The Twins Effect (2003) October 4, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Horror, Comedy, Action, Supernatural , add a commentDirector: Dante Lam; Donnie Yen Main cast: Gillian Chung; Charlene Choi; Ekin Cheng; Edison Chen; Anthony Wong Territory: Hong Kong
Duke Dekotes and his band of European vampires come to Hong Kong in search of the unholy grail: a tome called “Day for Night”, which will make him all but invincible to his human prey. Reeve (Ekin Cheng), a vampire hunter, and his new assistant Gypsy (Gillian Chung) set out to stop them. Meanwhile, Reeve’s sister Helen (Charlene Choi) befriends a small cult of “new age” vampires, including their leader Kazaf (Edison Cheng), a move not looked upon favourably by her sibling…
Vampires are the most overused horror monster, and it’s hard to come up with something using them that’s going to be genuinely scary these days (take the recent 30 Days of Night) and Twins Effect adds nothing new to the genre at all. Viewers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer will recognise many of the themes and devices of the film, and this often feels like a Hong Kong version of the popular US show but without the unique wit and infectious flippancy. But Buffy’s appeal lay more in the characters and the humour rather than the rather uninventive monsters she and her friends fought on a weekly basis for nine years, and Twins Effect diverts itself from the horror element so often you sometimes forget quite what everyone’s doing.
The film doesn’t quite pan out like you’d imagine it to – for one thing, the Twins don’t actually team up until very late in the movie – and this works in the film’s favour, I feel. The main plotline of the evil vampire Dekotes (Mickey Hardt – not to be confused with the Grateful Dead drummer!) killing princes and becoming all-powerful disappears for so long you really could have done with a refresher by the end of the film. In between the action packed opening where Reeve attacks a battalion of the undead (including Bey Logan – so that’s where he went) and the special effects heavy climax, we get a collection of comedy skits, action set pieces, tense drama and romantic scenes. Some scenes work better than others, but surprisingly none of them are awful.
I once tried to listen to a Twins song, but discovered 15 seconds into it that I hated their music. They sounded pouty even in an upbeat saccharin pop song. Their appearance in an updated TV version of Journey to the West (the title of which escapes me) made me want to throw things at the screen – mainly because they were being pouty. Charlene, the most talented, acting-wise, of the pair is quite pouty in places but otherwise this is an annoyance-free appearance for the Twins. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that they gave stellar performances that brought a tear to my eye, but the fact that I didn’t want them to become vampire fodder is quite a progression. I don’t think anyone will strongly object to me calling Edison Chen vile (gee, I hope he doesn’t get gangsta on my ass for saying so), but he reins in his immense foulness to give quite a passable performance of a “nice” vampire.
These “new age” vampires (headed by Chen and Anthony Wong) are somewhat similar to those in George RR Martin’s novel Fevre Dream in that they have stopped sucking blood from human victims in favour of drinking a bottled variety, but this is not expanded upon in any great detail, which is a pity.
Instead we get a couple of cameos. Jackie Chan appears in two scenes, and seems out of place in both. In the first he’s getting married to Karen Mok, in what the opening titles refer to as a “special friendly appearance” (?), who is a raging alcoholic. In the second, he has a small action scene and a bit of stuntwork (although he’s clearly wired when he climbs a pole, a la Project A). Although a fan of Chan, I feel his appearances kind of detract from the feel of the film as, let’s face it, his presence does tent to overshadow things.
Twins Effect is quite like a visit to the dentist where discover you don’t need any work doing and all of the assistants are pretty. I ended up quite enjoying it, actually.
To Kill With Intrigue (1977) October 1, 2008
Posted by Cal in : 1970s films, Kung Fu , 10 commentsDirector: Lo Wei Main cast: Jackie Chan; Hsu Feng; San Yat-Lung; Yu Ling-Lung Territory: Taiwan Production Company: Lo Wei Motion Picture Co.
Sau Lai (Jackie Chan), the son of a clan leader, turns into an arrogant swine overnight – slapping his newly pregnant girlfriend Chin Chin (Yu Ling-Lung) around and insulting the guests at a party held by his father. His motive, however, is noble – he’s trying to turn everyone against him so they all leave before an attack by the remnants of the lethal Killer Bee gang, who had been all but wiped out by Sau Lai’s father many years ago, come to slaughter everyone he holds dear. The plan doesn’t work, and the attack leaves Sau Lai’s parents dead and the Killer Bee gang’s thirst for revenge quenched. The leader, Ting Chan-Yen (Hsu Feng) then begins a very unconventional relationship with Sau Lai. Meanwhile, Chin Chin is in exile and being looked after by Sau Lai’s new best friend Chen Chun (San Yat-Lung). Naturally, no one’s quite who or what they appear to be, and death, pain and permanent and unnecessary disfigurement ensue…
To Kill With Intrigue is probably an attempt to cash in on the Shaw Brothers hit of the same year Clans of Intrigue and is based on a novel by Gu Long (it might even have been the same novel for all I know). It is not quite as wild and frantic as its counterpart, but it’s not far off. I’m somewhat well known as a fan of this film, but for several reasons (which I’ll come to later) I’ve not seen it in a long time. I did write a year or two ago that “I’d probably hate it now”, so I was a little apprehensive of returning to it.
