This is the Hong Kong version of The Bodyguard. Hong Kong cinema seems to take existing American movies and rewrite them in a way that they should have been. This has been done with Witches of Eastwick, coming out as Erotic Ghost Story; Fast Times at Ridgemont High, coming out as Yesteryou, Yesterme, and Yesterday; and Die Hard, coming out as High Risk. In some cases they come out much better, as with High Risk, other times they are just ordinary, as with Bodyguard from Beijing.
A school teacher, along with two others, witnesses the murder of an accountant. The other two are killed but the police manage to get to the teacher in time and protect her. The teacher's boyfriend is very rich and hires a professional bodyguard from China to protect her. It begins with the woman hating the bodyguard because he is invading her privacy and treating her like a prisoner, but this changes after he saves her life she falls in love with him.
The interesting thing about this movie is that the bodyguard (Jet Lee) is not interested in a romance, and what makes this movie much better than the American counterpart, is that he does not change at the last minute and come an professes his love to her. This is one thing that makes a superb movie, and that is consistency of characters. Her character changes, namely because he has saved her life in a very obvious way.
The Hong Kong tendency to go overboard is not that prevalent in this movie. This is somewhat more American as it tries to have a realistic plot. It is true that the plot is somewhat more realistic than an American movie, but it does fall down in scenes such as the shopping mall. There are a couple of characters which make the film interesting, and that is Fat Po and Billy. Fat Po is a police officer that is fat and addicted to gambling. Billy is the nephew of the school teacher and these two characters bounce off of each other quite effectively. Fat Po is an incompetent police officer that bumbles through life while Billy is an eager child who wants to look good in front of his peers.
This movie is more suspenseful than High Risk. It is not really an action movie, though it has some reasonable scenes. Most of this time it is waiting for the enemy to attempt to kill the teacher because she is the witness. There and are some other suspenseful moments and the movie delivers it quite well.
Bodyguard from Beijing is a rather average movie, but enjoyable if you like the Hong Kong cinema.
A school teacher, along with two others, witnesses the murder of an accountant. The other two are killed but the police manage to get to the teacher in time and protect her. The teacher's boyfriend is very rich and hires a professional bodyguard from China to protect her. It begins with the woman hating the bodyguard because he is invading her privacy and treating her like a prisoner, but this changes after he saves her life she falls in love with him.
The interesting thing about this movie is that the bodyguard (Jet Lee) is not interested in a romance, and what makes this movie much better than the American counterpart, is that he does not change at the last minute and come an professes his love to her. This is one thing that makes a superb movie, and that is consistency of characters. Her character changes, namely because he has saved her life in a very obvious way.
The Hong Kong tendency to go overboard is not that prevalent in this movie. This is somewhat more American as it tries to have a realistic plot. It is true that the plot is somewhat more realistic than an American movie, but it does fall down in scenes such as the shopping mall. There are a couple of characters which make the film interesting, and that is Fat Po and Billy. Fat Po is a police officer that is fat and addicted to gambling. Billy is the nephew of the school teacher and these two characters bounce off of each other quite effectively. Fat Po is an incompetent police officer that bumbles through life while Billy is an eager child who wants to look good in front of his peers.
This movie is more suspenseful than High Risk. It is not really an action movie, though it has some reasonable scenes. Most of this time it is waiting for the enemy to attempt to kill the teacher because she is the witness. There and are some other suspenseful moments and the movie delivers it quite well.
Bodyguard from Beijing is a rather average movie, but enjoyable if you like the Hong Kong cinema.