and slowing down, but he is an action star who is aging gracefully.

Worth a watch
7/10

Love In A Puff Review 2010 Hong Kong 志明與春嬌

A Hong Kong comedy set during the government introduction of the indoor smoking ban. The plot revolves around the love story of cosmetics sales girl Cherie(Miriam Yeung) and marketing executive Jimmy(Shawn Yue) who meet at an outdoor smoking area and begin to fall for each other.

Director Pang Ho-cheung is well known for his comedies, and Love In A Puff is one of his funniest. A little more tame and subtle than his other hits like Vulgaria and Men Suddenly In Black, but not any less entertaining. It's a great modern slice of Hong Kong which captures perfectly how the natives really talk to each other and go about their daily lives.

The film doesn't rely on a complex plot, it is more about interactions and situations. Very heavy in dialogue, in which most scenes feature workers standing around smoking and chatting. This is made exciting by witty writing which keeps you entertained as the characters tell each other disgusting, embarrassing or scary stories.

Many of the funniest parts of the films are situations the characters accidentally get themselves in to. Such as Jimmy's friend trying to smoke creatively through a takeaway cup. Or the side-splitting moment were the 2 leads get caught smoking by the police in a banned area and try to get off with it by pretending to be Japanese and Korean tourists.

The heart of the story comes down to the love interest between Shawn and Miriam's character. Although it isn't the deepest or most loving relationship we have seen on screen, there is something charming and somewhat cute about how they fall for each other. Both are fantastic actors, and carry the film well. There is an age difference between the two stars which is addressed as part of the story.

An extremely enjoyable modern and real Hong Kong comedy

7.5/10

Matt Damon and Andy Lau team up to fight monsters in 'The Great Wall'

The trailer for The Great Wall has dropped... And it looks insane!

Directed by legendary director Zhang Yimou(House of Flying Daggers/Hero), starring Matt Damon & Andy Lau and featuring an all star international cast of Willem Dafoe, Pedro Pascal, Eddie Peng and Jing Tian.

When a mercenary warrior (Damon) is imprisoned within The Great Wall, he discovers the mystery behind one of the greatest wonders of our world.  As wave after wave of marauding beasts besiege the massive structure, his quest for fortune turns into a journey toward heroism as he joins a huge army of elite warriors to confront this unimaginable and seemingly unstoppable force.

The Great Wall is Zhang Yimou's first English language speaking film and is currently the largest budget Chinese film of all time with a budget of $135 million.

Coming to cinemas on February 17th 2017.

Cops And Robbers Review 1979 Hong Kong 點指兵兵

Hong Kong new wave thriller 'Cops and Robbers' is brutal, exciting and very effective.

Sergeant Chan Lap Kei(Wong Chung) leads his team including fresh faced Pretty Boy(Cheung Kwok Keung) on a mission to bring down a gang of bank robbers. Unfortunately their maniacal leader Biu(Hui Bing Sam) manages to escape and goes on a murderous rampage of revenge against the cops and their unsuspecting families.

Directed by Alex Cheung in 1979, this was actually made before the heroic bloodshed era began and it probably helped inspire the likes of John Woo, Johnnie To and Ringo Lam. While having violent and bloody shootouts, Cops and Robbers also focuses on themes of brotherhood and loyalty.

Each character’s story and relationships are built up effectively so when the time come for them to confront the psychopath Biu, you actually care for them. And when characters start getting killed off, it is a genuine worry. The last half hour is incredibly nail biting as it gets more brutal and violent and literally no one is safe.

Director Cheung often let's the story take a back seat while the action unfolds. From violent in your face shoot outs to great chase scenes, there is plenty of action to enjoy. The heist scenes are extremely tense, gritty and realistic. Another real highlight of the film is an incredible foot chase of the cops hunting Biu through a shanty town which is brought to life wonderfully, an intriguing and exciting edge of the seat scene which shows how great a director Alex Cheung is.

All of the actors deliver a fine job, although their performances aren't what captures your interest. Hui Bing Sam does deserve special credit for his role as Biu. He is genuinely one of the most frightening villains in any Cop thriller. He gets more and more psychotic as the story unfolds to the point were he becomes a complete maniac.

Cops And Robbers may be very dated in some ways. Technically speaking, it doesn't look as polished or stylish as recent Hong Kong thrillers. There are also some scenes which would be omitted if this was made now such as the intro with the kids and the musical numbers. But the story, themes and characters are still very relevant to this day and the film still holds up wonderfully while its 90+ minute running time zooms by. Cops And Robbers is definitely due a remastered release before it is lost for good and we are all robbed of a classic.

A must see part of history for Hong Kong cinephiles.

8/10

Red Light Revolution Review 2010 China

A genuinely funny comedy from China which is surprisingly about a sex shop!

Shunzi (Jun Zhao) is in a bad way. Not only has his girlfriend recently left him, but he has been sacked from his job as a taxi driver. Back living with his parents and with no income of his own, Shunzi's prospects seem bleak. When a successful former school friend (Xiduo Jiang) points him in the direction of Iggy (Masanobu Otsuka), a cut-price supplier of adult goods, Shunzi decides that anything is worth a try. He proceeds to open his own adult shop, with the help of his friend, Lili (Vivid Wang), but will the residents of the neighbourhood dare to visit the store?

The idea of China releasing a comedy film about a sex shop is rather surprising given the stories about their film censorship laws. But at the time of it's UK release, Red Light Revolution still didn't have a Chinese distributor, rather not surprising. The film is directed by Sam Voutas, an Australian living in China, and it explores his views on a capitalist and Communist China.