There’s no denying that stylistically, To Kill With Intrigue is a mess. It tries to be several things and ends up being a weird hybrid of wuxia, ghost story, kung fu film, and romantic drama. It’s very much like Lo Wei was throwing everything at the screen in the hope that something will stick (some years before Wong Jing patented the technique). The inclusion of Hsu Feng (who, incidentally, gets top billing) was probably meant to engender a sense of respectability to the project, but Lo Wei is no King Hu by any stretch of the imagination.
The pacing of the film is quite excellent, and the plot itself is quite interesting even if it is a lot harder to fathom than I remember. I kept expecting to go into flashback mode all the time, but it turns out Lo Wei could only afford one flashback scene in the whole movie. Actually, although I’m joking, it does seem as if this movie had a particularly tight budget, as the props and make-up look surprisingly cheap even for a production from Lo Wei. There’s certainly a hell of a lot of library music in the background. One piece in particular, meant to be Chin Chin’s “in love” music, is used a lot and I last heard it in a Shaw Brothers film from about 1971. I’ll be buggered if I can remember what it was now, but it’s bound to have been an Iron Triangle film (unless it was One Armed Swordsman or one of its sequels) and, as always, I’d be grateful if anyone knows what the piece is called and who wrote it – I’ve always been curious for some reason.
On the action front, this is one of Lo Wei’s more restrained films and the fight scenes have plenty of room to breathe. In between the action, there’s a kind of love triangle set up between Chen Chun, Chin Chin, Ting Chan-Yen and Sau Lai. And that’s a triangle with four sides, unless I’m very much mistaken – all at no extra cost! I like the style of the action scenes in this one for some reason and I can never quite put my finger on why. The fighting just seems more dynamic than some other films from this period, but I fully accept that it could just be my imagination. There are some parts I find funny in a rather sick way: Jackie bitch slapping his dippy girlfriend is more likely to provoke a round of enthusiastic applause than the gasps of horror it was intended to, and the wince when Hsu Feng disfigures Jackie had me laughing out loud.
When the mighty Shaw Brothers opened their vaults earlier in the decade, I discovered a lot of classics hitherto unknown to me. When I first saw this, I had no idea films such as Have Sword, Will Travel, The Heroic Ones, The Flying Dagger, The Devil’s Mirror, etc, even existed, let alone King Hu’s classic Taiwanese wuxia films for Union. I couldn’t help making unfavourable comparisons with those films and thought that this one should perhaps be consigned to memory. Another reason I haven’t seen it in a long time is that I was holding out for a decent DVD version.
The Region 1 Columbia DVD is not the answer to my prayers. The transfer’s not too bad (but isn’t remastered and shows quite a lot of wear and tear), but the disc suffers from terminal dubtitle syndrome. Yes, sentences begin with “but still” and end in “though” all the way through the film. Give me honest-to-goodness Chinglish any day. Furthermore, and I know this isn’t Columbia’s fault per se, but whoever thought it was appropriate for one character to bid “sayonara” to another needs shooting. No trial – just swift, violent execution.
Worse than that, the Mandarin audio (billed as Cantonese on the box and on the menu) disappears altogether in three scenes and is replaced with the English track. I can’t explain the confusion this causes when the language shifts, for no apparent reason, into English. I was fumbling about with the remote, thinking I’d switched it over, but no – someone was obviously asleep at the wheel at Columbia when making this disc. I’ve had a thing against Columbia ever since they butchered Gorgeous, but this cements their reputation for me. I’ll stick to the Ocean Shores VCD in future.
To Kill With Intrigue was another flop, and Jackie Chan himself once said that he pitied anyone who sat through it, which I think is a little harsh. I think it’s interesting inasmuch as it’s almost unique in Jackie’s oeuvre in that he plays quite a stern character. It’s also probably the closest Jackie ever came to making a wuxia film, although he only handles a sword once and for a brief amount of time. Watching some classic films of the 60’s and 70’s has certainly taken the shine off this cheap and not-too-cheerful flick, but it will always have a place in my heart. And there’s always the old story (which may even be true) that the name of Jackie’s girlfriend had to be changed in Japan because it was a slang term for penis. Making Hsu Feng’s angry retort when Jackie wakes from his coma whispering her name ever funnier: “All you think of is your Chin Chin!”
