Gun n' Rose (1992)

Definitely not a Sweet Child of Mine

Cobbled together is the best way to describe Gun n' Rose, for all its star-studded cast brings to the table we end up surrounded by tiresome comedy routines and a script that feels like it was written in a drunken afternoon with the added challenge of fitting in as many gangster flick clichés as possible. There's little to no structure with this Clarence Ford-helmed mess, only existing to serve one purpose; give its stars as many opportunities to look cool as possible, the effortlessly badass Andy Lay in particular, oozing charmisa throughout. The action is completely over-the-top, but effective in that acrobatic guns blazing style, with some brilliantly choreographed and inventive set pieces sprinkled throughout the film's rapid runtime, however, the horrendously disorienting editing is what sadly kills it; all those fancy moves are nothing if you can't follow where everyone is in terms of proximity to one another or even master a basic cut. The cast feels rather wasted or just flat-out misplaced here, Leon Lai is blandly intense while Simon Yam gets almost nothing to do, Lau is admittedly one of the film's saving graces but it's easy to see how his smarmy persona can quickly grate on the viewer. Even more out of place is Alan Tang, who uses an army of stunt doubles to achieve dizzying stunts that he clearly isn't suited for as he can barely jump two feet off the ground. Since he's also the producer of the film, Gun n' Rose ultimately feels like a well-staged vanity project more than coherent entertainment, still some decent music, a killer main theme, choice performances and fun action do make up for the film's shortcomings; there is undoubtedly a fan base for this film, although, sadly, I am not amongst them.

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