Movie Talks Archives

Posted by: Jim H at May 25, 2003, 2:55 am

Topic: Chow Yun-Fat Massive Capsule Review list! Forum: JoBlo

Chow Yun-Fat (CYF) is my favorite actor, and I've seen more of his movies then anyone else I know of on the board, so I'm going to capsule review in a sentence or two all of the movies I've seen of his. Fun fun! In reverse chronological order. Bulletproof Monk: ARGH! I haven't seen it. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: A beautiful film with wonderful fight choreography, and excellent performances from an excellent cast. 9/10. Anna and the King: A good performance by the two leads, some great cinematography, and a beautiful landscape don't make up for the often dry dialogue, inconsistent pacing and overall mediocre storytelling. 5/10. The Corruptor: Good performances, suprisingly. A couple mediocre action scenes, one good chase, and some interesting dialogue help, but something is missing. As is often the case, CYF is the best thing about this one. 6/10. The Replacement Killers: CYF is pretty dry most of the time, doing an imitation of Jeffrey from The Killer apparently, but it works anyways. A suprisingly talented supporting cast and a few gunfights that exceeded my expectations help even out the not-so-great derivative plot. Has style to spare, that is for sure. 7/10. Peace Hotel: I'm almost alone on this, but I really like this one. Awesome cinematography, great performances (CYF is, at more then one point in the film, upstaged by Cecilia Yip!) by all, awesome music, and an interesting plot make this a semi-fav of mine. It is slower paced then my taste unfortunately, which leads to me not watching it very often. However, the first major action scene makes up for this - that fight (even if confusing) is one of the most amazing committed to film. Unfortunately, the climax doesn't quite meet it. 9/10. God of Gamblers 2: As usual with a Wong Jing film, this one goes all out trying to entertain you, from sickening lows to dizzying highs of human drama and comedy. You'll see CYF everywhere here - sad, kicking ass, ultra cool, slapstick, etc. His performance is not as convincing as the previous GoG though, for some reason. This is like Michigan weather in action, wait 10 minutes and something unexpected will happen. It can't quite match the original, but it is still very entertaining. 8/10. Treasure Hunt: Better then I expected. A crazy all-over-the-place CYF performance, from him being shot to him being whipped, to slapstick and action. Really, this is a modern day fairy tale romance, and if you take it as such it is much more enjoyable. Good performances all around. The scene where the cabbie fights the monk is one of the most jarring sudden action scenes in HK history, and that is saying something. Again though, this has some beautiful imagery. Watch the plotting of the movie, it plays out a LOT like many classic fairy tales. Interesting ideas. 8/10. PS on this one, it is not NEARLY as action heavy as the trailers allude (the trailer even features footage not in the movie). Full Contact: A great revenge tale, with the same plot as Point Break or the more recent Payback. CYF is great as the thug playing everyone off each other. Phenomenal action scenes and one of the best bad guys I've seen (and he's not a cartoon either) in HK - another rare case, where Simon Yam actually equals or exceeds CYF's performance. But he is given more to work with. This is the earliest movie I know of that uses the "bullet cam" idea that many other movies (most recently, the Matrix Reloaded) use. 9/10. Hard-Boiled: Great action and CYF as cool as ever. The plot is ludicrously over the top, as is the villain. But you won't care, as you'll be too blown away by the awesome "toady" villain of Mad Dog (who, if you'll notice, the two heroes can't defeat fighting him at the SAME TIME) and Tony Leung's FANTASTIC performance (which blows away CYFs, who has much less to work with since he's just playing the typical God of Death). This also gets bonus points for having the largest individually killed body count in recorded film history. 230 according to the IMDB. That said, the action is IMO over-rated slightly, as sometimes it drags a bit. Still better then practically anything else, just not as good as a couple other Woo entries and one or two other things. 8/10. Once a Thief: John Woo's most recent directorial slapstick effort, it succeeds on the buoyance of the three leads performances. Fantastic action scenes (yes, there are PG-13 level gunfights and other such things), great humor (I headbut!!) , and some of the best bad subtitles ever round it out. The caper theft scenes are also pretty good - love the wine glass laser bit, as well as the chandelier. 8/10. I don't know what the below means either. God of Gamblers: Another classic entry. CYF starts out incredibly cool, in some of the most virtuouso gambling scenes imaginable. Then he bangs his head and bleeds a lot (played for laughs!) and is then like a kid in a great slapstick comedy bit. Like the sequel, this one is all over the place. Also has a great gunfight, fighting with plungers, magical gambling, ultimate revenge, attempted suicide, necrophilia - what else do you want!?!? 9/10. The Fun, the Luck, the Tycoon - I own it but haven't seen it. Planning to in a few days, I'll edit this and add it in then. Return Engagement/Code of Honor: Unrelated action film. I bought it knowing what it was, but it was very cheap. It's an Alan Tang/Andy Lau film, semi-revenge semi something else. It's all over the place, and the release titled Hong Kong Corruptor has two totally unrelated scenes from a movie with a CYF cameo (Code of Honor) edited in. That said, it was passably entertaining with good action scenes. The hilarious dubbing helps as well. 7/10. PS - I contributed this. I feel special. http://us.imdb.com/AlternateVersions?0101002 A Better Tomorrow 3: More appropriately, it would be part zero, as it takes place before the first one. This is an "origin" story, showing how Mark Gor got all his trademarks. It's as ridiculous as it sounds, but still kind of cool to see for that. Bad action scenes, mediocre performances, a barely seen villain.. Extremely disappointing. 