They don’t write ‘em like that anymore.
Running Out of Time (1999) September 24, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Thriller, 1990s films , 3 commentsDirector: Johnnie To Main cast: Lau Ching-Wan; Andy Lau; Hui Sing-Hung Territory: Hong Kong
If readers of this blog have learned only one thing from their visits, it’s that I think Johnnie To is pretty much the saviour of Hong Kong cinema. Time and time again he’s proved to come up with something offbeat and compelling. Even his lesser films show a flair not present in so many of his contemporaries.
Running Out of Time is, on the face of it, a pretty routine cat-and-mouse thriller and occasionally threatens to descend into another of Milkyway’s dry police procedure movies. However, this is not the case largely thanks to great casting and a taut, understated script.
I’m often criticising Andy Lau (well, we all need a hobby), but to be honest he’s excellent in this, and quite different from his usual light and fluffy, PR-friendly kind of character. He plays Cheung, a man with just four weeks left to live and who decides to spend his remaining time robbing a finance company. Lau Ching-Wan plays Ho, the man trying to bring him to justice, gives an equally strong performance. More importantly, there is a tangible chemistry between the two performers.
Despite being primarily a thriller in the style of Melville, there are flashes of humour, but the sight of Andy Lau in drag might give some viewers nightmares. There are trademark To touches all over the place, and it’s hard to imagine a fan not liking the film. The only criticism, and it’s such a common criticism of Hong Kong films in general these days and not really the film’s fault, is a scene with some nastily blatant product placement for a certain brand of trendy eye apparel.
Running Out of Time may surprise a lot of viewers not familiar with Johnnie To as it’s rather more subtle than your typical Hong Kong thriller. A lot of the drama is derived from the thought processes of the two central characters (with Ho desperately trying to work out Cheung’s motives) rather than flashy explosions and action setpieces. If for no other reason, this film is to be recommended, but for To fans it’s a must.
Lam Suet-o-meter: Low. But he has a couple of scene-stealing moments as the rather inept henchman of Waise Lee’s gang and plays it pretty much for laughs. Another winner for Mr Lam!
Shanghai Knights (2003) September 21, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Comedy, Action, Non-Asian, 2000s films , 3 commentsDirector: David Dobkin Main Cast: Jackie Chan; Owen Wilson; Fann Wong; Donnie Yen Territory: USA
An assassin kills Chon Wang’s (Jackie Chan) father, stealing the Imperial seal. When Chon learns of this, he heads directly to New York to collect his share of the loot he had acquired at the end of Shanghai Noon, only to find that Roy O’Bannon (Owen Wilson) has already squandered it and is now a waiter-cum-gigolo. Together with Chon’s sister Lin (Fann Wong), they head off to London in search of the men responsible for the murder and stumble upon a plan of regicide that will affect both England and China.
Firstly, Shanghai Knights is a completely different animal from its predecessor. There are surprisingly few references to the first film and the knowing nods to pop culture icons have become sledgehammer blows. David Dobkin takes over directorial duties from Tom Dey for this outing, and this may be the reason the film’s whole attitude is so different while retaining the same principal stars and the same scriptwriting team.
The action is shifted from the Wild West to Victorian England, much to the film’s detriment, I feel. The England depicted in Shanghai Knights is full of tired clichés – with street urchins, Jack the Ripper, bad teeth and an extremely forced reference to spotted dick that wouldn’t have passed the early stages of a Carry On script. The main problems, though, is the film’s annoying tendency to make every character turn out to be a fictional rendition of a real person and the fact that the film is riddled with anachronisms, geographical anomalies and factual errors. I’m not one for picking faults in films, but these anomalies are so glaringly obvious they can’t be ignored. I’ve since learned, in doing a little research for this review, that these mistakes are all intentional and are intended to be “fun” - which I find a little doubtful. Even so, this makes the film even more annoying in my opinion.
The inclusion of Fann Wong as Chon Wang’s sister is tolerable – she’s very easy on the eye – but the fact that Lucy Liu’s character is dismissed with a single line also seems very strange. Mind you, that’s more explanation than Chon’s wife gets (remember her?). That’s really the problem with this film, I think – it just seems so slapdash and half-baked. There are a couple of good gags in here (one of which is lifted directly from the prequel) and Owen Wilson’s delivery is, as usual, top-notch.
