Dragon Tiger Gate (2006)
Starring: Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue
Description: Super action star Donnie Yen and director Wilson Yip reunites in the highly anticipated movie Dragon Tiger Gate after the successful SPL. Together with Nicholas Tse (New Police Story) and Shawn Yue (Dragon Squad), Yen forms an invincible trio in this movie adaptation of a hugely popular and long-running Hong Kong comic series. Turning Tony Wong's comic series spanning 30 years into a 95-minute film necessarily requires a lot of trimming in the storyline. However, the form of a motion picture allows for more dynamic action and visually stunning fighting scenes than printed comic books. Packed with hard-boiled action sequences, the film features 5 large-scale fighting scenes, all choreographed by Donnie Yen. Donnie Yen is Dragon, who leaves the martial arts organization Dragon Tiger Gate years ago and is now working under a Mafia Ma Kwun (Chen Kuan Tai, who has starred in many Shaw Brothers swordplay films). Ma Kwun gets the "Lousha Plaque" which grants him the exclusive rights to do business with Shibumi, the evil leader of the Lousha Sect. Dragon's long lost brother Tiger (Nicholas Tse), still living in Dragon Tiger Gate, accidentally gets hold of the Plaque, and the two brothers finally cross paths... The film eventually climaxes in some spectacular fighting sequences set in the mysterious Lousha headquarters, with Dragon, Tiger, and Turbo Shek (Shawn Yue) fighting against the savage Shibumi. Apart from astounding action, Dragon Tiger Gate also contains some touching moments, and that is where director Wilson Yip's strength lies. The movie co-stars Yuen Wah from Kung Fu Hustle as the Kung Fu master of Dragon Tiger Gate. Two pretty mainland actresses Dong Jie and Li Xiaoran plays Ma Kwun's daughter and the Lousha Girl respectively. Tony Wong, creator of the original comic series, makes a cameo as a martial arts expert, and fans of the original comic series will surely find his appearance remarkable.My Review: I watched this movie last month December 2006 and I thought this was a decent film, but I actually had higher expectations after watching the film SPL from the director Wilson Yip (Yip Wai-Shun). The movie is very entertaining based on the popular Chinese comic book, the fight scenes were a little bit exaggerated, but it did give Hong Kong movie fans something to watch at least in my opinion considered that there aren't many martial art films in that industry. The fight scenes were choregraphed nicely and since it's based on a comic book, you can expect fight scenes to be real and fake at the same time. There is actually a plot to this film as well, it can be draggy at certain scenes. It's one of the better films for the year 2006 and it's definitely something you don't want to miss.
Overall: 9 out of 10. Must Watch and great for your collection!
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Dog Bite Dog (2006)
Starring: Edison Chen and Sam Lee
Description: Pang Jr., a young killer from Cambodia, arrived in Hong Kong to assassinate the wife of a judge. But once Pang finished his job, he got into a misunderstanding with his agent and was left astray on the city's unfamiliar streets.At the same time, cop Sam and his team of detectives, Lam, Keo, Cheung and Wai, got the order to investigate the crime scene. Wai soon found Pang with his intuition and started pursuit.
The two men became like two wild dogs to attack each other, neither one wanting to stop until the other side fell!
My Review: This film is quite distributing and violent, something we haven't seen in the Hong Kong film industry. The film actually demonstrates the "I hate the World" factor or people who find their life meaningless. The shocking part was the performance by Edison Chen and Sam Lee, their performances are extraordinary by far the greatest in both of their career. You may have seen Edison Chen in those pretty boy roles or cop roles; however, his role on this film will blow your mind away. He does the complete opposite of all the films he made so far giving his best performance of his film career. Sam Lee also known for his goofy roles has a breakthrough role in the film that will give you the "WOW" factor. He delivers scenes that can be labeled as a psychotic cop. This crime thriller isn't your average crime thriller Hong Kong film, it's disturbing because it doesn't portray life as important. It's inhumane considered Edison Chen being a ruthless killer and it actually glorifies the violence and killings throughout the film. The movie has a plot that stayed focus throughout the film, but the ending may be a bit too much for the average movie goer.
Overall: 8 out of 10. Must watch if you want to see two actors Edison Chen and Sam Lee performing at their best. Skip it if you hate violence or in this case extreme violence.
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Love Undercover 3 (2006)
Starring: Fiona Sit, Takuya Suzuki, Hui Shui Hung
Description: The Love Undercover franchise gets a new leading lady for Love Undercover 3! With Fong Lai-Keun (Miriam Yeung) off in Europe watching the World Cup, her commanding officer Chung Sir (Hui Siu Hung) needs a new pet project to occupy his time. Enter Fan Shi-Wao (Fiona Sit), an ultra-perky delivery girl who saves Chung and his team from an auto accident. As a reward, Chung shepherds Fan through cadet school, and allows her to join his largely useless cop team. But Interpol efficiency expert Suzuki (Japanese heartthrob Suzuki Takuya) has a special assignment for Fan: to go undercover on her own team to report on Chung's time-wasting ways! Will Fan sell out her own colleagues for a chance at love with Suzuki?My Review: Did you know that all great movies comes in three? The Chinese Ghost Story, A Better Tomorrow, Once Upon a Time in China, Infernal Affairs, etc, you probably get the picture. In my opinion this was a total disappointment, since Mirian Yeung did not return for the third installment. Fiona Sit did not deliver the expectations that we had for the first two films. The plot was uninterested and the role by Fiona Sit did not engage me because I slept for about 30 minutes on this film. The supporting cast was the only bright spot providing the usual laughs in part one and two. There was no plot to this movie, this was a typical time killer provided by the usual Hong Kong movie standard these days. You would expect better from Joe Ma (the director that created the previous two Love Undercover). Bottom line here was if there was no Miriam Yeung to begin with, then there shouldn't be a Love Undercover 3.
Overall: 1 out of 10. Skip it unless you have nothing to watch and need something to kill time.
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On The Edge (2006)
Starring: Nick Cheung, Anthony Wong, Francis Ng, Rain Li, Derek Tsang
Description: Undercover police officer Harry (Nick Cheung) resumes duty as an average cop after turning in triad leader Dark (Francis Ng). He then gets partnered with Lung (Anthony Wong), a tough veteran cop who often harasses gangsters, that is, Harry's former friends. Harry's triad buddies, like Mini B (Derek Tsang), want nothing to do with a traitor, and his girlfriend Cat (Rain Li) end their relationship because he is a cop. Meanwhile his police colleagues equally distrust him, suspecting that he is still working for the wrong side. Facing hostility from all sides, Harry is on the verge of falling over the edge.My Review: After watching Infernal Affairs and watching this film, one thing is for sure being an undercover police really sucks. The story is awesome because it follows an undercover cop's life after resuming his police duties. Nick Cheung gave a solid performance in this film, which is different from his normal roles of wackiness. The story itself and the strong cast is worth the watch. After watching this film, you'll probably wonder why do anybody want to become an undercover police the first place? Life after undercover isn't what you expect, there's no glory involved in either side.
Overall: 7 out of 10. Must watch, great drama and something different for a change in a Hong Kong film
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