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Reviews
Long hu dou (1970)
Decent but not that great
Just watched it on Prime Video. At a time when Jimmy Wang-Yu, David Chiang, Ti Lung and Lo Lieh were superstars, tons of more or less similar movies were made based on more or less the same plot, with two arms, one arm, two fists, one fist, one guillotine and so on...
This one is another vehicle of the superstar of that beloved era. You got some dude and in particular our hero, pupils in a kung-fu school, that is threatened by bad guys. Japanese bad guys, yeah!
What happens next leaves no place for surprise but let's admit it: it's still fun and efficient.
The cinematography, as usual for a Shaw Brothers, is beautiful, with nice snow, beautiful scenery, cool casinos...
The thing is there are some flaws. When Jackie Chan seeks revenge, he finds a funny old master to train with and it occupies the second act almost entirely. Here, Jimmy's training is on his own, and lasts for way too short. It looks too easy.
Anyway, what bothers me the most, is I can't stop thinking about the uber-superstar that will shatter the world a couple years later. No wonder, sadly or not, that all the superstars of that time were sent to the closet.
Jimmy hadly can rise his legs very high. His blows don't look very powerful. He is more like a dancer rather than an invicible fighter.
Don't misunderstand me, he likes him very much and his fellows as well.
Trouble is, well, there is a unbeatable master who is the only one martial artist in history. Jimmy, here, looks like an artist only. A very good one though, capable of the best, see for instance GOD OF WAR:
Boon (2022)
Old Style is Solid Style
Just watched it because there was Neal McDonough top-billed on the poster. I like this guy and I do believe he would've been a perfect Namor the Submariner. It would also be a change from the typical bad guy that we used to see him as, kicking the asses of The Rock or Raylan Given, to name a few.
Moreover it seemed to be old-fashioned action stuff. From the very beginning, I felt it was above the average DTV, or the back-catalog curiosities in Prime, and I was right.
There are good ideas, good spirit, good intents. There is also good heart and an obvious will to deliver a solid entertainment.
The mysterious guy helping a widow and her son is storyline that always works and McDonough shows off an interesting performance. Other actors appear to believe in what they do, in their characters, especially the widow. The female killer is also an interesting character.
The directing or the editing lack some energy and efficiency at times though. When Boon hits the stupid man and saves the widow, it could've been made with more impact. Sometimes also the sound design forgets to follow the action.
The final showdown is cool, though a bit too short. Some guys seem to wait for something and some characters should've have a better value instead of being too passive.
I didn't know there were other Boon's adventures. So, I will definitely check them out and I hope there will be more of them.
And should I speak about Jason Scott Lee? :)
Mogadisyu (2021)
A bit of a disappointment
Once I had the DVD, I couldn't wait to watch it. I installed in my favorite couch, under the thickest blanket ever, switched off laptop and smartphone and hit "Play". Ryoo Seung-Wan is undoubtedly one of my dearest directors in activity.
After a few minutes, I was a bit confused. The characters aren't really well-defined, neither do they have a solid background. It's a bit too chatty with uneffective exposition. And it drags along for too long.
They lack consistency. Some characters, like Keanu Reeves, know kung-fu (or more certainly Taekwondo), still they're beaten by kids. Sometimes one wants the Northmen (no Skarsgaard here) to be rescued and a couple of minutes later, the same guy wants to kick them out and vice-versa.
We expected at some point to see the taxi boy to appear and maybe save them somewhere in the 2nd or 3rd act, but he disappears, despite his friendly vibe.
Also, why did they feel forced to replicate some of the Black Hawk Down photography?
But the 3rd act is extremely solid, really well-made, compelling and so on. Exactly what I expected under my blanket.
A bit of a disappointment, but I needed to watch "City of Violence" thrice to deeply fall in love with it, so maybe...