The first film produced under Anthony and Joe Russo’s China-centric new venture Anthem Pictures (after some consulting on Wu Jing’s Wolf Warrior II), Zhang Chong’s Super Me follows Sang Yu (Darren Wang) is a struggling, penniless screenwriter on the verge of becoming homeless, and direly sleep-deprived for months: every time he falls asleep he is attacked by a demon and wakes up in terror. He spends his days evading Sange (Cao Bingkun), to whom he owes money for a script he didn’t write, and pining for Hua (Song Jia), his crush since college, now the owner of a coffee shop. One day, Sang Yu realizes that he can bring back treasures from his dreams, simply by grabbing them in the dream, and saying “I’m dreaming” at the moment when the demon attacks him. He becomes rich beyond his wildest dreams in a matter of days, but there’s a price to pay: his health deteriorates quickly, and a dangerous gangster (good old Wu Gang) sets his sights on him.
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SUPER ME (2020) review
Posted by LP Hugo on April 21, 2020
https://asianfilmstrike.com/2020/04/21/super-me-2020-review/
PRINCESS MADAM (1989) review
As a director, erstwhile Chang Cheh assistant Godfrey Ho is known as a master of schlock, many of his films being facepalm-inducing patchworks of stock footage, recycled scenes from older films, gratuitous sex scenes and quite often, random ninja appearances. He’s like the dark flip-side of that other Chang Cheh assistant, John Woo. Yet, a film like Princess Madam is proof that Ho was more than capable of delivering a solid, coherent and at times even affecting actioner. Moon Lee and Sharon Yeung star as police officers Mona and Lisa (aheheh), assigned to the protection of a key witness in bringing mob boss Lung (Yueh Hua) to justice for murdering a cop. During a failed ambush on the witness and her police escort, Mona kills the lover of assassin Lily (Michiko Nishiwaki), who later retaliates by seducing, then kidnapping her husband. But matters are complicated further by the fact that Lisa’s adoptive father (Kenneth Tsang) was complicit in Lung’s crime, which poses an agonizing dilemma to her.
Posted by LP Hugo on July 23, 2019
https://asianfilmstrike.com/2019/07/23/princess-madam-1989-review/
DETECTIVE CHINATOWN 2 (2018) review
As promised at the end of 2015’s delightful and very successful Detective Chinatown, the unlikely duo of straight-laced amateur detective Chin Feng (Liu Haroan) and his loud, unhinged distant cousin Tang Ren (Wang Baoqiang) are back, this time in New York, where they have been summoned by crime boss Uncle Seven (Kenneth Tsang), along with the other top detectives on a high-standard crime-solving app named “Crimaster”. Uncle Seven’s son was recently killed in a temple, and his heart was removed from his body while he was unconscious but still alive; the crime boss thus offers five million dollars to whoever can catch the killer. Assisted by Chinese-American police officer Chen Ying (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), the rag-tag bunch of detectives – which includes brilliant hacker Kiko (Shang Yuxian), Japanese dilletante Hao Yetian (Stashi Tsumabuki), as well as an Indonesian witch and many more – soon establish a link between this case and the murder of a woman, whose liver was harvested from her body while still alive. This makes Song Yi (Xiao Yang), an illegal Chinese immigrant who was spotted at both crime scenes, the primary suspect. Now it’s a chase to whoever will catch him first and collect the prize money – but Chin Feng knows this is too simple.
Posted by LP Hugo on February 10, 2018
https://asianfilmstrike.com/2018/02/10/detective-chinatown-2-2018-review/
FOR A FEW BULLETS (2016) review
With For a Few Bullets, writer and director Pan Anzi (who now goes by Peter Pan, believe it or not) returns to the genre of the zany Inner Mongolia-set period caper which he had already essayed with 2012’s Scheme with Me, starring Richie Ren. This time Pan had a bigger budget and larger stylistic ambitions. For a Few Bullets is set in the 1940s and tells of Chinese government agent Ruoyun (Zhang Jingchu) who teams up with con man Xiao Zhuang to recover a priceless imperial stamp that was found in a lost tomb by the Japanese army, whose leaders (including Kenneth Tsang) plan to use it in their bid to subjugate China. As they learn to trust – and even love – each other, race through the Gobi desert and deal with countless double-crosses, a dastardly Russian generals and a inhuman Japanese executioner, Ruoyun and Xiao Zhuang are helped by legendary hustler Shi Fu (Tenggeer) and his fiery wife San Niang (Liu Xiaoqing).
Posted by LP Hugo on July 28, 2016
https://asianfilmstrike.com/2016/07/28/for-a-few-bullets-2016-review/
ANGEL TERMINATORS (1992) short review
One of only two films directed by Wai Lit, most of the time a supporting actor in Category III films, Angel Terminators is representative of the more violent and dark variety of ‘Girls with Guns’ films. In a fairly simple plot (no surprise here), it follows the fight to the death between tough policewomen (Sharon Yeung, Kara Hui, Cheng Yuen Man), and a brutal mob boss (Kenneth Tsang) back from exile in Thailand and his henchmen (among whom Alan Chui, Dick Wei and Michiko Nishiwaki), with Carrie Ng as a woman with ties to both sides. Angel Terminators benefits from no-nonsense direction, well-staged – if hardly remarkable – action scenes, and a truly charismatic cast: Sharon Yeung has a steely presence that should have allowed her to do better than end her career in Godfrey Ho cheapies, Kenneth Tsang essays one of his classic scumbag roles, Michiko Nishiwaki is formidable as always, though her smouldering presence is underused, and Kara Hui, while absent for a long stretch, is always a joy to watch. It’s a tough, somber film that takes startlingly unpleasant detours (Carrie Ng’s character goes through an almost overwhelming amount of torment), and speeds violently towards an unforgiving ending, with a striking final shot. ***
Posted by LP Hugo on February 14, 2015
https://asianfilmstrike.com/2015/02/14/angel-terminators-1992-short-review/
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