Jackie’s setpieces suffer from the same problem as Shanghai Noon – I feel there is too much here that we’ve seen before in his Hong Kong films. There are a couple of standout moments, as there always are, and the Singing in the Rain reference is something Jackie’s probably been trying to crowbar into one of his films since the eighties. There is, however, a surprising lack of actual fighting from the star. Instead, the action mainly involves Jackie trying not to fight, settling for disarming and/or incapacitating his enemies.
Donnie Yen appears in this film – a fact that surprised me even on second viewing. While the match up of Yen vs Chan is many action fanboy’s wet dream, the result is literally forgettable. However, Aidan Gillen’s comic-book villain Rathbone (in one the film’s countless and pointless references to Sherlock Holmes) is worse.
I don’t know why these US Jackie Chan film franchises insist on fish-out-of-water scenarios all the time. I could have quite happily taken another film in a Wild West setting, and I think there would have been more than sufficient material to be gotten out of the characters. Instead we have a film that feels strangely apart and disconnected from its predecessor. That said, I’d have preferred a third instalment of this over a third Rush Hour film even before I’d seen the result. It seems unlikely, but maybe one day Chan and Wilson will reprise their characters and return the Wild West where they belong.
Shanghai Noon (2000) September 17, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Comedy, Action, Non-Asian, 2000s films , 7 commentsDirector: Tom Dey Main Cast: Jackie Chan; Owen Wilson; Lucy Liu Territory: USA
Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Liu) is kidnapped and taken to America. Three Imperial Guards are sent to bring her back. Loyal subject Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) also goes along for the ride, but finds trouble in the shape of not-so-desperate outlaw Roy O’Bannon (Owen Wilson). The two become unlikely partners, however, when O’Bannon learns of the fabulous fortune he can obtain if he helps rescue her.
The fan response to Shanghai Noon on its release in 2000 was a little muted. There was disappointment over an obviously CGI stunt involving a jump between two separated carriages on a train, a couple of recycled gags from Jackie’s Hong Kong movies, and an apparently staged outtake with a locked door. However, you can’t help but look upon the film now, out of context, and think of it as a highlight of his output from the noughties.
Where Rush Hour had Chris Tucker, Shanghai Noon has Owen Wilson. Wilson can be described as the anti-Tucker, with his laconic Texan drawl the antithesis of Tucker’s frenetic motormouth. It’s all subjective, but I would take Wilson over Tucker any time; although people who like deliberately annoying characters may disagree.
The plot will win no awards for originality, and the whole thing is just another fish-out-of-water cop-buddy comedy movie with the action taking place in the old West instead of modern urban America. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though, and the script has enough gags to gloss over any deficiencies. While I feel the action scenes in Shanghai Noon aren’t as good as those in Rush Hour, the film hangs together much better and is genuinely funnier (although, again, Tucker fans (if they do actually exist) may disagree). When Chon tells O’Bannon his name, the latter scoffs: “John Wayne? That’s a terrible cowboy name!” and the scenes involving Chan’s scene-stealing horse are a delight.
The sense of fun generated by Shanghai Noon is infectious and the result is a thoroughly enjoyable film.
Dragon Fist (1978) September 6, 2008
Posted by Cal in : 1970s films, Kung Fu , 8 commentsDirector: Lo Wei Main Cast: Jackie Chan; Nora Miao; Yen Shi-Kwan; Hsu Hsia Territory: Taiwan Production Company: Lo Wei Motion Picture Co
Dragon Fist starts in an extremely dubious way and promises to be another revenge flick from Lo Wei studios and yet another Jackie Chan film before he found success. Yawn. The opening scene, in which a cartoon villain challenges the upstanding leader of Jackie’s clan to a dual bodes ill, as does the Fist-of-Fury-esque way the winner destroys the plaque of the honourable (are you getting the message yet?) Tang San Clan after killing the kindly Sam Tai. I wanted to scythe my own leg off at the prospect of such tedium.
But, you know what? Dragon Fist is actually a very unusual kung fu flick. In fact, I’ll say it’s quite unique in that it is a revenge film, but completely unlike any I’ve seen before. And I’ve seen a few - oh yes, I’ve seen a few…
After the yawn-inducing opening, it turns out the head of the Champion’s Clan and thoroughly bad guy (Yen Shi-Kwan), has an ulterior motive for knocking off Sam Tai – he once had an affair with his wife. Afterwards, the wife, wracked with remorse because her former lover’s dead by her husband’s spinning kicks, hangs herself. So what does the evil bad guy do? Seek further revenge? Laugh evilly and then stroke his beard before wiping the Tang San Clan off the face of the earth? Surprisingly, no. He is so regretful of the whole incident that he goes into retreat and chops his leg off in penitence. And this isn’t the I’m-feigning-remorse-to-lull-you-into-a-false-sense-of-security-then-hack-you-to-bits kind of remorse, this is the real deal. He even changes the name of his school to the Patience Clan.
