Reviews

Just had the pleasure of watching this, I had heard good things about it and when it popped up on a torrent site I leaped at the chance. Please note, I don't support piracy and downloading, but since this is not available stateside yet my options are limited. Needless to say, this one is a buy for sure on DVD, hopefully there will be a blu ray release with good subtitles at some point. This is a star studded period action film about the assassination attempt of Dr Sun Yat Sen in Hong Kong. The first hour of this movie is entirely about setting up the characters, making you understand them and care about them. In fact there is only one action scene in the first hour, which existed to drive the plot and define the motivation of the woman who would become one of the bodyguards. Don't worry, the kung fu awesomeness will begin, the entire second half of the movie is one very well done action sequence after another. But the set up really matters here, it is very engaging and later on when all these characters come together to protect Dr Sen, you care about each one and when some die, you feel it. The acting is excellent all around, many of the actors are major stars, such as Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, Leon Lai, and Tony Leung Ka Fai, but the film is an ensemble piece and each star disappears into their character, many of whom are playing against type. The action is top notch, as expected with Donnie Yen's involvement. Yen has a brutal fight with Cung Le that involves some very nice choreography and some parkour action as well. All of these scenes are enhanced by the fact that you care quite a bit if this character lives or dies. My only complaint would be the villain, played by Red Cliff's Jun Hu. I felt his character was a little over the top, I would have liked him to have been more in control. But it is a minor quibble in a film with a great many strengths. I highly recommend this one, check it out.

I grew up on the Tim Burton Batmans. I love the Tim Burton Batmans. I mean....Michelle Pfeiffer in the catsuit pretty much put me through puberty right then and there. So when I say that this movie blows Burton's out of the water...I do not say it lightly. This is Batman in the real world. Gritty, realistic(as much as a comic book movie ever will be) and full of 3 dimensional characters, fantastic action scenes, and the incredibly engaging story of how Bruce became the Bat. The acting is superb(some of the greatest actors alive today are in it), the music is outstanding...some of the most pulse pounding and engaging music I've ever heard in a film. Christopher Nolan is rapidly becoming a force to be reckoned with, turning out one outstanding movie after another. Seeing this movie in IMAX was one of the greatest movie experiences of my life.

There was no applause when the film ended, there was almost no sound at all except for a few audible sniffles. The power of the film, especially the last 8 minutes, kept most of the people rooted in their seats through most of the credits. I think the only reason I wasn't crying at the end is because I was with a friend and no way am I'm going to lose it in front of a guy friend unless he loses it first. He felt the same which kept us both just barely on this side of sobbing. The movie takes its time, setting the day up, the bulk of the 9/11 hijackings are seen through the screens of the ATC, except of course for the United 93 hijacking. Seeing the news footage of the planes hitting the tower did not have much of an effect on me, I saw them 4.5 years ago and many times since then, so while they were well used here, that was not the part that really affects you. It is when the passengers learn that the planes have hit, and that their plane will not be landing at any airport that the film truly grabs hold of you with a vice grip. They know they have to retake the plane, they call their families to say goodbye, and those of us watching cannot look away from Greengrass' powerful film. People say that it is too soon, but I felt that it wasn't soon enough. We forget about the people who died, the heroes, the innocents who did not have a chance to be heroes. 9/11 has grown distant to so many of us, it has just become something for us to be angry about, be it angry at the terrorists who did this, or at the administration who so readily used it to justify their own agendas. This is not a political film, it does not judge or comment on policy before or after that day. This is a human film, and an intensely moving one.

Wow, so many glowing reviews. They must have rented Chicago or something, because nothing in their reviews could be used to describe this steaming pile of donkey excrement. I am shocked an appalled that people like this tripe, it was awful. Everything about it was awful, the only thing I can think of that was good was Rosario Dawson's stripper scene..because she's hot. I know thats crude, but I'm trying to reach for the good here. Oh! they also had free cookies and brownies at the screening, so that was good too. But I cannot even begin to describe how everything in this movie, from the music, the songs, the acting(and I LIKE Rosario Dawson and Jesse L Martin!) were terrible. It was boring. So. Very. Boring. Melodramatic, self important, overblown, bad singing, bad choreography, no reason to give a flying crap about the people in it. Do not see this movie. Go rent Chicago, or All That Jazz. In fact, I am going to go out and buy those movies tomorrow so I can wash this horrible experience out of my system. This movie made me realize just how much Chicago earned my money. Run, don't walk, away from Rent as fast as you can. I wish I had spent those 2 hours standing in line for Harry Potter.

