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| B+ B+ B+ | |
| Review by Xibo | Date seen: March 22, 2000 |
| Viewing Location: Newport | Grade: B+ |
| Summary: Jet Li martial arts meets generic black crime film. | |
| The bad parts about this movie are that it involves a war between crime families and has a stupid plot and script. There's just too much talking and fake drama in the flick. Also, the movie chock-full of rap and black music. I guess they were hoping for a good demographic draw -- a little for "everybody"!
Now if you can ignore the soundtrack and the tedious script (where like most of these movies, the blacks commit a lot of crimes, but that's okay, because they all die, and they try to redeem themselves or turn over a new leaf... I mean geez, what a stereotype, all black people are criminals?)... anyway, once you get past all that crap, there's the ACTION. Jet Li is awesome. And Bartkowiak's direction is good, but then, we've seen his work before: he's the cinematographer on Lethal Weapon 4, Face/Off, Broken Arrow, and a lot of other blockbuster hits featuring martial arts. Some of the "wire fu" (where the actors appear to fly by riding wires) was a little over the top, but I guess that's okay. Francoise Yip has a great cameo as well, and she kicks ass as well. Anyway, I'm really hoping to see more of Jet Li, preferably in a more "pure" martial arts film, without all the rap crap. A for action, C for crap, I give this a B+. | |
| B B B | |
| Review by hughjtoad | Date seen: April 3, 2000 |
| Viewing Location: Houston, TX | Grade: B |
| Summary: predictable plot + comedy + fights and stunts == B | |
| I like Jet Li a lot. The best moments in this movie are not when he is fighting or shooting someone, but when he's using facial expressions to react to others. He has an amazingly expressive face - I just hope he doesn't realize how good an actor he is and give up action movies. This movie isn't just a bunch of fighting and explosions - there are several good comedy sequences, reminiscent Jackie Chan but without the Three Stooges-style mugging. This is good mindless entertainment, and worth seeing in the theater (in Houston, movies only cost $6.75!) | |
| C C C | |
| Review by smeehrrr | Date seen: April 12, 2000 |
| Viewing Location: Bellevue, WA | Grade: C |
| Summary: A limp noodle | |
| OK, Jet Li is cool. It's nice to see him in a starring role. Unfortunately, he's totally wasted in this hackneyed, over talkative excuse for a pseudo-action film. The plot, as it were, is stitched together with very weak thread. The dialog is coarse and poorly written, and the amount of exposition in this movie is beyond belief. That said, there are some good martial arts sequences, and one good chase scene, and Jet Li single-handedly saves this stinker from D/D- territory. | |
"I should put quotes here."