Runtime:
94 minutes
Directed
by: Boaz Yakin
Starring:
Jason Statham, Catherine Chan, Robert John Burke, James Hong
From:
Lionsgate
Here
is something I finally saw last night after hearing a few weeks of
strong praise and it turns out the praise was pretty much right. For
whatever reasons this movie was originally going to come out in the
fall of last year but was pushed back to April, where it hasn't done
so well at the box office; that's unfortunate.
You
probably know the plot by now but I'll still copy and paste from the
IMDb: “Mei,
a young girl whose memory holds a priceless numerical code, finds
herself pursued by the Triads, the Russian mob, and corrupt NYC cops.
Coming to her aid is an ex-cage fighter whose life was destroyed by
the gangsters on Mei's trail.”
Admittedly,
the plot is on the goofy side. The Triads find a really smart girl in
China and steal her and use the 11 year old to store important
numerical information as it's safer to store than using a computer.
That's not taking into account some of the other stuff, which I won't
spoil. However, it was definitely more complex than I was expecting;
the various sides who are looking for the girl are all intertwined
together and it's not as simple as you might think.
As
for my take, early on I wasn't sure about it; some parts of the setup
I didn't really care for, to be honest. However, once things got
going I didn't do too much complaining. That is how exciting and
well-done the action is. It is filmed in a nice way and is thrilling
to watch. That made my earlier complaints vanish and when the movie
ends as well as this did (the larger than expected audience seemed to
enjoy it overall, but they really enjoyed the big moment) it also
helps erase those memories.
I
heard some people compare this movie to one of Steven Seagal's films;
that is not inaccurate. I won't spoil anything but in general tone
and style and how the fights go, I agree with the comparison. And
that's not just because there is a moment where one guy's groin gets
punished rather harshly and another person gets a limb broken. And
I'm talking about the Seagal of old rather than the fat guy we've
gotten the past 10 years or so who appears in direct to DVD schlock
that is mainly poor, muddled, and has unsatisfying action.
The
acting is fine for what it is; the little girl is tolerable for a
little girl character. And James Hong doesn't look too much different
from when he played Lo Pan a quarter of a century ago; maybe he found
the fountain of youth.
If
you enjoy the genre then this is definitely worth seeing one of these
days, even if it's just on DVD/Blu-Ray. I'll be back Tuesday night.
No comments:
Post a Comment