So when Jackie shows up at the Patience Clan’s school to take revenge at the death of his master, taking along Sam Tai’s mother and daughter (Nora Miao), he gets the wind completely knocked out of his sails when he finds out the man responsible is a cripple and desperately seeking atonement for his crimes. All is not as it seems elsewhere though, when another Clan, the Ngais, start to headhunt Jackie for odd jobs and this clashes with the Patience Clan’s new policy of non-aggression.
Dragon Fist is a film I’m very familiar with but I’ve seen it with open eyes this time around. While I was expecting the worst (I’ve never been what you would call a “fan” of the film) this was a very pleasant surprise. I also don’t remember the fight scenes being quite as exciting as they are. Jackie again directs the action in this and it’s clear that he was really getting the hang of the job at this point in his career. He really lets rip here and every action scene featuring him are well choreographed, which can’t be said for many of his Lo Wei films.
The only real fly in the ointment (apart from the ultra-lame opening) is the film’s need to explain everything, Scooby Do-style, right near the end – it kills the atmosphere and brings everything to a very embarrassing halt for a while. To make up for it though, Jackie kicks serious arse in the finale, and that’s more important than clumsy exposition scenes in a 70s Kung Fu flick.
The presentation on the recent Hong Kong Legends disc is distinctly better than any other version I’ve seen before (which is more than I care to admit for a film I’ve already admitted isn’t highly regard by me). The sound and video mastering problems I noticed on their DVD of Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin are not repeated here bar a few colour issues that inevitably pop up on the film.
I know this is said by at least one person about every Chan/Lo Wei collaboration, but Dragon Fist really is one of the better Lo Wei films. Honest.
Seven Samurai (1954) September 3, 2008
Posted by Cal in : War, 1950s films , 3 commentsDirector: Akira Kurosawa Main Cast: Takashi Shimura; Toshirô Mifune; Yoshio Inaba; Daisuke Katô; Seiji Miyaguchi; Minoru Chiaki; Isao Kimura Territory: Japan
“This may be the one that kills us” - Kambei
In the 16th Century, during the age of Japan’s bloody civil wars, a small village is in imminent danger of being over-run by bandits, until the village elder declares that they must hire Samurai to protect them. Six Ronin are gathered, and due to hardships of their own, agree to work simply for food. A seventh, pretending to be a Samurai but actually an orphan farmer, follows behind and is eventually accepted into the group. Together with the villagers, the Samurai defend the village from the bandit horde.
Seven Samurai is often cited as the first modern action movie, and it’s easy to see why – the film feels a lot more current than a film from 1954 should be. A lot of this is down to techniques, both in scripting and direction, which were new then and are still in use today. More importantly, it’s also a fantastic film, and one that has earned its status as an immortal classic.
“A true Samurai never drinks enough to dull his wits” - Kambei
The characters of the Samurai themselves are captivating. Kambei (Takashi Shimura) is approached by the villagers after they see him perform an act of heroism while on their travels looking for suitable recruits. We first meet him in a town where he agrees to rescue a child from a thief holding him hostage in a barn. Kambei shaves his head (removing his topknot – a shocking thing for a Samurai to do) and poses as a monk to rescue the child. We then learn he is a veteran of many battles, all of which he fought on the losing side. He is followed in town by a young idealistic Samurai called Katsushiro (Isao Kimura), who Kambei takes under his wing. Kambei then assumes the lead and recruits the other Samurai, starting with the archer Gorobei (Yoshio Inaba) who joins simply because he likes Kambei’s character. Then a chance meeting with an old war comrade and Shichiroji (Daisuke Katô) is brought on board followed by Kyuzo (Seiji Miyaguchi), an elder Samurai who’s an expert swordsman, and Heihachi, “an amusing man” and provider of moral support. Armed with six Samurai, they are heading back to their village when they notice they are being followed by Kikuchiyo (Toshirô Mifune), a wannabe Samurai and a figure of fun for the group.
It is Mufune’s character who is the focus of most of the film. He is both the unlikely hero and the comic relief. He is illiterate and shows the other Samurai a stolen family tree, in the hope of proving himself to be a nobleman – except when he points to himself on paper, he chooses a thirteen-year-old’s identity, and the name – Kikuchiyo – is a girl’s. It’s a gag that still works today (as well as him carrying a sword too big to compensate for his lack of ability) and further adds to the film’s timeless quality. But Kikuchiyo is more than comic relief; he ends up as the real thing.
