Sammygirl
Moderator
Registered: April 2004
Location: Boston
Posts: 5529
|
|
Review Date: Fri July 15, 2005
|
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $10.99
| Rating: 5
|
|
Pros:
|
Kung fu like the Village People would\\\'ve wanted it
|
|
Cons:
|
DVD has technical issues; kung fu has skill issues; costume guy has emotional issues
|
|
This film can by no means hold a candle to the groundbreaking stuff Jackie Chan was turning out around the same time, or the tightly choreographed fights that one expected from the Shaw Brothers films in their heyday. But if you were one of The Village People, or ABBA, or Disco Stu -- well you\'d probably be in Nirvana. I mean, you rarely see kung-fu heroes, male AND female, running around in mini-skirts. Especially in mini-skirts with sexy Indian-style fringe, and bright white gogo boots. Grrrrowwwl!
The plot is uncomplicated, in that very complicated Hong Kong way. You know -- if you don\'t pay close attention to the dialogue, and get up to go get some ice cream between fights, then you completely lose track of who\'s who and what\'s what. Then again, even if you keep track, you\'ll probably be confused. So just go get some ice cream already, relax and don\'t worry about it.
Basically, there\'s some guys in hot fringed miniskirts working for an evil general with a long beard, and they\'re attacking some other guys in hot fringed miniskirts working for a good general with a long beard (and exactly the same color outfit as the evil general, go figure). What makes him good, I dunno. I mean, both sides appear to follow the classic filial-feudal economic relationship wherein the impoverished masses feed the random desires of the privileged few -- but I digress. Contrary to my wishes, Che Guevara and Fidel Castro do NOT appear halfway through the film to lead the proletariat to freedom. The heroes who DO appear are just the most fabulous people you\'ve ever met, except that they all have hideous gigantic moles on their backs -- I\'d recommend they all see a skin specialist, and quick. One of them is kinda good-looking, but when he puts on an S&M-inspired studded leather miniskirt thingy to do battle -- well that was that. Not that there\'s anything wrong with that! Oh, and there is also a very short, nappy-haired woman running around in shorts and a vest. I think she is supposed to be a hobbit.
The fights are stilted, slow, under-rehearsed, with little actual kung-fu skill appearing (except some inspired falls from the uncredited stuntmen/extras who were perhaps the only people NOT phoning it in). The special effects are -- well come on, they\'re cheap. But the filmmakers seem to be embarrassed by them, cutting quickly away from all the \"flying\" shots. It\'s a shame really, because at that point it would\'ve just upped the camp to show the board the flyers were doing their Supermans on.
My biggest point of contention though is not the movie, but the DVD it\'s placed on. It does not play on my DVD player. I did get it to work on both my computer, and my PS2, so the day was saved. But it is a little annoying thing, is all I\'m sayin\'.
Anyway, see it, or don\'t. There\'s 19 more movies in this box set.
|
|
;)
;)
