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Reviews
Sat sat yan, tiu tiu mo (1998)
Disappointing effort from Yen
In an attempt to mix martial arts gunkata and some slight Buddhist philosophy, Donnie bites off far more than he can chew. "Ballistic Kiss" tries hard to be hard hitting and gritty, but comes off as just another John Woo's "The Killer" ripoff without any of the deep characters or sacrifice that film gives us. This just becomes an exercise in how not to write a script, and how not to make a plot.
The main story concerns an ex-cop turned killer who seeks revenge against the one who wronged him and sent him to prison. Along the way, he falls in love with a Hong Kong cop who has a relationship with the man who wronged him. While a certain amount of suspension is necessary, the story has so many jarring problems with logic that it's hard to keep a straight face.
The story is so plot driven that the characters are left in the dust. You never get a sense of who's who and what their personalities are like. Not only that, but Donnie Yen's character, Cat, is even more invincible than Jean Reno in "The Professional", which this movie even discusses. In one scene, Yen is about to snipe the villain from afar, but when he sees the love interest walking arm in arm with him, he charges in with a pistol. He then pries her away without being injured and the two escape. They also have a love scene after he used her for a shield five minutes earlier! This film isn't terrible, but when people say this is better than most of what Hollywood puts out, that is just Hollywood hate going around. "The Bourne Identity" is a Hollywood picture that manages to do everything this film tries to do, with a coherent story and character driven plot. Probably the biggest problem is the fact that the fights aren't even that good. They are hard to see, and it's like watching an episode of the A-team, lots of shooting, but their aim is awful.
It's too bad this film didn't work. I really enjoy Donnie Yen's more contemporary settings (Tiger Cage 1 and 2, Flashpoint, and SPL especially), but this one just tries so hard to be a John Woo style gun ballet that it just has no weight on it's own. Which is really too bad, because the idea has so much promise it's a shame it doesn't work.
Wong ga si je IV: Jik gik jing yan (1989)
Really? 10 out of 10?
Yeah, no. This film was awful. The choreography was so forced, and the characters had no depth except for Yat Chor Yuen (which is a shame as this is his last film). Donnie Yen is so blasé that his character is just another "hard cop without any conflict" and Cynthia Khan cannot take over for Michelle Yeoh, no matter how hard she tries.
Yeun plays Luk, a just legalized Chinese immigrant in America who witnesses the CIA murdering a cop who are selling drugs for money to support their Latin American conquests(hang on, it gets better). Yen and Khan, two Seattle detectives, follow Luk to Hong Kong where their captain turns out to be a CIA operative who happens to be undercover as an officer for years, built up a relationship with Yen's character, and is in on the whole affair. Right. Not only that, but he kidnaps Luk's own mother to get at him.
This film obviously hates the CIA, which there is nothing wrong with nowadays, but the story seems right out of a paranoid schizo's mind. Woo-ping Yuen's choreography is surprisingly clichéd and unremarkable given that he would do "The Matrix" and "Crouching Tiger" later. The blood looks like ketchup and hot sauce which was probably the best part considering this film was made in 1989, not 1954 and in Technicolor.
The music sounds like it's from a workout video by Jane Fonda and the cinematography is just static. Lighting is just that, light, and the relationships are forced. In fact, no one seems to have a real relationship except for Luk and his mother (which is actually rather sweet).
Overall, the only saving grace is from Yat Chor Yuen (brother of Woo-ping) and the rest is just a mess. Worth a look if you're a die hard Yen or Yuen fan, but other than that, there's nothing to recommend.
Independence Day (1996)
Misunderstood
My, doesn't that title sound like a pop album. Anyway, this movie was misunderstood. First and foremost, it is a movie. Yes, it is unbelievable, but it is a movie! Second, America is usually considered the strongest country in the world, which I'm sure will be getting many arguments there, and the movie was made in (gasp) America, so naturally the focus would be in America. When you see a British film, where does it tend to take place? Uh... Britian? And who tends to be the protagonist? A British guy? Now, I know this may shock many people, but this was a good movie. It was very entertaining, suspenseful, and actually pretty clever (for what it was, don't worry). The special effects were amazing, and the acting was bearable (which is all you need in an action movie). They weren't trying to make a deep, philosophical movie, or important one for that matter. No, they were trying to make a movie. A summer blockbuster, and that is all. They exceeded that and made one that is still remembered 5 1/2 years later. Now tell me that isn't something. Name another movie from 1996 off the top of your head. I'd have to think about it, but this would be the first one to come to mind.
Everyone probably knows the story by now, but just in case: Aliens invade Earth and blow the crap out of everything in existence there, well, except for some pretty people, and the world must stand against them. This movie does include other countries, granted it is for one scene, but many like this don't as if America is the only country in the world, i.e. Mars Attacks. The Americans have an alien ship, via the Roswell incident, and because of this, CD's and those crazy com-put-er things were invented. But also because of this, Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum (who is the best actor in the movie, I don't care what you say, he seems more like a real person than Will Smith or Bill Pullman, and he is a good actor. Oh no! This Craig guy is crazy for thinking that!) fly the ship to the mother ship, which is above the moon, and blow it up with a nuke. It is not the virus that destroys it, it is the nuclear missile that is shot inside of the ship. The virus just shut down the shields.
The virus: It actually does make sense. The aliens took over using the satellites that we had for TV and such, so everything involved with them was not working well. Because they were using the satellites, all Jeff Goldblum had to do was hack into the satellite and that would let him into the alien's internet provider (which, ironically, was Earthlink) and give them a direct connection. So they emailed a virus to the aliens and bam! it destroyed their systems. Ever had a virus? It can be that bad. I believe Jeff went into the future and got the real Y2K virus, not the one that actually went out, the one in the crappy TV movie that made computers explode into people's faces and kill them. So the virus, which could have just as easily been uploaded by a PC, made their computers crash. The Technical guys could not come in time to fix it, because all they had was a few minutes to fix the computers, and they had to have their Starbucks or their day would just suck. And then, BOOM! Jeff and Will barely escape before the big explosion, Earth wins, and a firework show ends the movie. The End.