Subtlety is the key to the characterisation, and the film itself most of the time. Although it does dip into melodrama on a few occasions, given the strength of the remaining material it’s easy to overlook a couple of minutes’ worth of arms flailing about and uncontrollable wailing (by the villagers, not the Samurai, obviously). The film does run for an extraordinarily long time (well over three hours in NTSC) but, like a true classic, never outstays its welcome. The length is necessary for the viewer to bond with the characters (especially Kyuzo, I find, as he tends to be in the background a lot).
“Two more down” - Kyuzo
It’s difficult to begin to give any critical analysis of the film as so many quotes and images pop up in your head when thinking back to it. A brief few snapshots: Kyuzo disappearing into the night to get one of the muskets from the bandits without fuss, ceremony or false modesty; Kikuchiyo showing up for his audition blind drunk and claiming to be a 13 year old girl; the defence of the village by trapping one or two bandits at a time within the village itself; Kambei shaving his topknot off to save the child; Shichiroji’s sinisterly happy smile when Kambei tells him that this job might be the one that kills them; the revenge attack on the bandit stronghold; Kikuchiyo finally proving his worth on the battlefield. The highlights are literally too many to name.
“By protecting others, you save yourself” - Kambei
After a time, you grow intimate with the village and its inhabitants. You don’t need to be told that, near the end of the movie, the place where all the villagers are waiting with their bamboo pikes is the north of the town because we already know the place like the back of our hand. We know that the three buildings lying outside the protected area are doomed but a necessary loss to protect the rest of the village, and are annoyed at those who selfishly want to save them for their own purpose. We identify with Yohei (Bokuzen Hidari), the elderly farmer, because he is the everyman, and ourselves.
All of this (and more) makes Seven Samurai one of the greatest films I’ve ever seen. I know it’s on a lot of “top films” lists, but I generally don’t agree with such things. This is definitely an exception, and if you haven’t seen it yet, prepare to be engrossed in these Samurai’s small but significant world.
I defended my post” - Yohei
For the second time in as many weeks, I feel compelled to mention the DVD release of the film. I’ve seen this film on both the BFI and Criterion release (not on the same evening, though!). Though the Criterion 3 Disc set is nothing short of beautiful, the less-expensive BFI disc is not inferior in terms of transfer. Obviously, there are fewer extras on the latter, stretching only to an audio commentary (I guess there wasn’t much else they could fit on the disc). The extras on the Criterion release are great – a cosy two-hour chat with Kurosawa in his own living room and a very interesting fifty-minute documentary on the film being the most noteworthy, as well as a lovely little booklet of essays and interviews to round off the package. I do have an issue with them both though and it’s about the subtitles. The BFI release is excellently subtitled but occasionally neglects to subtitle short responses or people just shouting out someone’s name, which I found a little annoying. The Criterion disc addresses this but it does tend to use modern Americanised English quite a lot, which definitely feels out of place in a film about 16th Century Japan. These minor gripes aside, you can’t really go wrong with either disc. Another small piece of advice: the Criterion disc seems to run a lot longer than the BFI disc even taking the Pal speedup into consideration. I’m reasonably certain there’s nothing missing in the BFI version, and note that the Criterion disc includes the intermission segment.
“In the end, we lost this battle too” - Kambei
Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin (1978) August 30, 2008
Posted by Cal in : 1970s films, Kung Fu , 10 commentsDirector: Chen Chi-Hwa Main Cast: Jackie Chan; Nora Miao; Kam Kong; Gam Ching-Lan Territory: Taiwan Production Company: Lo Wei Motion Picture Co.
Eight masters of Shaolin mysteriously disappear, apparently taking the secrets of the hybrid “Snake and Crane” style of kung fu with them. When Hsu Ying-Fung (Chan) is seen carrying a book entitled “The Eight Steps of the Snake and Crane”, all manner of interested parties show up wanting the book for themselves.
Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin is seen by many as a bit of a “bridge” in Jackie’s oeuvre, from his straight-faced films with Lo Wei to the comedic films that would make him a star. What strikes me looking at the film now is the difference in tone between the action scenes (choreographed by Chan) and the rest of the film (directed by Chen Chi-Hwa, who would go on to direct Chan’s full-on comedy Half a Loaf of Kung Fu). While the action scenes are quite light and sometimes overtly comic, the rest of the film is drowned in its own seriousness.
