Film Review: SHINJUKU INCIDENT (2009)

[Original Title: SAN SUK SI GIN]

Director: Tung-Shing Yee
Writers: Tung-Shing Yee, Tin Nam Chun
Running time: 119 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller
Hong Kong Release date: 2^nd April 2009

Watched on Terrestrial PVR Friday 26^th July 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I admit to being partial to the odd gangster movie here and there and I also like films from other parts of the world. So a film that combines the two was bound to attract my attention. Add to that the fact that Jackie Chan is in it and I’m hooked! I enjoyed this one with a few reservations, oh, and I should warn those that fear the subtitle that yes, they appear on this one too. Here’s a very brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

When Steelhand (Jackie Chan) leaves China to find his girlfriend in Japan, he enters the country illegally. He manages to evade the police and eventually meets up with some friends, other Chinese who were illegal’s. Having worked at several less than exotic locations around the place he decides there must be a better way of making money. The only way, it seems, for people in his position, is illegal. But before he can do this he saves the life of a cop, Inspector Kitano (Naoto Takenaka), who is indebted to him. And so he begins his criminal empire. This soon comes to the notice of the Yakuza and in particular, one of their leaders, Toshinari Eguchi (Masaya Katô), who just happens to be married to Steelhand’s girlfriend, Xiu Xiu, now Yuko Eguchi (Jinglei Xu). Having saved Eguchi’s life, Steelhand now has what he needs to get on the next rung of the ladder. He is employed to kill a couple of other Yakuza bosses and as a reward is given the Shinjuku district. But will it be as he planned or will there be a twist in the tale and will he have to call in his debt with Inspector Kitano?

Very well made with the emphasis on the drama rather than the martial arts. Yes, there is some, but very little, I guess Jackie Chan is concentrating more on his acting these days. All the performances were very good with Jackie Chan, Naoto Takenaka and Daniel Wu (as Jie) standing out for me. It did put me in mind of films like ‘Goodfells’ and ‘Once Upon a Time in America’, maybe without the epic scope of those movies, but certainly the look and feel of them. I did find it was beginning to drag a little towards the end and I did find some of the plot lines a little predictable. Other than that, a decent watch.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED

My score: 7.1/10.

IMDb Score: 7.0/10 (based on 6,676 votes when this review was written).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1075419/

MetaScore: 63/100: (Based on 4 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 60/100 (based on 5 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 27/100 ‘Want to See’ (based on 10,643 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shinjuku_incident/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer:

Film Review: KUNG FU PANDA 2 (2011)

Director: Jennifer Yuh
Writers: Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger
Running time: 91 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): PG

Genre: Animation/Action/Adventure
UK Release date: 10^th June 2011

Watched on Sky+ Monday 7^th May 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Since I quite enjoyed the first one I thought I’d give the second KFP movie a look (I’m a bit of a fan of animated films anyway). If anything I must say I enjoyed this one a bit more, it seems DreamWorks have learned a thing or two in the intervening three years. All the characters from the first film are back plus a new nemesis for Po; here’s a brief summary before I tell you what I thought of it.

The film opens with the story of Shen, a peacock who has been told by a soothsayer that he will be defeated by an enemy in black and white. He immediately sets out to deal with this enemy before the prophecy can come true. He parents are left with no choice but to banish him. Years later Shen has returned with a weapon, a weapon so powerful it could mean the end of Kung Fu! It’s up to Po and the Furious Five to stop Shen and save Kung Fu! Also, Shen knows the secret of Po’s origins and he may use this to get in the way of their victory. I will not say any more or the Spoiler Police (Kung Fu Division) will be using me as a practice dummy (again).

DreamWorks animations have a very particular style and I must say I like it; reminds me of old (non Disney) cartoons on TV. On the performance front, decent work all around from the voice talents of; Jack Black as Po, Angelina Jolie as Tigress, Dustin Hoffman as Shifu, Gary Oldman as Shen, Jackie Chan as Monkey, Seth Rogen as Mantis, Lucy Liu as Viper, David Cross as Crane, James Hong as Mr. Ping, Michelle Yeoh as Soothsayer and Jean-Claude Van Damme as Master Croc.

This film has a well written plot with likable characters and some excellent gags along the way (it easily passed the ‘six laugh test’). I also liked the musical score by John Powell and Hans Zimmer, some nice themes that go well with the visuals. One or two of the gags didn’t quite come off (for me) but I can forgive that for a very well put together entertaining film… Recommended.

My score: 7.5/10

IMDb Score: 7.4/10 (based on 62,521 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1302011/

MetaScore: 67: (Based on 31 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 81/100 (based on 161 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 79/100 (based on 90,056 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kung_fu_panda_the_kaboom_of_doom/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Shifu: This could be the end of Kung Fu.
Po: But I just got Kung Fu !
Shifu: And now, you must *save* it !

Po: How can kung fu stop something that stops kung fu?

Po: My fist hungers for justice!
[his stomach belches]
Po: That was... my fist.

Soothsayer: Your story may not have such a happy beginning, but that doesn't make you who you are. it is the rest of your story, who you choose to be... So, who are you, Panda?

Tigress: I hope this turns out better than your plan to cook rice in your stomach by eating it raw and then drinking boiling water...
Po: This is nothing like that plan.
Tigress: How so?
Po: Because this one is gonna work.

