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Went to see Mr. Li's latest offering yesterday, what can I say? It's roughly what I expected.
The concept behind the film is thus: There is not just one universe, there are many - a multiverse (according to the film). There is not just one you, there are also many. All the universes are connected and there is a balance - an equilibrium - between them all.
However, as travel between universes becomes possible (though very exclusive and policed) a rogue element seeks to abuse this and upset the balance in order to become... "the one".
As I understand it, becoming the one means killing off all the other versions of you in all the other universes. So, of course, the rogue elememt is Jet Li. As he kills another version of himself, that versions energy is divided between the remaining versions (making them faster, stronger and smarter).
We join the film at the point were Li kills the second to last version of himself. (So as you can imagine he is pretty strong, smart, etc).
This leaves us with a fantastic hollywood cliche, 2 versions of the main character, one good one bad.
I thought, the concept was quite an interesting one really, however in true Hollywood fashion - the plot was completely ignored in favour of filling the film with pointless explosions and bad acting.
Surprisingly enough, one of the better performances in the film was Li, his grasp of enlish is fairly sound by now and his kung fu stylings were as good as ever, PLUS quite inventive in places. The fight scenes were quite Matrix-esque but different enough for it not to be annoying the slow mo bits were always impressive and therefore it didn't feel like the gimic was being overused. The fight scenes are definately worth seeing.
However, the rest of the film was, in a word, rubbish. It made as much sense as it needed to (as in you couldn't sit complaining about it contradicting itself) without actually reaching the realms of interesting.
As I said before the acting for the most part was terrible. His name escapes me for the moment, but "Turkish" from the film "Snatch" was the token white american hero who loses his partner in the line of duty, fakes an american accent appaulingly and was an altogether useless character/ plot elemnent. He didn't need to be there, it was amistake to allow him to be so.
The rest of the supporting cast were just as irrelevant but not quite as annoying.
The concept behind the film is thus: There is not just one universe, there are many - a multiverse (according to the film). There is not just one you, there are also many. All the universes are connected and there is a balance - an equilibrium - between them all.
However, as travel between universes becomes possible (though very exclusive and policed) a rogue element seeks to abuse this and upset the balance in order to become... "the one".
As I understand it, becoming the one means killing off all the other versions of you in all the other universes. So, of course, the rogue elememt is Jet Li. As he kills another version of himself, that versions energy is divided between the remaining versions (making them faster, stronger and smarter).
We join the film at the point were Li kills the second to last version of himself. (So as you can imagine he is pretty strong, smart, etc).
This leaves us with a fantastic hollywood cliche, 2 versions of the main character, one good one bad.
I thought, the concept was quite an interesting one really, however in true Hollywood fashion - the plot was completely ignored in favour of filling the film with pointless explosions and bad acting.
Surprisingly enough, one of the better performances in the film was Li, his grasp of enlish is fairly sound by now and his kung fu stylings were as good as ever, PLUS quite inventive in places. The fight scenes were quite Matrix-esque but different enough for it not to be annoying the slow mo bits were always impressive and therefore it didn't feel like the gimic was being overused. The fight scenes are definately worth seeing.
However, the rest of the film was, in a word, rubbish. It made as much sense as it needed to (as in you couldn't sit complaining about it contradicting itself) without actually reaching the realms of interesting.
As I said before the acting for the most part was terrible. His name escapes me for the moment, but "Turkish" from the film "Snatch" was the token white american hero who loses his partner in the line of duty, fakes an american accent appaulingly and was an altogether useless character/ plot elemnent. He didn't need to be there, it was amistake to allow him to be so.
The rest of the supporting cast were just as irrelevant but not quite as annoying.
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MoJoJoJo wrote:
Broken Arrow was great, so was Face Off and M-I:2
Nearly all of Woo's American films have been half decent at least
- - -
I'm gonna have to agree with you, for once.
I saw The One, back in January on pirate and thought it was awful. Also, I watched Ghosts of Mars, a John Carpenter film with a great cast, awful storyline and awful everything else. So, if you wanna go watch that, then think again.
I think Jet-Li is great. His Kiss of the Dragon, is fantastic and although not quite believable, it is still a great film to watch. The One was dismal. In every department.
Broken Arrow was great, so was Face Off and M-I:2
Nearly all of Woo's American films have been half decent at least
- - -
I'm gonna have to agree with you, for once.
I saw The One, back in January on pirate and thought it was awful. Also, I watched Ghosts of Mars, a John Carpenter film with a great cast, awful storyline and awful everything else. So, if you wanna go watch that, then think again.
I think Jet-Li is great. His Kiss of the Dragon, is fantastic and although not quite believable, it is still a great film to watch. The One was dismal. In every department.
If that's the case, then you ought to watch Fist of Legend. No CG, just old-fashioned fight scenes with limited use of wires too.
I enjoyed the film, but I am rapidly losing faith in any kung-fu movies that don't star Jackie Chan. If Li was any good at kung-fu, surely he doesn't need all of his bad special effects - the whole flying-through-the-air thing sucked, because the effects looked completely non-real.
