Reviews

A Low budget Wolf Warrior

Poor old Vincent Zhao he just can’t catch a break, Zhao started his career promisingly filling in the shoes of Jet Li’s Wong Few Hung and starring in a string of pretty decent films like Tsui Hark’s The Blade and Cory Yuen’s Fong Sai Yuk. His more recent stints sadly regulated him to the realm of web films reprising in his most popular role as Wong Fei Hung in Unity of Heroes and Warrior of the Nation. 2021 sees him both starring and directing Counterattack which is described as a military film in the same vein as Operation Red Sea and Wolf Warrior.

Let’s cut to the chase Counterattack is a pretty bad, the plot is so paper thin filled with insanely bad dialogue and poorly implemented set pieces.

The film is filled with many questionable moments like its opening where we see Vincent Zhao donning a jet pack pursuing a speed boat all the while holding a sniper rifle ready to assassinate the person on board. First of there’s no way he can keep a steady aim let alone hold the rifle scoped in, secondly any element of stealth is removed and lastly why shot such a scene when you clearly don’t have the budget in shooting convincing CGI.

The mid section we have Lu and Bai’s romantic relationship but its done with this haphazard montage where it then zones in onto a clock face where the dials are spinning to indicate time lapsing. Not only is all this cheesy but removes any urgency that the film is suppose to have. Within there bonding section Lu teaches Mo how to use a sniper rifle and in a ridiculously short time she is a crack shot. There is a lot of misplaced comedy and Vincent Zhao never feels comfortable with the comedy.

Surprisingly Zhao gives the foreign actors a lot of screen time, the gesture is commendable but not necessarily a good thing considering how poorly written and acted these moments are. Shouldering most of the acting chops is China based foreign actor Diego Dati best known in Jackie Chan’s Vanguard. Zhao himself does try hard but maybe a bit too hard in channeling Wu Jing or even Donnie Yen but he fails to surround his performance with a good script or direction.
I would also like to know why the film is set in a fictional South East Asian country everyone speaks woefully bad English instead of their native tongue. Bare in mind almost none of the actors are native English speakers so you have these awful dialogue sections in English and at times it's incomprehensible.

So let’s talk about the action which they are plentiful but sadly lacking any real punch to them. As mentioned before the opening is an assassination attempt that goes awry and transitions to a shootout but its shot in a very boring manner. Then we have 2 chase scenes through the jungle, one set during the day and one during the night but neither chase provide any intensity or real danger. Midway we get our real fight scene between China based martial artist Myra (From the Scott Adkins film Abduction), her character is pretty bland and have no real threat but the audience can see that she is a very competent martial artist. There fight is framed well and possess some nice impact but it is rather short lived, it is very reminiscent of the Wu Jing v Scott Adkins fight from Wolf Warrior. As the film neared the end I was concerned that they were going to end on a whimper, with of very by the numbers infiltration scene but thankfully we do end with a fight scene that is rather ill fitting to the scene but at least we end with a fight scene. The fight does borrow heavily from Donnie Yen vs Wu Jing fight from SPL, in which both dagger wielding combatants size and test each other out with strikes and slashes. Its a decent fight scene but is occasionally ruined by some odd wire gags. I’m glad to see Zhao managing to shed his more wushu styling and embrace a more popular MMA technique employing grappling into the mix which feels more fitting to a modern setting.

As negative as I was towards the film I feel there is minor enjoyment to be had. I’m a sucker for Vincent Zhao films so I can deem mild enjoyment but to everyone else they can avoid this.

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It looks cheap and is still overstuffed but at least in kind off ties up the story

Despite being a tad more focused than the previous film it still fails to cram the whole host of characters and side stories successfully. Even with the 3 female leads front and centre the film struggles to make their love for Wuji feel affecting this in turn makes there story arch lacking any emotional impact. The aesthetic from the previous film has transitioned over to this film with the cinematography still looking low budget and sets looking cheap, though this is probably due to the fact that the 2 films were shot simultaneously. To highlight how lazy the script is there’s this one moment in the film where there’s this random off screen narration explaining how our protagonists has returned to the mainland but this is a one off and has never been used before or even after. The film does kind of tie off everything but there was always this threat of the government but this is not resolved, so I guess there’s room for a sequel.

While the first film had guest appearances from heavy hitters like Donnie Yen and Louis Koo neither of them returns here. Elvis Tsui who guest appeared as the Lion King in the previous film has a more substantial role but he hams it up big time, his blind man acting is overly exaggerated. Yun Qianqian returns as Xiao Zhao but she is given even less to do, Janice Man also returns as Zhao Min and this time around she is featured more heavily. This time round Man feels like she fits more comfortably in the role this may be due to the fact that she is no longer a leader figure and has more of a relationship with Wuji. Doing a lot more of the heavy lifting this time round is Wong Jing regular Sabrina Qiu as Zhirou, though she was in the previous film she had less to do there, here she has to go through multiple stages of anger, sadness and joy but sadly Qiu lacks the thespian skills to handle these fluctuations of emotion and her eventual turn of character is so left field and forceful. Which brings on more next problem, there is just too much double crossing and triple crossing involved, which would have been fine but things move along at such a brisk pace so things are often glossed over or quickly resolved.

