Chasing the Dragon (Review)
Chasing the Dragon
aka 追龍 aka Chui Lung aka Zeoi Lung
2017
Written and directed by Wong Jing and Jason Kwan Chi-Yiu
A stellar performance from Donnie Yen elevates Chasing the Dragon to being a film that Hong Kong fans need to see. Yen gets to stretch his acting muscles underneath some early ridiculous wigs, and is joined by Andy Lau, who also spends some time doing actual acting while taking bribes and consolidating power. Wong Jing proves he can still put out some good stuff, and every time he does it just makes his bad movies even worse. If Wong Jing was consistent, he’d be the greatest filmmaker of all time. But then he wouldn’t really be Wong Jing, so I guess this will do.
Despite a slow start that fumbles around before it gets focused, Chasing the Dragon becomes a pretty good crime drama. Yen plays Crippled Ho, who is based on real gangster Ng Sek-ho (his story was previously told in 1991’s To Be Number One, of which this is a sort of remake, though I’m confused on if it is an actual official remake or just similar.) Andy Lau plays his Lee Rock character from the Lee Rock series (which was based on real life corrupt policeman Lui Lok), which makes this one of those weird films that is a remake but also a reboot but also based on real life. You know, something very easy to classify!
Crippled Ho begins as an illegal immigrant from the mainland who turns to fighting with street gangs for easy cash, and soon catches the eye of up and coming policeman Lee Rock. Fate binds them together through series of ups and downs of both characters as they begin flexing their muscles in controlling the various criminal elements in a very corrupt Hong Kong. Lee Rock has learned that just being the honest cop sort of sucks when everyone else is on the take, while Crippled Ho is forced towards crime by the same system that keeps the Hong Kong people down, Mainlanders even below them, and the corrupt and brutal British on top.
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Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (Review)
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
aka Di Renjie
2010
Directed by Tsui Hark
What they say: This is Tsui Hark’s best film in years, it’s one of the best films of 2010, Tsui Hark, Tsui Hark, Tsui Hark!
What you really need to know: Andy Lau gets into a kung fu fight with CGI deer.
Do you like yo-yos? Yo-yos go up and down, and so does Detective Dee. Some sequences in Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame are awesome, but other parts of the film are embarrassing and make you wonder why people were lavishing praise upon it.
If you’ve read any book on Hong Kong cinema that came out in the 90’s (which is when most of the books started appearing in the US), then you remember every single one had chapters on Tsui Hark. Tsui Hark was one of the Hong Kong New Wave directors that shook the industry to the core, and helped modernize Hong Kong film. Many of his earlier films are classics, though he had a few misfires. But even as the industry changed, Tsui Hark has seemed incapable of making film that is watchable since the mid-90’s. Those Jean-Claude Van Damme films were terrible, the Zu Warriors redux was boredom, and Seven Swords is a film so long that no one has ever gotten to the end of it. Despite all the technological achievements, Tsui Hark just wasn’t making good films anymore, and no amount of technology can change that. While Detective Dee isn’t a great film, it is at least the most watchable Tsui film since Black Mask, and something you should eventually get around to watching. You know, when it’s raining outside or something.
With Tsui Hark in the director’s chair, we are at least assured the film will look good, and it does. The cinematography is top notch. Elaborate CGI effects are needed to create ancient Chinese cities, palaces, giant Buddha statues, and underground meeting places – some are more believable than others, but you always know you are looking at a bunch of 1’s and 0’s in picture form. We do give props to action director Sammo Hung, as the actions sequences are the best parts of the film.
The stylized elements Tsui loves sometimes help the film, and sometimes hurt. As the opening scrawl is stylized to appear and disappear in wisps of smoke (which is nice), but a problem is the crawl is Star Warsian in length. In fact, the long text openings of Reefer Madness and Alone in the Dark are brought to mind. We are forced to read like half a sentence at a time, and have to wait for each piece one by one. It is what I like to call “annoying”.
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Categories: Movie Reviews, Ugly Tags: Andy Lau Tak-Wah, Carina Lau Ka-Ling, CGI trainwreck, Deng Chao, Hong Kong, Li Bing-Bing, Richard Ng Yiu-Hon, Sammo Hung, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Tsui Hark
Chinese What Women Want Coming to Read Your Mind
Gong Li will star in the Chinese version of What Women Want, that Mel Gibson comedy where he can hear womens’ thoughts. Andy Lau will be the guy who hears thoughts and Chen Daming is directing. Gong Li was brought on to kick Fan Bing Bing off of the project. Poor Fan Bingbing, no one loves you! Maybe you should learn to read minds to know What Producers Want.
Categories: Movie News Tags: Andy Lau Tak-Wah, Fan Bing-Bing, Gong Li
Tang Yifei of Future Cop
Tang Yifei is one of the costars in the upcoming Andy Lau film Future Cop, and is doing some promo work. Asian Fanatics has a huge thread filled with Future Cop news, the movie is in post and will hopefully be out before the end of the year.
First up is a spread with movie director Wong Jing where the two play around:
Next up is a magazine photoshoot:
Categories: Site News Tags: Andy Lau Tak-Wah, Future Cop, Tang Yifei, Wong Jing