I saw SPL tonight at the AFI film festival here in LA. I was hoping for some great action and at least hopefully a good police story. I only got 1. The movie is terrible..heavy handed direction, a ridiculously over the top score, and a so so plot and script that just gives you no real reason to give a crap about anyone. Yip wanted to be Johnnie To, he isn't. The only well directed scenes are the action sequences...and no surprise, they were directed by Donnie Yen. So yeah..the fights seriously rule. Seriously. Awesome. Nuff said. I will be picking it up on DVD just for them. So if you like cool fights, check it out. If you demand a good movie around them...well, fast forward or something..because Donnie Yen vs Wu Jing(Jacky Wu) is too freaking cool.

It is astounding to me how many of these user comments are glowingly positive, calling this tripe the best HK film of the year, or in years. Calling this film good only disrespects all the ACTUAL good films that come out of Hong Kong(although admittedly, with the exception of Johnnie To's films the HK film industry has been hurt badly by piracy and the quality of films has suffered accordingly). Look at Infernal Affairs, and look at this...in terms of plot and character the two films are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Look at the scene where each of the cops gets a call on father's day from his daughter, one after the other, and tell me that this isn't a cheesy piece of ass-fudge movie with some seriously great fight sequences. What movie did you people see? Good god, if this is all it takes to please you, no wonder the worst films always make the most money. Donnie Yen needs to do a Johnnie To movie, instead of teaming up with a wannabe like Yip. Oh well, then again, I guess its better than Twins Effect, though it certainly doesn't have the same eye candy.

Part of me suspects that they were making one film and then the Iraq war started and they changed it into an anti war film. To say that a lot of Casshern does not make sense would be an understatement. The plot is so far all over the place and so many things are unexplained that I've decided that "act of god" is going to be my go-to explanation. But that is just the plot...what this movies is actually about is far more interesting and insightful. It is actually a brilliant anti war film that explores the flaws in humanity that lead to violence and bloodshed. When the movie is not busy confusing me, it is stunning and very deep. Some scenes make little to no sense, but others are examples of brilliant film-making. The visuals are amazing, but not what draws me to the film. The editing is superb, some of the choices he makes as an editor are brilliant and original. Fantastic music as well. I highly recommend the film despite the brain hurt it may cause.

The opening scene(up to the opening credits) was shown at last year's San Diego Comic Con, which got me very excited. There was more creativity in that opening sequence than in the entire pilot of Tru Calling that they had just screened. My expectations were high, and thankfully the rest of the show lives up to the wonderful quirkiness and creativity that the first few minutes hinted at. Creative direction, great writing, and a great cast all mesh perfectly. Hopefully this show wont go the way of Firefly, which had practically the same timeslot and was cancelled, despite being on of the best shows on TV. Please dont let fox mess up again.....

All in all, the movie is pretty fugging cool, lots of great action scenes and cool visual effects. Its really more like the first half of a 5 hour movie(completed in Revolutions), so some story stuff is introduced that has yet to be fleshed out. The effects are extraordinary, but unfortunately I can still tell when they go to CGI in the fights, and it bothers me. Its less bothersome here, since the worl do the Matrix is computer generated, so its sorta ok to have CGI fighters, unlike in Blade 2. Problem is, I want to see real people duking it out, not pixels. Martial arts are about what the human body can achieve, not what John Gaeta can do with his computer. And I miss bullet-time. Virtual cinematography just isnt the same. Bullet time had real cameras moving through real space, virtual cinematography is fake. But still...the movie rocked, i want to see it again already, and I just saw it last night. The burly brawl(Neo vs a hundred Smiths) was awesome, despite the CGI, and I cant wait til Revolutions.

