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: Martial Arts
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.
District B13 (2004)
I don’t know. Perhaps I’m burned out on action films, particularly from action films with flashy stunts that don’t serve much of a purpose. In the end, “District B13” is a string of action sequences featuring shoot outs, fight scenes, and acrobatics, and not much of a story or characterization to keep us watching. I mean sure, the action scenes are great, but I couldn’t pretend to care when I wasn’t sure who was who and what the grand plot of the entire film is supposed to be.
Transporter 2 (2005)
I’ll admit, I was not a fan of “The Transporter.” Granted, I’m a big fan of Jason Statham, the man drips bad-ass whenever he’s on-screen, but as far as “The Transporter” went, it just wasn’t that good. This sequel however, is something I truly enjoyed. It’s better than the original, and obviously, it’s a big plus, because I want to like these movies. This sequel attempts to add more humanity to Frank, while dispensing of any annoying sidekicks, so this time, he has no women who follow him around, and he has no assistants to dispense with the one-liners. Frank, as a favor to a friend, has agreed to drive around a child on his spare time. He picks the young boy up from school and drives him around for his parents. He’s also managed to bond with him, as you’d guess.
V for Vendetta (2005)
If you’re expecting an average comic book adaptation from “V for Vendetta”, then you’re out of luck. McTeigue’s film is both an excellent action film, and a brutally intelligent political thriller fixed to the modern socio-economic and political currents with biting satire, and an almost demented subtle commentary that only those in touch with the current political events can and will catch on towards; suffice it to say “V for Vendetta” is far from your typical superhero actioner. Set in a semi-Orwellian society, the Wachowski’s altered the eighties era story Moore set to the political current in his home country to coincide with America’s direction and its current tide of terrorism; Moore’s hero V is a pure terrorist, by many definitions, but this hero is also a freedom fighter.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
About a little under a year ago, a filmmaker named Russell Emanuel sent over a film called “Girl with Gun”, about a single girl who has to balance her single life, career, and job as a hit man all at the same time. I loved that movie and it was a little under twenty minutes long. That film, an independent film, was fun, light, and breezy and managed to grasp its concept with enough entertaining novelty, that it felt too damn short. With “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, I didn’t get that feeling. And I wanted to enjoy it, I really, really did. But I couldn’t. And why? Well, mostly because “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” takes itself much too seriously. One thing I can’t begrudge “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” for is its excellent direction.
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.