Far too many plotlines strung together.
The movie started off in a Japanese setting where it looks like a birthday party surprise that gets darker. Shortly after it changes to the main Hong Kong setting which then appears to be an unfunny comedy in tone about a disgraced news anchor. After these two plots are forcibly converged, introduce CIA, KGB, and "Interpol" involvement. These intelligence agencies barely get any development in terms of what their endgame is aside from capturing/rescuing an informant. It is understandable if you've read this far and are already lost.
It is hard to understand why they wrote in a girlfriend for the anchorman if they meant to build a relationship between him and the female lead. Writing the girlfriend character into the movie served no purpose. The relationship between the news guy and the Japanese female lead could have progressed just as well without.
I gave this movie a chance and it let me down. It seemed strongly like another movie that HK tried to make international to fanboy about Japan, an 80s HK thing, as well as a vanity film to show off pretty actresses.
It would have been better to see a single plot and maybe single subplot (pick one and choose a genre), rather than pandering to many, but unsuccessfully.
The only reason to watch this movie is if you're a filmmaker looking for examples of what not to do.
The movie started off in a Japanese setting where it looks like a birthday party surprise that gets darker. Shortly after it changes to the main Hong Kong setting which then appears to be an unfunny comedy in tone about a disgraced news anchor. After these two plots are forcibly converged, introduce CIA, KGB, and "Interpol" involvement. These intelligence agencies barely get any development in terms of what their endgame is aside from capturing/rescuing an informant. It is understandable if you've read this far and are already lost.
It is hard to understand why they wrote in a girlfriend for the anchorman if they meant to build a relationship between him and the female lead. Writing the girlfriend character into the movie served no purpose. The relationship between the news guy and the Japanese female lead could have progressed just as well without.
I gave this movie a chance and it let me down. It seemed strongly like another movie that HK tried to make international to fanboy about Japan, an 80s HK thing, as well as a vanity film to show off pretty actresses.
It would have been better to see a single plot and maybe single subplot (pick one and choose a genre), rather than pandering to many, but unsuccessfully.
The only reason to watch this movie is if you're a filmmaker looking for examples of what not to do.