Having followed the production of Hero since its inception one can

imagine how badly I have been looking forward to this film, and

how high my expectations must be. Because I live in San Diego

and not China, I had resigned myself to having to wait til November

to see it(the release date has been pushed to May as of the time of

this review). Fortunately for me, Hero premiered at the Palm

Springs film festival, a scant 2.5 hours from here. So me, my

roommate, and some friends in L.A. all jumped in our cars and

drove out, betting that the film would be worth the drive. We all

agreed: TOTALLY WORTH IT!!! This film completely met my

expectations and then some. The plot centers on the legend of the

assassins who were sent to kill the King of Qin, more than 2,000

years ago. Jet Li plays Nameless, a small territory prefect who is

allowed to sit and drink with the Emperor for killing the three

legendary assassins, Broken Sword(Tony Leung-Chiu Wei), Flying

Snow(Maggie Cheung), and Sky(Donnie Yen). The film is told in

flashbacks as Nameless recounts how he did it. The long

awaited rematch between Jet Li and Donnie Yen takes place at the

beginning of the film, and while not quite as jaw dropping as their

dueling in ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA 2, it was a thing of

beauty. The choreography by Ching Siu Tung(who seems to do all

the wuxia films) and Wei Tung is excellent. Christopher Doyle's

cinematography is breathtaking throughout the film, and this

combined with Emi Wada(Kurosawa's RAN)'s costumes play an

important part in the different versions of the stories that are told.

Each version has a different color design, and each color has a

specific meaning, but I'm not going to tell you what. Go see it and

find out. Tan Dun's score, while very similar to his work on

Crouching Tiger, is also perfectly used here, which is really all that

matters. All in all, the film is just amazing. Obviously there are

going to be a lot of comparisons made between Hero and

Crouching Tiger…so here is mine. Crouching Tiger was the better

movie, but I like Hero more. 4 out of 4 stars.

All I can say through my drool is that there are gunfights in this movie that are cooler than The Matrix. The action in this movie is phenominal, I will have to see it again to see if it is a good movie, because I was so blown away by the action scenes that I didnt really care if it was good or not. ;)

The way I describe it to people is that it's like Army of Darkness

with really cool fist fights, sword fights, and gunfights. The movie

is just loads of fun, directed with lots of style, edited superbly, and

has some very nice cinematography. I paid 50 bucks to import the

DVD sight unseen on a recommendation from a friend, and it was

worth every penny. If you are an idiot, like the first user comment

listed(I am loath to comment about other people usually, but I've

never seen someone criticize so many great movies), then you

should probably skip this one. By anyone who can actually enjoy a

movie that tries to do no more than entertain you would be wise to

track a copy down. Get some friends together and enjoy yourself.

I idiotically missed Musa at the San Francisco International Film

Festival. So I aquired the Korean DVD through a seller on Ebay.

The film was well worth the price of the DVD. The cinematography,

acting, direction, everything is all top notch. The subtitles on the

DVD could have used a little work, sometimes it was bad

grammar, other times they were just gone too fast. But

regardless, it is an incredible movie. It clocks in at almost 3 hours

but never feels long. The action scenes are excellent; beautifully

shot with some very cool choreography. You end up caring a great

deal for the characters, all of whom are very dimensional and

developed. Each character has both admirable and dispicable

traits, which makes them human. Seek this one out, you won't

regret it.

Brotherhood of the Wolf is for lack of better words, pretty darn

sweet. Its a great martial arts action adventure, its a good

horror/monster movie, its a good romance. There is a lot of great

style and action. Basically its an action fan's dream. If you cant

find something to like about this movie you should probably get

that stick removed, if you know what i mean ;) I highly recommend

seeing this one, its something you have never seen before.

Paid 50 bucks for the japanese DVD of this without seeing it on the advice of a friend. Gotta say...totally worth it. Pretty much non stop action, its perfect as a party movie. Invite lots of people over and let the fun begin. Fantastic fight scenes, cool gunplay, lots of style, great cinematography...i was in heaven. If you can get your hands on this, pay the money, you wont be sorry.