4/10. What was Tsui Hark thinking? All About Ah Long: In many ways, this is really a Chinese Kramer VS Kramer. One of CYF's most heartfelt performances, great dialogue, perfect plotting and good supporting characters... An underseen classic more should check out. This is definetly one of CYF's best. Almost, a 10/10, but not quite - 9/10. The Killer: Ah, this one is very beloved by many, for good reason. Beautiful imagery, a well-paced (if derivative) plot, some of John Woo's most gorgeous bloodshed, and powerful performances (especially by CYF's friend played by Kong Chu - the best performance in the film, and one of the best I've ever seen. He got robbed for that HK oscar). The gunfights here are amongst the best ever filmed. Another near-10/10, but just barely not. 9/10. Tiger on Beat: Another underrated gem. Similar to American 80s buddy films in many ways, retro lovers of the 80s should check this one out. Hilariously outdated fashion doesn't hurt. Great performances by all (CYF is all over in this one), a good cameo by Ti Lung, and one of the greatest action climaxes in movie history. The chainsaw duel is one of the best action sequences of any kind ever. The comedy parts are good, but not quite as good as they should be, and this early part of the film is why it doesn't get a higher a score. 8/10. 'Nuff shown. City War: A less known heroic bloodshed vehicle. This one is ok. The drama is decent, and it's great to see Ti Lung and CYF together again. The story is disappointing though, with some holes and missed chances. Not enough action to carry the film either. The climax is great though. 7/10. Prison on Fire: Another great supporting performance by CYF. Despite what it is labelled, this is much more a prison drama then a prison action movie. The fights are brutal, mostly short, and very believable - they are not kung fu. The lead performance is also excellent, of course. Some parts of it feel a little unconcluded or missing, and there are some pacing problems, but it is still quite good. 8/10. Rich and Famous: Released after Tragic Hero, though it actually takes place before both in times of production and in the movie itself. Weird. Not that good. Kind of like a failed Chinese Godfather, even with a similar "lets not deal drugs" speech. Also plays out almost like a Triad recruitment film. One great gunfight helps, but it is not enough. As usual, CYF is good in a relatively minor role. 6/10. Flaming Brothers: Another heroic bloodshed film. Two great leads really help, the plot is pretty interesting, and this has one of my favorite moments of culture clash with my American values with this bit of dialogue "They'll never believe a man would kill his brother-in-law, hahahhaa!". The action scenes, while not very plentiful compared to a Woo film, are fantastic - the climax is one of the best around. The minor homoerotic undertones are kind of strange though. 8/10. City on Fire: Ah, what Reservoir Dogs copies pretty blatantly. Unfortunately or fortunately, Reservoir Dogs is also a considerably superior film. The drama here is uneven, the action is merely ok, and the climax isn't as good as it could of been. The two leads are both good though. 6/10. A Better Tomorrow 2: If taken as a seperate film from the superior original, this one stands on its own quit well. Much more comic-book like (which it admits by having a character who draws the other characters), with extremely over-the-top melodrama, and Dean Shek literally frothing at the mouth as he goes insane. The plot is ludicrous, but it serves the film. And anyone who says they don't like the "Eat the Rice" scene is LYING! Also, the climax to this gets my vote as the best action sequence in motion picture history. Well, it was, I've been reconsidering that - but it is still great. 8/10. Tragic Hero: The direct sequel to Rich and Famous. This benefits from more action scenes, and more CYF, but even worse dramatic scenes and the most ridiculous revenge possible. By that, I mean what happens to one of the good guys. It seems like they wanted to give him the ultimate motive for revenge. Try to count the number of times CYF gets shot - it has to exceed 15. Overall though, it is even worse then Rich and Famous by a slight margin. 5/10. A Better Tomorrow: My favorite film at this point. CYF gives one of the best performances around. Ti Lung is great. Leslie Cheung is great, and also provides a very memorable soulful theme song. The themes of loyalty and brotherhood have rarely been better expressed, and the villain, while evil, is not unbelievable like many heroic bloodshed villains. The action scenes are good, but disappointing compared to later, higher budgeted, Woo efforts. Has style to spare though. 10/10. Hong Kong 1941: Another unknown gem. This covers the Japanese invasion of HK, and how it effects the people living there. Very dark in many ways, and sad. CYF gives a fantastic performance. The plotting is great, the story is great, all the actors are really good... There's not much to not like. It even manages to have an entertaining, but believable, fight scene stuck in there (sort of). More people should see this one. 9/10. The Postman Fights Back: Eerily reminiscent of Costner's folly, The Postman, but not nearly as bad. CYF has a minor role and looks extremely young here. The plot is silly and the bad guy is as well, but with craziness always going on and the fights choreographed by a man known as Yuen Woo-Ping (of the Matrix Reloaded, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and several other all time classics) it is very entertaining. The fights are what you're here for, and it delivers - especially in the climax. 7/10. Phew. Hope that was informative.

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