Plustown
A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.
Brainsbell
The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.
Kaelan Mccaffrey
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
Wizard-8
Years ago, I remember seeing some of Sammo Kam-Bo Hung's movies he made in the 1980s and enjoying them. So when this recent effort of his popped up on Netflix, I decided to give it a look. Sadly, this movie for the most part is a letdown. First, if you are expecting Hung to show off the kung fu wizardry he showed in the past, you will be very disappointed. He only has TWO scenes in the movie where he shows off his martial art skills. Even worse is that in these two scenes, his fight scenes have the trademarks of many bad martial art movies, that being the camera is zoomed extremely close to the actors, and the editing is extremely quick. I realize that Hung is in his 60s now, but I am convinced he still could have been better showcased.But that is not the only problem with this movie. Past IMDb user complaints about the movie being slow and dull are unfortunately correct. There's very little action in the movie (with or without Hung), and there is barely a plot. The movie more often than not seems to be spinning its wheels.I will admit that Hung gives a pretty good and sympathetic performance, and the movie on a technical level is first rate, looking very slick and expensive. But the movie is all the same unsatisfying. Stick with Hung's 1980s movies instead.
Destroyer Wod
I watched this movie expecting a rather fun martial art movie. I saw Sammo Hung in many Chinese kung fu movies and although he was always somewhat fat he always delivered decent stuff. Was it always believable? You decide. But this movie ... Well OK let me start by the beginning.I understand a movie has to set up characters and development. But nothing happen for over 30 minutes. Then we have a very short action scene and nothing happen again for another 30 minutes. There is only one big action piece in the movie and although its better filmed than an usual Steven Seagal action scene, you can clearly see the guy is overweight and can't match with these peoples. Some decent camera work and wire stuff hide the obvious, but the action is plague by a weird looking slowmo effect way too present.Is the story any good? Well not really... The acting is OK from the little girl i supposed but Sammo is wooden as a 2x4. I guess this movie want to be more of a drama than an action movie but even there i had trouble getting into it. Maybe its cause I'm not Chinese...Overall i was very disappointed by this. To me it compare to the bad Steven Seagal movies when nothing happen but even worst. Usually with Seagal you have half decent gun fights and Seagal being the smart ass and pulling a few good lines, but here nothing.I am giving a 4 by compassion for the attempt at a touching story and i am being very generous.
Eddie_weinbauer
Sammo Hung has gotten old.And agreed to do this slow cooking movie.(For reasons way beyond me)Some people has pointed out,that maybe it's more philosophical.That it's about Sammo coming to terms with his old age at 61, and wanting to show that he still got it. Which he do and don't in many ways.You can clearly see that the fights isn't the same anymore.Though I have no doubt he fakes heavy breathing (at times) The people he fight screams out of his league.Most of this movie focuses on Sammo as Ding,and old retired palace guard, walking around being old and forgetful,in a suburban neighborhood. Believe me it's as boring as it sounds. There a old female sphincter neighbor, who has taken the liking to him.But he is either not interested or don't understand her advance.Hard to make out which.A little bit of both I think. Than there's a girl next door who have a dad with a gambling debt,who enters into his life,who he seem to feel is both a nuisance and pleasure. And he somewhat feels protective of her,over her abusive dad.The fight scenes with x-ray cut in, like in Romeo must die, are great and neatly choreographed.But you can't help seeing that Sammo is to old, for the people he suppose to beat up so easily. Jackie Chan often hides his disadvantages behind acrobatics,and by using his surroundings against his opponents.A chair here, a table there. But Sammo goes toe to toe ,with the bad guys in the movie,and you clearly get the impression they holding back big time.The biggest problem is the slow pace and Sammo's moping blank expression. The story isn't all that interesting either.I give it a 3 I still think sammo has a lot of talent left in him. But he should put it to better use
BasicLogic
This film has shameless copied, borrowed, stole many other foreign films from Korea, The Man from Nowhere (2010), from Belgium, The Memory of A Killer (2003), and Nicholas Cage's 2014 film, Dying of The Light, as well as a rumor in November, 2014 that Al Pacino and Brian De Palma, director of Scarface (1983) would adapt "The Memory of A Killer" into an American version. This Chinese copycatting film is as close as the Nicholas Cage's role in "Dying of The Light", about a CIA agent with dementia, his body functions were staying mostly fine but his brain got Alzheimer's disease. Then heavily borrowed the story from The Man from Nowhere.Sammo Hung played the guy who was once the palace guard of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing, he got such disease and deteriorated rapidly after his retirement. The storyline only added some awkward, unrealistic and highly unlikely romance, and the appendix-like sub-plot of Andy Lau's character, father to a young girl, a hopeless compulsory gambler.The close combat fighting scenes are also heavily borrowed and copied from most of Steven Seagal's action movies, by breaking knuckles, elbows, knees, ankles, neck of all of his opponents, fighting daggers, long or short knives with bare hands and did the most severe body damages to those who unknowingly fighting an unimaginable fighting machine. But the thing is that Sammo Hung is too fat, too old and too bloated to the extreme, making the fighting scenes just looked more like choreographically awkward rehearsals.The story, the scenario and the plot were just too contrived and stereotyped in rigid Chinese way. It's neither like "The Man from Nowhere" that connected us to the young girl and the mysterious killing machine guy, nor gave us any empathy connection of how sad the guy in "The Memory of A Killer", trying to not being useless and helpless. The Bodyguard only gave me some awkward and impatient numb feelings, completely disconnected. The awkward senior romance in this film only made me feel pathetic and nauseating.Hiring those once famous Kung-Fu has-beens as supporting roles were also totally unnecessary, only made the whole film more loose and flat.This is a pathetic patch-up work with a very poor script.