Donnie Yen's choreography was pretty darn cool. This movie had a fair amount of style, but I felt that it could have used more. Also some of the fight scenes were over-edited at times. Very cool sound effects though. I liked the cinematography most of the time, some very cool and interesting angles. At times it was not very good for the fights though. Regardless, there were several cheer-worthy moments, at least according to the crowd I saw it with at a midnight screening at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Worth checking out if you like Hong Kong or Japanese action.

I have been waiting to see this movie since I saw previews for it in

France 15 months ago. i didn't know what they were saying, but

boy did it look cool! Now it is finally here, and all the waiting and

mental hype I had built up were worth it. It is a movie that you have

never seen before, nor likely to again. The fights were great, the

attacks were intense, and the main scene where they fought the

beast was fantastic. Gans loves Hong Kong cinema, and it shows

here. The movie is truly something...I couldnt be happier with it.

One of the best movies I've seen in a long time, certainly the best Kung Fu film ever made. Should be nominated for a whole score of oscars-Picture, director, actor, actress, cinematography, foreign film..etc etc :) I cant wait for it to come out locally(saw it in paris with French subtitles). The fights are incredible, now if only Jet Li's american stuff would be this good(come on Matrix sequels!) Check this one out people.

bad movie that is. Just goes to show that two really good movies combined do NOT necessarily make a good one. Why is Prochnow in this? He's a good actor, so why does he do so many bad movies?? Arg! Awful effects, the helicopter crash was crap, stolen from Aliens. The odd thing is that Aliens was made 11 years before this, yet the effects in Aliens were better. Avoid this movie, I caught it on cable and hope never to again.

Before I say anything about the movie itself, let me say that Ed Norton is brilliant (as usual) in this. He is making it hard for me to decide who I want to win best actor this year. Amazing. The movie however is not a great movie, but it has a good message. It just wasn't well directed, the main qualm I had was the slow motion scenes. with a couple of minor exceptions, such as when he was being arrested, they were laughable. As for the plot, for the most part it was good. the prison scenes had my full attention, but some stuff towards the end bugged me. Like the discussion with his father. This seemed thrown in at the last second because the filmmakers thought that the original explanation wasn't good enough. They should not have made his father into a racist like they did. I would have been satisfied with just his dislike for affirmative action, but they had to push it over the edge and have him actually say it.

In summary, not a well directed film, with brilliant performances. It tackles a difficult subject, and that is good.

How to review this movie....on a scale that you would review movies like the Godfather? NO! You look at it on several scales actually. As a comic book movie, and as a gratuitist violence movie. As a comic book movie it is good, but not great. The imagery and violence is very comic-bookish, but as for plot and overall quality it cannot match The Crow or Batman. As a violent movie however, it is one of the best I've seen. The opening sequence alone is worth the full adult price of admission. I wish I could see it on the big screen again. The martial arts sequences are AWESOME....and I REALLY loved the swordplay. A note to all...if you can't see this on DVD, at least get the widescreen version on video...pan and scan would destroy this movie.

A brilliant film, I consider it second this year only to Shakespeare in Love. It's a shame that the Academy snubbed it. The performances are superb, especially Billy Bob Thornton, but Paxton as well, who makes his role real. Thornton takes the role of the simpleton, and gives it more depth than I thought possible. He was better here than even in Sling Blade. Raimi's direction is brilliant. He seems to harness the energy you see on screen in his other movies and put it into crafting a brilliant story with incredible tension. the scene where Hank smothers the old man sticks out in my memory especially, very intense. Elfman's score is, I believe, his best to date (and I've loved all his scores). If you have not seen this, do so immediately.

We watched this(and many others) for my film class, and I just have to say that I cannot figure out it's "greatness". The editing scheme is completely incoherent, at no time can you tell what's going on. The plot is muddled, the direction poor. I have a great amount of respect for French filmmakers...I loved "Au Revoir Les Enfants" by Louis Malle, and everything I've seen by Luc Besson (La Femme Nikita and The 5th Element), but I can only compare what I have seen of Godard's work to "Manos, Hands of Fate" and several other really bad films from MST3K. Maybe it's because a friend of mine told me before I saw it that it was brilliant, so I had high expectations.

That aside, there is ONE thing I really liked about this movie, the main character is a huge fan of Bogart, who represents the Hollywood Godard departs from in all his films.