Reviews

two men walk in the forest on an island. they are briefly separated, when the fatter of the two is attacked by four men with cleavers, wearing aprons and leatherface masks. after he is hacked to death, the other one is cornered and brought back to a village, he pleads "can't we all get along" and then he is put on a table and sawed in half.. no none of this is half as gory as is sounds. in fact it is oddly funny. After all these four are just feeding a large community who don't have enough meat. unfortunely, there favorate meat is called traveler (the other white meat). the leader of the the group (eddy ko ,LEATHAL WEAPON 4, HEROS SHED NO TEARS), who dresses like he just robbed a third world dictator, is giving most of the meat to the 'security forces (leatherface look alikes) and the population is getting restless. he manages to placate them a bit, by sending them to a funeral, but all is not well in this glorious canabal paradise (yes there are serious overtones of comunism in this film). now enters security agent 999, hot on the trail of a bandit who now lives in the village. he comes to town, amidst much applause (he looks mighty tasty), and manages to fight off every hungry attacker, all of whom he thinks are sent by the bandit. and then things start getting bloody . . .

this whole movie has the feel of an extended sick joke, but it stays funny throughout, thanks to inventive kung-fu deaths (involving messy means) throughout lots of inventive fight scenes. their are dozens of intricate sight and situation gags, even in the middle of combat scenes. my personal favorate is when agent 999 rolls a cigarete on the face of an attacker before beating the crap out of him. the violence is gorier than a kung-fu flick, but tame compared to most horror films. i managed to catch a screening of one of the two last remaining prints, but i think it is available on vcd and tape. it is a great late night party films, especially with buckets of popcorn on hand to throw at the screen

It took me a long time to finally get a hold of this film. it was worth the wait. Ringo lam is one of the most original directors out of hong kong. this is the finest work of his that i've seen. chow yun-fat worked very hard for the best actor award he got for this film. and danny lee ain't bad either. Ringo Lam's handling of the action is where this movie really shines. it is brutal in the fashion of an old Walter Hill or Peckenpah film, realistic and frightening. hong kong is displayed more accurately than i have ever seen in a movie, with its streets crowded till they appear ready to burst. in the final robbery sequence, the streets appear to be impenetrably thick. it is just a reminder that hong kong has more than four times the population density of new york city. many people have accused tarantino of ripping off this movie, and claim that reservior dogs is an exact copy. first of all tarantino gives credit to chow yun-fat as an influence at the start of the screenplay for reservior dogs. second of all the entire movie of reservior dogs is a expansion of a ten minute sequence near the end of the movie. and over here it is done totally different. so lay off of him mkay.

This movie happens to be the first directorial effort by Sammo Hung. It certainly doesn't do to badly. It starts off decently, and the learning curve is very sharp. Each fight in the movie is more surely Choreographed and is faster than the ones that preceded it. There is a prevelance of armed combat and acrobatics (non-wire) which are all well done. Sammo is as young as you'll see him in any movie except ENTER THE DRAGON. There is however an annoyingly large amount of nudity in this movie. The plot has Sammo training as a civilian in a shaolin temple in order to avenge the death of a neighbor at the hands of some manchu thugs. He has improved to the point of teaching classes to other non-monks at the temple. He decides to head out after the manchus, after his skills have reached a certain level. he is assisted by the brother of another victim of the manchu's, and his instructor, who is the title character. Sammo and the monk are both extremely fast and athletic, doing some impressive back flips and leaps. give it a try if you run across it.

I enjoy Ringo Lam's movies, so I took a Chance and borrowed this movie from the library, and wasn't disappointed. Sammo hung's Character was far more developed than in most of his movies, and his acting surprisingly good. also great is Kwong Leung Wong (who played Eddie Wong in John Woo's THE KILLER) as the head muscle Villian. he plays the character more believably than most, as a violent thug with alot of bravado, which is a refreshing change from the Usual Psychos. also in the movie is Lam Chung (BETTER TOMORROW 2, The victim of the first hit in THE KILLER, and Mr. Leung {The Kneecaping Victim} in BULLET IN THE HEAD) as the main Villian. The action is exellent as usual from the director, especially since it rarely resorts to tricks such as slow motion editing. in fact this happens to make it seem more violent. Sammo fights well especially at the end where they give him a cool visual reference to the one armed swordsman. There is a car chase and many explosions shootings and brutal beatings. my only complaint is that there are some awful attempts at humor involving sammo's mother. perhaps i didn't get it because of cultural differences. this movie spoke to me in the universal language, VIOLENCE! 8/10

I grabbed this one out of the library, wondering if it would live up to my expectations. it didn't quite, but was still an entertaining movie. the plot is the basic my school can kick your school's ass kind of story. however this was ten years before all those sammo hung or jackie chan movies with that plot. this has a preaty good claim to be the original in this field. the plot is just an excuse for some extremely violent swordplay. it didnt have a quarter of the bodycount i expected (definitely under thirty killed) but was as bloody as rumored. jimmy wang yu slices some impressive body parts. the villians' gimmick is very stupid (a sword that catches their opponents sword). the fighting isn't up to par of modern kung fu, but is way bloodier than anything of the day, and much now.

This movie was annoyingly slow paced. It is totally unforgivable for an action movie to be boring. The plot doesn't make much sense. The action scenes are mediocre and rare. the only thing that made it at all worthwhile is geting to see Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan die. Never before have I had the chance to view such things.

