The audience for “Silver Hawk,” will be split in two groups. One group will despise it for being the usual fluffy science fiction blockbuster malarkey, while the other group will enjoy it for the guilty action and camp. And you can’t really blame either for their thoughts. Michelle Yeoh’s actioner “Silver Hawk,” makes no bones about itself. It’s a really ridiculous and utterly moronic action film. You can see that by the fact that only within a minute the action begins without much preamble to recollect. Silver Hawk leaps over a bridge on her motorcycle and gets to work. Like a “Matrix” fan girl, Lulu Wong is a vigilante who, with her silver outfit, sneaks around stealthily, dons some odd sunglasses, and kicks the asses of anyone who dare confronts her during a mission.
Tag Archives: Asian
The City of Violence (Jjakpae) (2006)
Imagine “Stand By Me,” combined with “Four Brothers,” and a hint of “The Warriors,” and what you’ll get is “City of Violence,” a stunning send-up of seventies actioners that makes no bones about its attitude. It doesn’t take itself seriously, and its never too sentimental, but the relationships are felt, and that invokes enough incentive to care about the characters involved in the plot. Ryoo’s action thriller is a fantastic piece of Korean cinema that combines themes of friendship, betrayal, and family into a beautiful piece of gangster action. Tae-Su, an officer, emerges back into his home town after his best friend Wang Jae is killed in a back alley.
It Gets… A Little Confusing
Art by Trevor Gentry Birnbaum
Infection (Kansen) (2004)
“Infection” is a moral tale in the vein of “The Telltale Heart”; a low rent basically abandoned hospital with a staff of merely five or six people find themselves in the throes of an epidemic one fateful night. An ambulance rushing a diseased man to safety struggles to find a hospital and leaves him at the doorstep of the hospital which refuses to admit him. “Infection” is an often bleak and grim moral horror story about the power of our conscience in spite of our loss of control under circumstances. Much like Poe’s story, “Infection” is the tale of our minds becoming our worst enemies and Mochiai focuses on stark almost flawless shades of green and red to convey the psyche turning on the characters, and express the sense of disgust within the low-rent hospital. Mochiai’s film is spooky and through disgusting and gruesome imagery, we learn of this disease which becomes a manifestation of their guilt, and their dirty deeds.
Ichi the Killer (Koroshiya 1) (2001)
If I could best sum up Miike’s film “Ichi the Killer” in only one sentence, I’d use the word: Havoc. Because Miike’s film about a sadistic mobster attempting to find a sadistic avenger is Miike’s all out masturbatory practice in sadism, torture, and sheer lunacy. If you thought the last half hour of “Audition” was utterly insane, try sitting through the entire 135 minute running time of “Ichi”. Told through many narratives almost like a darker “Pulp Fiction”, Miike’s entire film is a sheer test on his audience, a test of stomach turning, cringe-inducing sadism that he explores without pulling his punches.
Audition (Ôdishon) (1999)
I don’t know what to say about “Audition”. For a film that’s rapidly become a standard viewing for the horror genre, I’m just dumbfounded. Why hasn’t the mainstream noticed Takashe Miike yet? I mean fully noticed. This man is a genius. He’s not just some director giving us gore, gore for no damn reason (*cough*EliRoth*cough*) but a man who provides the gore as a way of expressing his story. “Audition” is one of those films. It’s a reflection of Miike’s sick mind, a man who twists his audience in so much directions, that you leave feeling violated and stunned. With “Audition” I was offended, I was shocked, and I was stunned.
H (2002)
It’s difficult to create an original and exciting murder mystery these days, especially since there have been so many murder mysteries that have promised an explosion and really just ended up a dud. Sadly, “H” is really no different. While it’s not a horrible piece of filmmaking, it’s sadly just standard. Mismatched pair of officers, both with their own sordid pasts, an elusive killer, a genius serial killer taunting the officers, gruesome murders alluding to abortion, body part and blood splattered clues left behind, red herrings, plot twists, and barely any exposition, all for a surprise ending. I’ve seen it all before, and “H” never rises to the occasion to challenge that formula and create its own niche upon which to break free from, so it remains a typical cop drama with a great ending.