New Review is up, Lethal Angels, another Hong Kong Girls with Guns entry, except this one is modern and pretty bad. Pretty much a failure in all counts, much like much of Hong Kong cinema at this time! Irony of ironies. Complete with two clips of girls doing ridiculous stunts you have to see to disbelieve. Read it today!
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Cast announced for Chinese film Robot (Chinese Transformers)
Kaiju Shakedown has the goods on the cast for the Chinese giant robot movie Robot, which we reported on when it was first announced.
“Jeff Lau says that ROBOT succeeds the slapstick comedy and narrative style he employed in A CHINESE ODYSSEY, but the major difference being various factors change with times. ROBOT is set against science-fiction backdrop, and robots in the film will not be restricted to just one or two. While the film will carry comical elements, romantic elements, and Jeff Lau elements, it will be very different from his earlier works, giving the audience an exciting novelty.”
The cast includes star Hu Jun, Wu Jing, Sun Li, Eric Tsang, Alex Fong and Ronald Cheng
The story tells the tale of a heroic cop who gets turned into a Robocop-like cyborg transformer and is then sent to live in an isolated village in order to get used to human emotions. The robot falls in love with a girl (Sun Li) and tries to reprogram himself to be more human, but his creators find out and send four killer robots after him. The flick’s budgeted at about US$10 million, has gigantic action scenes with Wu Jing (playing a bad robot who turns good) and, well, I’ll give Ronald Cheng the last word on the matter:
“I’m not a robot, but a robot wannabe, so I make myself very odd, even wearing a commode.”
Hmmm…as Jeff Lau says, “The audience won’t even recognise Ronald Cheng when they first see him.” I’ll bet.
Shaping up to be another weird film, but it can’t be worse than Transformers. But will it be better than Transmorphers? Only time will tell!
New Review – Clones of Bruce Lee
Clones of Bruce Lee was added to the review section. The exciting story of three Bruce Lee clones who look nothing like Bruce Lee, and the mad scientist who made them and then goes crazy. Complete with clips, so read it today!
Updated WordPress!
We are now operating on 2.7, so hooray for us!
Lethal Angels (Review)
Lethal Angels
aka Mor gwai tin si
2006
Directed and written by Wai-Man Cheng
Hong Kong used to have some of the best action films in the world. Than the bottom fell out of the industry, due to several factors (a rash of bad films, talent leak to the US, influx of flash over substance, etc.) and terrible junk began streaming from Hong Kong like diarrhea from a sick newborn. The problem was compounded due to the rise of South Korea as a cinematic powerhouse about the same time. Still, Hong Kong kept coming out with horrid junk such as Naked Weapon and soon their films became irrelevant. But then as few good films such as Infernal Affairs and Shaolin Soccer caught on in the US. Inspired, a few films from Hong Kong dared to increase in quality. There was still plenty of junk, but now the junk flew less freely, and moments of actual good filmmaking crept in. Still, moments of weakness are rampant, and films like this thrive in those moments. An unmemorable action thriller in the same veins as Naked Killer and Naked Weapon, Lethal Angels even was tentatively titled Naked Avengers and at one point. It now sports a title that is a throwback to earlier female action films, back when they all had “Angel” in the title. Yet they all look like action masterpieces compared to this dreck (and some of them were action masterpieces, but that’s another article.)
Problems abound in Lethal Angels. From uncharismatic characters to lethargic action sequences, the excitement never seems to get going, stalled like my car’s engine in -30 degree weather. Even the gunplay gets dull, and the CG muzzle flashes are obviously fake and very distracting. Never try to make an action sequence where cartoons get plastered all over it at random. That’s your tip of the day. Female action is supposed to be sexy and exciting, not dull. How can you make it dull? And yet, time and time again, I encounter films that can’t put together an exciting action sequence to save their lives. This movie is DOA, watching it is lethal and you will become an angel.
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The Clones of Bruce Lee (Review)
The Clones of Bruce Lee
1977
Directed by Joseph Kong Hung (as Joseph Velasco)
Bruce Lee’s death was a tragic affair, a life cut short in its prime. It also became a vehicle for many unscrupulous people to make a quick buck, and soon Bruce Lee exploitation films began popping up all over. Bruce’s death at the height of his popularity both made martial arts films a big deal, but then stagnated them with the plots of his biggest hits. Many films followed the Enter the Dragon plot line, or borrowed elements and threw “Dragon” in the title somewhere. People ate this stuff up.
Many of the Brucesploitation films were packaged as pseduo-sequels to the big Lee hits, where certain “Lee-alikes” took up the mantel of Bruce Lee. Another group of Brucesploitation films worked their magic on the mystery of Bruce Lee’s death, with things ranging from conspiracies, ninja assassins, secret organizations, faking of death, and biopics (including one costarring Bruce Lee’s alleged mistress and owner of the apartment he died in, Betty Ting Pei, Bruce Lee: His Last Days.) Other Brucesploitation efforts were just plain wacky, being totally ridiculous farces. The Clones of Bruce Lee fits more into this group, as does Bruce Lee Fights Back From the Grave and Dragon Lives Again. The final group of Brucesploitation films were just films with Lee-alikes that were retitles to make you think it was Bruce Lee and not Bruce Li or Bruce Le. Bruce Li in New Guinea is a good example of this. A good overview of the main Leealikes can be found here, four of them are in this film!
The Clones of Bruce Lee is a silly film. Forget silly, it is downright insane! The only thing that could have made it more crazy if is there were robots. We have a mad scientist, cloned Bruce Lees, cloned Bruce Lees that look nothing like Bruce Lee, secret agents, evil movie producers, bronze fighting men, random gangsters, laser bars, Bolo Yeung, lots and lots of female nudity, weird edits, compulsive grass eating, giant blinking computers, a Leealike who isn’t one of the clones fighting with two clones, and did I mention lots and lots of female nudity? This movie rules.
Produced by Dick Randall, who also helped bring to America Weng Weng in For Your Height Only, Challenge of the Tiger, the Italian film The Castle of Frankenstein, the Spanish Supersonic Man, and Jim Kelly’s Death Dimension. Director Joseph Kong Hung directed at least 6 other Brucesploitation films, and “Executive Directed” Bruce Li in New Guinea (whatever that means!)
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