The same happened in Romeo Must Die - all the big scenes were computerised, rather than actually genuine martial arts.
Come on Hollywood, if they're capable of kicking the crap out of people in really cool ways, let them.
The same happened in Romeo Must Die - all the big scenes were computerised, rather than actually genuine martial arts.
Come on Hollywood, if they're capable of kicking the crap out of people in really cool ways, let them.
Best Jet Li Film: Fist of Legend IMHO :P
Tiltawhirl wrote:
> All do yourselves a favour and pick up Once Upon A Time in China or
> any of the Shaolin Temple movies, that's proper Jet Lee non of this
> Westernised rubbish.
Thankyou! At least one of you monkeys knows what Jet Li is about.
Romeo must die? Pah!
Kiss of the dragon? Rubbish!
Jet Li was at his best in the Once upon a time in china films (I like the third one best). The Shaolin Temple films are also much better than this western tripe.
Oh, and Bruce Lee is a monkey too! His films are made to massage his ego and entertain 13 year old chimps. the choreography sucks, watch Jacki Chan films - that guy can dance! (though you'd be better off sticking to the earlier stuff).
My theory with Kung Fu is that if its directed by Yuen Woo Ping, its worth a look, most of the rest can sod off!
> All do yourselves a favour and pick up Once Upon A Time in China or
> any of the Shaolin Temple movies, that's proper Jet Lee non of this
> Westernised rubbish.
Thankyou! At least one of you monkeys knows what Jet Li is about.
Romeo must die? Pah!
Kiss of the dragon? Rubbish!
Jet Li was at his best in the Once upon a time in china films (I like the third one best). The Shaolin Temple films are also much better than this western tripe.
Oh, and Bruce Lee is a monkey too! His films are made to massage his ego and entertain 13 year old chimps. the choreography sucks, watch Jacki Chan films - that guy can dance! (though you'd be better off sticking to the earlier stuff).
My theory with Kung Fu is that if its directed by Yuen Woo Ping, its worth a look, most of the rest can sod off!
Broken Arrow was dismal!
M:I-2 and Face/Off weren't bad for what they were but they paled in comparison to his Chinese films. Hard Boiled is his best and comparing M:I-2 and Face/Off to that, is like.....well, I dunno. But they're really bad in comparison. :-D
And The Corruptor was pretty bad too. It didn't help having Mark Wahlberg in it, that's for sure.
The Replacement Killers though, is by far Woo's best American film. That's good.
M:I-2 and Face/Off weren't bad for what they were but they paled in comparison to his Chinese films. Hard Boiled is his best and comparing M:I-2 and Face/Off to that, is like.....well, I dunno. But they're really bad in comparison. :-D
And The Corruptor was pretty bad too. It didn't help having Mark Wahlberg in it, that's for sure.
The Replacement Killers though, is by far Woo's best American film. That's good.
"John Woo makes American films and you get crap like Broken Arrow and The Corruptor"
Broken Arrow was great, so was Face Off and M-I:2
Nearly all of Woo's American films have been half decent at least
Broken Arrow was great, so was Face Off and M-I:2
Nearly all of Woo's American films have been half decent at least
MoJoJoJo wrote:
> Yes but the terrible voice overs ruin the mood of films like that
>
>
On the DVDs though, you usually get the option of whether to watch in English dubbed or Subtitled.
> Yes but the terrible voice overs ruin the mood of films like that
>
>
On the DVDs though, you usually get the option of whether to watch in English dubbed or Subtitled.
Tiltawhirl wrote:
> All do yourselves a favour and pick up Once Upon A Time in China or
> any of the Shaolin Temple movies, that's proper Jet Lee non of this
> Westernised rubbish.
I know what you mean. And I agree. Same thing always happens with. John Woo makes American films and you get crap like Broken Arrow and The Corruptor (Replacement Killers was alright) when his Hong Kong ones were fantastic.
Chow Yun Fat's films were always better in Hong Kong as well. Although it doesn't really matter with him, because no matter how bad the film is, he is the man.
Anyway, Jet Li pales to Bruce Lee. Go watch Way of the Dragon. THAT'S a martial arts movie!
> All do yourselves a favour and pick up Once Upon A Time in China or
> any of the Shaolin Temple movies, that's proper Jet Lee non of this
> Westernised rubbish.
I know what you mean. And I agree. Same thing always happens with. John Woo makes American films and you get crap like Broken Arrow and The Corruptor (Replacement Killers was alright) when his Hong Kong ones were fantastic.
Chow Yun Fat's films were always better in Hong Kong as well. Although it doesn't really matter with him, because no matter how bad the film is, he is the man.
Anyway, Jet Li pales to Bruce Lee. Go watch Way of the Dragon. THAT'S a martial arts movie!
Yes but the terrible voice overs ruin the mood of films like that
Twin Warriors was laughable because the dubbed over voices were so bad
Twin Warriors was laughable because the dubbed over voices were so bad
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