I have seen true ultra-violence in films many times in my life, but the last 10 minutes of this movie surpasses anything I have ever seen or imagined. men are mowed down by the hundreds, blood splattering every which way in frighteningly large volumes. it exceeds even the hospital shootout in Hard Boiled, which took four times as long. It is also more inventive than most of John Woo's gunfights (I am NOT critisizing his other works!!!). The heroes use grenades and swords. Two parts stand out from this amazing carnage. The first is Ti lung's smash up with shing fu on. swords and axes, guts and glass, everything goes flying. The second is the duel between Chow Yun-Fat and Chong, The silent mafioso killer. Their Gun trade is a classic. The rest of the movie is pretty cool, including a gunfight in a Brooklyn hotel, Ala Taxi Driver, and a scene where Chow Yun-Fat makes fun of the fetishized Better Tomorrow dress.

When I first picked up "killer from china" from the library, I noticed the enticing video jacket which seemed to promise some inventive Hong Kong style bloodshed. Well, there was plenty of bloodshed but none of it is even slightly interesting. This movie is a primer on how not to stage a gunfight. First of all, a six shooter cannot fire thirty shots without an editing cut to give the hero a chance to reload. Second, if you shoot a man at point blank range, you are going to hit him no matter how bad your aim is. There is one brief martial arts scene that has a bit of enjoyability, but it is way to brief. The characters are the biggest idiots I have ever seen in a film. The plot makes no sense. A complete waste of time if I've ever seen one. The worst grade z heroic bloodshed John Woo rip off film that I've ever seen.

This movie is a truly different Sam Peckinpah movie. Clear sharp humor and beleivable romance. Not exactly your typcal Bloody Sam Movie. Jason Robards Jr is very poignant as Cable, a man out of his time. Stella Stevens is stunning, and Strother Martain an L.Q. Jones play their villain roles with characteristic aplomb. But the real show stopper is David Warner as the randy reverend Joshua Sloan. There isn't scene he's in which he doesn't steal. The mix of tragedy comedy and romance is flawless. Truly a classic western, as well as a milestone in Peckinpah's career.

Yeah it really is that bad. It certainly made me want to vomit at the stupidity. Especially that scene where David Bradley removed the bullet from his gut to show how tough he was. The fight scenes are semi decent, but the plot, romantic subplot, and overacted characters are extremely stupid, and most unforgivably of all, boring. Avoid at all costs.

Impressively violent. Lone wolf is hired to kill a minor official who murdered a madam's sister. He ends up taking on, and killing an entire army. An Incredibly high body count. Very spaghetti western in style. Good if you like lots of swordplay and rapid evisceration.

This crime movie is something else. It deals with such controversial topics as Racism, Vietnam and ethnic Identity. And It deals with them well.

Mickey Rourke stars as Stanley White, a captain recently placed in charge of Chinatown. He is a racist and a Vietnam vet. He dislikes the Chinese, spurred, apparently, by envy at their unwillingness to sell out their ethnic identity like he had (as a Polish American he changed his name from Wycansky to White). Trouble breaks loose when the balance of power in Chinatown shifts to Joey Tai (John Lone). People are killed, prompting White to wage his own war on the Chinatown Triads. But is this about justice, or is he trying to win Veitnam back home?

This movie gives Mickey Rourke his best role ever. despite the fact that he looks just like Bruce Willis, he shows who is the better actor. There is a bit of brutal violence, and some of Cimino's trademark panoramic visuals. 9 out of 10

This is a funny and inventive movie. its plot centers around a fat feudal peon named Couragous Cheung (Sammo). He has a reputation for never turning down a bet for money, no matter how foolish. The problem is that his wife is cheating on him with his master. His wife and and master conspire to have him knocked off by having a man dare him to sleep in an abandoned temple overnight while a hired sorcerer raise zombies to take care of him. Two problems stop them. First, Cheung is highly skilled in Kung-fu, and second, the sorcerer's brother is giving him advice on how to survive. The two sorcerers head toward a final magical showdown while cheung takes on his master in a duel.

There are many brilliant scenes in this film. at one part Sammo's right hand becomes possessed by the sorcerer and begins beating him and everyone around him ala EVIL DEAD. The Scene is well choreographed and hilarious to watch. There are numerous fights throughout the film. all extremely fast and furious.

There isn't much of a plot but there is plenty of comedy. Jackie chan is in his first big box office success. There is a lot of comody (including an amazing scene involving a floor washing) and fifteen, yes count them fifteen fight scenes. The violence is fast paced and well choreographed. It is an exellent waste of two hours.

This movie is notable as being John Woo's first gun-fight movie. It is an extremely brutal and nihilistic war movie, at times more gut wrenching than BULLET IN THE HEAD. The movie centers around a small group of mercenaries who are sent to capture a drug lord in the golden triangle. The body count is massive and the action is unrelenting. Although it lacks the finesse of the director's later movies it has some brilliant scenes such as a swamp fist-fight against the manhunters, a torture scene straight out of a H.P. Lovecraft image, a hilarious gambling scene, and a sniper shot in the eye through the scope. This scene was imitated later for SNIPER and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN but is done best here. I would recommend this movie to all John Woo fans, especially those who liked BULLET IN THE HEAD, and Copolla's APOCALYPSE NOW.

Falling down is a character study of two men on the edge. A Mad-as-hell-aint-gonna-take-it-anymore everyman and the cop who is chasing him. the performances are amazing. everyone can empathize with both the cop and the criminal. there were a couple of brilliant scenes, especially in the beginning when Michael Dougles is caught in a traffic jam and finally loses it.

truly an amazing film experience. this is the first movie that ever made me cry. And an action movie no less! The acting is painfully believeable, every shot is taken for maximum emotional impact, the cinematograph slick, the action unparalleled. this is an action movie to take your date to.