Monkey: [On seeing a poor person being mistreated by a wolf over cooking rice] Po, do something.
Po: How am I suppose to help her cook rice without getting caught?... Wait, I have a better idea!

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://www.kungfupanda.com/
Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kungfupanda
Trailer:

Film Review: THE KARATE KID (2010)

Director: Harald Zwart
Running time: 135 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): PG

Genre: Action/Drama/Family
UK Release date: 28th July 2010

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 19th June 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

A long long time ago I saw a film called ‘The Karate Kid’, all about a young man who is trained by a master in martial arts so he can stop living in fear of the bullies around him. During his training he learns, amongst other things, respect. This is a remake of that film and despite a lot of dollars being thrown at it and moving the action to China, it’s not as good as the original by some way. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all bad, there is at least one good performance in there, there is some nice cinematography and the final scenes are quite exciting. Unfortunately though, I have seen it all before.

When single mother, Sherry Parker is transferred to China for her job, she takes her son, Dre with her. Now Dre finds it hard to fit in in a new country, but does his best. Unfortunately a group of bullies start to pick on him and these guys are very good at Kung Fu. Eventually Dre decides he must learn Kung Fu in order to beat them and to this end he persuades the maintenance man for their building, Mr. Han, to help him. It is agreed with the bullies’ Kung Fu master that he will be left alone to train for an upcoming tournament. Mr. Han starts training and Dre doesn’t feel it is going well until he is shown just what Kung Fu is all about. The training then progresses at a pace and the day of the tournament arrives. Has Dre learned enough to beat the bullies? Well you can probably guess I’m not going to tell you here.

As I hinted at the beginning the film is beautifully shot with all of the famous Chinese sights on full display, everything from the Great Wall to the Forbidden City. Performance wise, well I always find Jaden Smith, who plays Dre, a little too precocious and, in this case, a little too small for the role. On the other hand I thought Jackie Chan was excellent as Mr. Han. He handled the role really well even the dramatic parts. Also worthy of note were Taraji P. Henson as Sherry Parker, Wenwen Han as Meiying, Rongguang Yu as Master Li and Zhenwei Wang as Cheng.

I can’t say I disliked this version, let’s say I didn’t dislike it quite as much as I expected to. That isn’t to say it’s particularly good. For one thing it’s way too long and there are quite long periods where not a lot happens. There is a love story thrown in which I found quite laughable and didn’t really add anything to the narrative. Over all, not a great film but not a total loss either, if you’re going to see it Jackie Chan is the best thing in it (IMO). If you’re not inspired to see it then I don’t suppose you’ve really missed all that much.

My Score: 6.5/10

LINKS:
(RT=Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1155076/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/karate_kid_2010/
Official Site: http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/thekaratekid/
Trailer:

Film Review: THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM (2008)

Director: Rob Minkoff
Running time: 100 mins (approx)
Certificate (UK): 12

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 5th December 2009.

PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Legend has it that the Monkey King, a fierce and respected warrior, was tricked by the Jade Warlord and turned to stone. Before this happened, he sent his weapon, a fighting staff, out into the world to hide it from the Warlord. It is said that someone would return it to him and when that day came the Jade Emperor would return to the world and free it from the tyranny of the Warlord.

A teenager from Boston, Jason Tripitikas, is obsessed with old Kung Fu movies. He gets bootleg films from Old Hop, who owns a pawn shop in Chinatown. On one of his visits there he finds an old mysterious staff tucked away in a back room. Old Hop shoo’s him out of the shop and he sets off home only to be confronted by a gang of local thugs. They know that he goes to the pawn shop and plan to rob the old man, using Jason as a means to get inside. They get to the store and start searching for the money when the old man tries to stop them. The leader pulls out a gun and shoots the old man. In a panic, Jason grabs the staff and runs for the roof. He seems cornered when the staff seems to push him over the edge. The next thing he knows he’s in ancient China! There he meets Lu Yan, a drunk who knows Kung Fu; he also meets Golden Sparrow, a female musician who is on a mission to kill the Jade Warlord. These two save Jason’s life when the Jade army come for him. They set off towards the Mountain where the Warlord lives and Jason persuades Lu Yan to teach him Kung Fu on the way. A mysterious silent monk takes the staff one day but ends up travelling with them and also teaching Jason the ways of Kung Fu. As they approach the mountain a witch is waiting for them, sent by the Jade Warlord. I’ll leave the summary there; I think you’ve had enough spoilers for now!

A very well made film with some truly excellent fight sequences, but with the likes of Jackie Chan and Jet Li in the cast, I would expect nothing less. I must admit it’s nice to see Jackie Chan in a more classical Chinese fantasy type role as opposed to the more Westernised roles he tends to play these days. Great performances from all of the cast, honourable mentions go to Jet Li as The Monkey King / The Silent Monk, Michael Angarano as Jason Tripitikas, Jackie Chan as Lu Yan / Old Hop, Yifei Liu as Golden Sparrow / Chinatown Girl and Collin Chou as Jade Warlord.

Over all, quite an entertaining film with a lot of very good fight sequences. The only thing that slightly let it down was the fact that one or two of the fight sequences went on a little too long, and the plot was a little weak in couple of places. Apart from that, pretty entertaining stuff!

My score: 6.5/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0865556/
Official Site: http://www.forbiddenkingdommovie.com/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/imdb/vi1605501209/