The film is a confusing tale of gangs and individuals who all want Jackie’s book, and it would probably have worked better as a farce, instead of this attempt at drama and intrigue. I’ve seen this one perhaps half a dozen times now and I still have trouble working out who wants to do what to whom and why. It all adds up to a bit of a disappointing mess, in truth, although not as bad as some of Jackie’s other films for Lo Wei.
The action scenes are ridiculously plentiful – this is one of the most action packed films I’ve ever seen. While this sounds like a recommendation, it all gets a bit much after a while and ends up like: meet, fight, talk, fight, meet someone else, fight, talk, get betrayed by former friend, fight, fight, talk, meet someone else, fight them for no reason, talk, fight etc, etc. Also, I was amused that the martial arts shown in the opening title sequence (as usual, against a red backdrop in a studio) have no relevance to the film.
Like a lot of Jackie’s Lo Wei films, I’ve held off seeing this again until a better version came along, having had to put up with grainy fullscreen VHS tapes or VCDs for a long time. The “Ultra-Bit” mastering job by the late company Hong Kong Legends is probably the best we’re ever going to get, but the restoration is quite obvious at times, and the colours go completely crazy occasionally. I don’t know if this is the original audio version (I’ve always had to put up with the English dub until now) but I found the Mandarin track quite strange to listen to. The voice given to Jackie is one thing, but the voice given to Nora Miao is nothing short of bizarre – high pitched and girlish – when she’s supposed to be a warrior woman not to be trifled with.
I’ve come to the conclusion I’m never going to like Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin all that much, despite being frequently referred to as one of the better films Jackie made under Lo Wei. It’s too draining on both the eyes and the noggin, and the 96 minute running time becomes more like an endurance test than entertainment.
Cub Tiger from Kwang Tung (c.1971) August 27, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Action, 1970s films , 12 commentsDirector: Ngai Hoi Fung Main Cast: Jackie Chan; Chan Hung Lit; Shu Pui Pui; Tin Fung Territory: Hong Kong
The widely held belief of Cub Tiger from Kwang Tung is that some of it was shot, the production ran out of money and the whole thing was abandoned and forgotten about until Jackie became a star, whereby some new (Jackie-less) scenes were filmed to create Master with Cracked Fingers (AKA Snake Fist Fighter). Jackie Chan himself, it seems, also holds this belief.
However, the truth is this film was undeniably completed (it has a beginning, a middle and an end), and watching it now is an eye-opener. This is a pre-New Fist of Fury starring role for Jackie (billed as Chan Yuen Lung – “Yuen Lung” being Sammo Hung’s old opera name) and I’m pretty sure it has no precedent. The film itself is almost immaterial when compared to its historical significance, and that’s just as well as it isn’t that good. Following the template made by The Big Boss, Lung (Chan) stands up to a bunch of local hoodlums but is forbidden to fight by his father. Cue lots of agonising “should I fight, or should I do what my father wants?” internal struggles from the young (and I mean young) star. The script tends towards sentiment and melodrama too much for my liking, and I sometimes felt I was being repeatedly hit on the head by moral dilemma after moral dilemma.
But Jackie’s litheness startled me after watching latter-day efforts like The Tuxedo – he flips, gambols and jumps about all over the place like the star he would become. I hadn’t seen this film before, but I had seen Master with Cracked Fingers. I only saw it once, but rather enjoyed it despite feeling that something wasn’t quite right about it (I don’t think I even twigged that it wasn’t Jackie in the newer material – I was very much a novice at that time). Maybe the extra material added another dimension (well, Yuen Siu-Tin was involved, so it’s possible) but Cub Tiger from Kwang Tung is a very forgettable entry in the genre if judged on its own merits.
But if you’re a Chan completist like me, you’ll probably find this movie pretty fascinating. Hong Kong movie information is hard to substantiate, but I think this was made around the time of Not Scared to Die and Police Woman (actually, this film has the same director as the latter) but Chan had relatively minor roles in those films. Even though the movie is less than stellar, the moves and a little of Chan’s impish humour is there. If you’re new to Jackie Chan, get his better films first (anything made between 1978 and 1991 would be a good bet), but if you’ve explored his Lo Wei films and want to know where it really all began, then this is a must.
No review of the film is complete without at least mentioning the state the film’s actually in. Even at its best, the picture quality is pretty rough, and the print has severe wear to it. The screen is cropped (I don’t know why) and this has resulted in the obliteration of some of the original subtitles. To get around this, the option of watching the film with “extra subtitles” is given on the Rarescope DVD – remastered, removable subs that appear every time the originals are at least partially obscured by the cropping. It’s a nice touch (I know a lot of companies wouldn’t have bothered) but it can be a little distracting for the eye to keep switching between two sets of subtitles – especially when you can still read the original text and the remastered subs say something quite different!
