I love watching movies. For the last 20 years, Both my wife and I have watched on average if not more than 365 movies a year. I have decided to keep a journal of all my movie experiences. Enjoy!
I personally enjoy these period piece movies. This one was a bit long, but enjoyable for me. I didn't have the foreign language version with subtitles. I had to suffer with the English dubbing. You know the type of film where they try to make the words fit in with the mouth movements.
Netflix Summary:
Tension swirls in ancient China as the evil Zhao commander Xiang Yan-zhong (Sung-kee Ahn) sets his sights on conquering the small city-state of Liang, where the residents would be otherwise defenseless if it weren't for the valiant warrior Ge Li (Andy Lau). Jacob C.L. Cheung (Hero) directs this epic action-drama based on the popular Japanese manga, based in turn on a Japanese novel about China's Warring States Period.
This is a Hong Kong action thriller movie. I don't like to watch the dubbed movies and prefer to watch the movies in their native language and read the subtitles.
This movie doesn't disappoint. However, it is a karate action flick so you can not set your expectations to high. That said you will enjoy car chases, good cop bad cop stuff, and even a light love story.
The movie at times does seem long, but in the end there is a great martial arts choreographed ending that seems quite realistic. Needless to say it is well done. You can pretty much grab some popcorn and not worry about the plot. It is good guys vs bad guys with a Hollywood ending.
Netflix Summary:
Action masters Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen deliver nonstop martial arts thrills in this tale of triad gang warfare in pre-handover Hong Kong. Reckless Detective Ma (Yen) threatens the careful work of his partner, Wilson (Louis Koo), who's finally infiltrated a notorious triad gang. As the operation begins to collapse, Ma enters the fray to go one-on-one against the triad leader (Collin Chou) before he takes over the streets.
Yes, another karate action movie. What can I say, they are my weakness. Unfortunately, like I said in my last review, most action movies show the best parts in the trailers. Unlike the last movie, this movie was a disappointment.
The plot is dumb but not really necessary in these types of movies when you have good fight sequences. For me the best action scene was in the trailer. How sad! I hoped it would get better, but it didn't. The female lead in was annoying and reminded me of a fake Jennifer Lopez.
I may be influenced by the previous movie I saw Ninja Assassin, but these movies should be able to stand on their own. I like to watch these action movies over and over, but this will not be on the list. I can't recommend this one because it just misses the mark.
If you need a karate action fix, go for Ninja Assassin, Kill Bill 1 or 2, Crouching Tiger, Bloodsport, any Jet Li movie or the classic Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon.
I love karate action movies and the trailer looked good. Unfortunately, most times they show all the good stuff in the previews. This particular movie did not. It actually looked good and the movie itself was a great action movie.
With most karate movies, there isn't really much of a plot. The action for me anyways determines whether it was worth my time or not. This particular movie had a decent plot and great effects in the action scenes. Not quite like Kill Bill but just as fun.
So grab some popcorn and get ready for action. This is one of those movies you can walk in on and start watching anytime. You just enjoy it for what it is.