Red Light Revolution doesn't rely on shock tactics and isn't as racy as American comedies such as American Pie. The humour is more subtle and grounded and there are no boobs in sight. The comedy is used appropriately for the situations and doesn't go for cheap laughs.

Blow up doll was made in China

Jun Zhao delivers an excellent performance as Shunzi, who is as much of a loveable loser as you could hope for. A real character that you sympathise with, empathise with but also can't stop laughing at. The character is played with hilarious self-deprecation.

Vivid Wang is an excellent co-lead as Lili and plays a role which is a lot more than a standard love interest. The on screen chemistry of Lili and Shunzi is extremely fun and their comedy timing is great which really makes the film fly by it's 90 minute run time.

Filled with many laughs, some a little risky and some clever and witty. But it's the kindness and love between the characters that makes Red Light Revolution heartwarming and a really fun watch.

It's a new day, yes it is!

The film slightly loses it's footing towards the end. There should have been more scenes with the characters working in the sex shop and showing their daily lives and wacky customers which was one of the most intriguing and entertaining parts of the story.

One of the best comedies to come out of China and easily the most universally accessible. Every joke and character really translates well to the western audience and that isn't always the case with Asian comedies.

7.5/10

http://www.redlightrevolution.com/

Red Light Revolution is released in the UK by Terracotta Distribution. It is an excellent release, with great video quality and packed full of extras.

Badge of Fury Review 2011 China 不二神探

Shallow, uneven, messy, barely funny comedy which doesn't star Jet Li.

When a spate of murders erupt across Hong Kong, two kick-ass cops are assigned to the case. Chaos soon escalates when they reach a dead end and the detectives must play a deadly game to lure the killer out.

Everything about the marketing of this film, including that synopsis(which I lifted from Amazon.co.uk) makes it looks like a Jet Li action/shoot ‘em up film. The trailer and the cover both paint a very different picture from the actual film.

Firstly, Jet Li isn't the main star. To their credit, he is used in a lot of fight scenes though. The main star is Wen Zhang who plays a cop called Wang Bu-Er and partners with Huang Fei-Hong(Li). Wang is used for more comic relief, although he gets involved in the action and chase scenes he usually ends up messing it up and constantly embarrassing himself. Huang is more of a straight laced cop but often saves the day with his Kung Fu skills. This doesn't actually sound too bad, but there are just far too many issues.

... Do you owe someone a favour as well Jet?

The comedy is really hit or miss, probably depending on the audience. Some of the comedy is just way too stupid and over the top that it draws no reaction. There are a few genuine chuckles in there, which would be fine, if it wasn't supposed to be a comedy!

Badge of Fury could have been like an 80s Hong Kong Film. The plot, the action and some of the comedy is similar. But it suffers from some aspects that many modern Chinese films do, including a reliant on bad CGI, too much wire work and complete over the top wackiness. Some of the scenes could have genuinely been lifted from a kids cartoon.

There are enough cameos from Chinese/Hong Kong actors to mostly keep you entertained. Along with the ridiculous movie spoofs from Men in Black to Star Wars to Police Story, there is always something going on, just most of it isn't very good.

If you like Asian comedies and go into this one expecting that and not expecting much of Jet Li, and definitely don't take any of it seriously, then you may find some fun to be had. But it more or less fails on nearly every level of film-making.

3/10

Sake Bomb Review 2013 Japan

 Sake Bomb is an American Japanese film which falls somewhere between a low budget American comedy and an indie Japanese drama while retaining most of the good points and a few of the bad from both.

A comedic road movie about a sarcastic Asian American and his Japanese cousin. Sebastian is a bitter, self-deprecating wannabe Internet star from Los Angeles. He is recently dumped by his girlfriend and on the look out for someone new. When his cousin Naoto, a naive sake maker from Japan, shows up to find his own ex-girlfriend, Sebastian takes him to northern California to find her. They are a clash of cultures waiting to happen. Someone has to break first. Together they meet a colourful group of characters as they come to grips with who they are and the true nature of the girlfriends they're pursuing. 

Never take your shoes off when entering an American house...

A Sake Bomb is a shot of Sake dropped in to beer and then downed, this accurately describes the film as a Japanese man is dropped in to American culture head first. Co-starring Gaku Hamada and Eugene Kim as the Japanese and American cousins respectively, who both deliver great performances while also representing the different cultures of the East and West.

Gaku Hamada(Fish Story/See You Tomorrow, Everyone) is easily one of the most likeable actors working today. While delivering a subtle role he still always manage to convey a vulnerability which makes you rally behind him. His character of Naoto is very much Japanese, from his mannerisms to his shyness, he is used perfectly in this fish out of water role which often leads to extremely comical moments.

Eugene Kim plays the role of Sebastian who is the opposite of Naoto is nearly every way. Loud, opinionated, obnoxious and bordering on racist, he isn't the most likeable character. Although, as you get to know the character and understand the root of his problems, you do feel more sympathetic towards him and he will even be relatable to some.

Every time you hear a racist joke, do a Sake Bomb!

Tackling the issues of Eastern stereotypes by Westerners is handled extremely well for a low budget comedy, some of these scenes can actually be pretty emotional and recieve a good reaction. Other racial views are used for shock, which can also generate proper laughs, but it's not done in a cheap way.

The issues with Sake Bomb are it's let down by the familiarity. The story is pretty straight forward and there are no real twists or anything unexpected along this way. That could have elevated the film from good to great. However, there is a great emotional payoff with Sebastian's character which is worth it.

Sake Bomb is a fun buddy road movie, which isn't essential viewing but still an entertaining watch, it's similar to other American indie comedies in story but tackles subjects which are very different.

7/10