The DVD has one surprise up its sleeve – someone’s personal camcorder recording of Jackie’s appearance at a movie screening in Britain around the time of Mr Nice Guy. This footage made me remember why I like Jackie the man and why I’m slowly getting sick of my own countrymen and our loutish behaviour. Jackie is heckled throughout the appearance by catcalls of “let’s see some moves” (are these people really fans?) and is asked by Toby Russell (of “Eastern Heroes” fame - I’m pretty sure it’s him anyway) when he’s “going to make Drunken Master 3” (despite the Jackie-less but definitely official Drunken Master 3 coming out the same year as its predecessor). Jackie smiles and is extremely gracious throughout despite the lack of manners being shown to him and the awkward silences that ensue when it becomes clear he’s not going to start doing his Drunken Monkey routine. He’s a class act, and perhaps the only good thing to come out of his international success later in that decade was that he wouldn’t have to do crap like that anymore.
The Tuxedo (2002) August 23, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Comedy, Action, 2000s films , 10 commentsDirector: Kevin Donovan Main Cast: Jackie Chan; Jennifer Love Hewitt; Richie Coster; Jason Isaacs Territory: USA
A bottled water organisation stumbles onto the idea of holding the world to ransom by producing water that dehydrates the drinker. Super smooth agent Clark Devlin (Isaacs) is about to step up to the task of halting the operation when he is severely injured in an assassination attempt witnessed by his chauffer Jimmy Tong (Chan). Tong, collecting effects from Devlin’s house, tries his favourite evening attire on for size, only to find the tuxedo bestows fantastic powers on the wearer. Assuming Devlin’s identity, he meets with Devlin’s contact Del Blaine (Love Hewitt) and together they fight to stop the bio-terrorists.
There’s a definite sense of “come back Brett Ratner, all is forgiven” about The Tuxedo, a half-baked attempt at a comedy thriller. Chan was thrilled to work for Spielberg’s DreamWorks studio, but the reality is there are not many positives to be taken from the experience. The tone of the film is set right from the opening shot of a deer urinating into a river – a shot that has no point to it other than to be totally pointless.
Some Chan fans were concerned that Jackie’s family-friendly persona would be damaged by him wearing a “Hooters” sweatshirt and his references to a “wet dream” seem out of place coming from his lips. It’s possible he didn’t understand what he was being asked to do as, like in Rush Hour 3, one out-take has him delivering a risqué line, saying bemusedly afterwards: “must be terrible ‘cos everyone’s smiling”. It’s also surprising how bad his English is in this film. I’m guessing his voice-coach wasn’t up to the job, as Jackie is pretty unintelligible sometimes (although that could just be the scripting) and I’d consider myself quite familiar with his English speaking voice.
For a sidekick, he gets Jennifer Love Hewitt. Now, I must admit I’ve not seen her in anything before and I know next to nothing about her, but I’ve been told her breasts are a pretty big deal, a fact that’s reinforced by several nudge-nudge references throughout the whole movie. Maybe I’m missing the joke - I know this is a PG rated film and I don’t wish to be crude, but I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. Worse, she fails to generate any chemistry where Chan’s concerned, and I wondered that perhaps they didn’t get on behind the scenes. However, the out-takes show she seemed to have had the time of her life with Chan, hardly able to keep a straight face for more than a few seconds at a time.
The story attempts to be a kind of James Bond-esque romp (Jackie even utters the line: “the name’s Tong – James Tong” at one point), but ends up being flat. The storyline about a kind of water that dehydrates as it is being drunk could have come out of a Moore-era Bond tale for sure, and Peter Stormare hams it up as the mad doctor Sims. But the execution of all aspects of the film lets it down. For instance, Tong is told by his new employer not to touch his tuxedo, and Tong seems to be the kind of guy who’ll keep his word (plus there’s a budding mutual respect growing between them). Upon his hospitalisation, Tong goes back to Devlin’s place and immediately tries the damn thing on – no explanation, nothing. While seeing him flail about destroying Devlin’s priceless collection of objet d’art is the highest point of the movie, the fact that he put the tuxedo on in the first place still mystifies me. As well as a totally pointless cameo by James Brown.
With Jackie getting on in years, I suppose we should be thankful if we get a shot of him even tying his shoelaces without using wires or CGI, but there really isn’t a lot here to impress. Apparently, Brad Allen was in amongst the stunt crew, but if he appears on screen, I missed him. Which just goes to show what a wasted opportunity this film was. Avoid.