Action wise the film does improve on the first film but only marginally, they are more substantial and does have a bit more hand to hand combat before devolving into CGI overload. Action features more frequently but set pieces are a tad uninspired. Again Raymond Lam shoulders much of the action but there’s little to make him stand out, it’s a case of some hand to hand fighting and then resorting to energy blasts to resolve matters. Jade Leung gets a nice little fight scene albeit brief with Yu Kang, nothing spectacular but more welcome than the CGI fights. There’s a fight midway through that is oddly comical with physiques all ignored, it’s hard to describe but it sees the 3 assailants floating in mid-air in a triangle. Wirework is hit and miss with a sequence seeing various characters free falling from a burning tower and its oddly slow how they fall not helped by the atrocious CGI background. There are way too many times a new powerful technique or skill is introduced just to be just as quickly countered. The ending is so badly staged with all the martial arts masters converging on the villain to rescue someone but none of them do anything with only Wuji having to deal with it. The end does see a fight with martial arts actor Shi Yanneng but as with the first film its more of a show case of energy blasts and chi kung fu.

In fact watching these two films I felt like I was watching episodes of Dragonball or Naruto with everyone’s skill level constantly fluctuating, more powerful characters being introduced and a McGuffin weapon to counteract other the weapons.

The film fails to give sufficient time to all the side plots and a trilogy would probably have benefited the overall story. If you enjoyed the first film that I’m sure you will enjoy this film.

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A beat for beak remake of Wong Jing’s original film but done much worse

Some of you may remember back in 1993 Wong Jing directed a film called Kung Fu Cult Master starring Jet Li. It was meant to be a 2 parter with a sequel lined up but the 1st film failed critically and commercially. Subsequently the film garnered a cult following but there wasn't much demand for a remake. Wong Jing along with Hong Kong DP Keung Kwok Man brings us an updated version of The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber tale, titled New Kung Fu Cult Master 1 as the title suggest this is the first in a 2 parter. The release on streaming platform already tells you about the quality of the film.

The film sees the 6 martial arts schools wanting to eradicate the so called evil faction but each school has their own agenda and wants to be ruler of the martial arts world. We follow Zhang Wuji (Raymond Lam) a child born from the father of the good martial society and the mother of the evil martial society. After years of seclusion Wuji's parents decides to return to the martial arts world but there arrival is met with the 6 martial arts schools who kills Wuji's father in the process. Years pass and the now adult Wuji with his new found friend Xiao Zhao (Yun Qianqian) overhear that all the years of feud between the good and evil factions were orchestrated by the government in secret lead by Zhao Min (Janice Man). During their little escapade Xiao Zhao is injured and Wuiji has to take her to Guang Ming mountain the base of the evil sect but due to a scheme of the 6 martial arts schools those at Guang Ming mountain mistake Wuji as a fraud. During this moment the 6 martial arts school storm the mountain to confront the evil sect and end them once and for all but Wuji manages to prevent this from happening resulting in the 6 schools retreating. Wuji is made the new leader of the evil faction and he goes to warn Wudang members of an impending attack but it's too late and he is confronted by Zhao Min.

The story is actually more complex but it will be difficult for me to cover the large amount of details present in the film. There are just way too many characters even for 2 films to cover. The film is based on the novels by famed Wuxia author Louis Cha whose complex story has been adapted many times before and I fondly remember watching the story unfold on a TV serial, it had so much time to flesh out characters and plot points while this film struggles to effectively juggle so much that's happening often skipping onto events rapidly and introducing characters with no explanation or contribution to the story.

The film is produced by the Shaw Brothers company which owns TVB so we are presented with a host of TVB actors, with Raymond Lam headlining the title character. Sadly Raymond Lam processes little charm and is rather bland in the role. The biggest names are of course Donnie Yen and Louis Koo but both are extended cameos only. Louis Koo looks bored and is killed of near the beginning as for Donnie Yen it felt like he could be played by anyone and appears during the beginning and near the end with little to do. Neither Janice Man nor Yun Qianqian can do justice to what Sharla Cheung and Chingmy Yau did for the roles. Janice Man in particular lacks the authoritive nature that the role demands often coming across as weak.

Budget constraints are apparent throughout with sets looking straight out of TV series and the costumes are just so cartoon. Lighting is not much better again looking like a TV serial just spruced up with some added shadows here and there opposed to the washed out look we get from TVB. It’s troubling when you consider that one half of the directors is a DP of renown for works on One Night in Mongkok and Seven Swords. Then there are scenes with a sparsity of extras and it really makes the scenes look small scale.

Comparisons to the original Kung Fu Cult Master film is inevitable and man does this film pale in comparison. The film almost follows the original film beat for beat. The structure and set pieces are pretty much the same but done much worse.

The fights looks like they are done for TV, they are quick and devoid of any creativity. CGI and wire work is the order of the day. Raymond Lam is no Jet Li but they could have tried doing more with him, instead we get these awkward fight scenes that feels tired and uninteresting. Donnie Yen gets a very mundane fight during the beginning and nothing after that. Then we have set pieces rip straight from the original Kung Fu Cult Master, the original we saw Jet Li versus Cho Wing in an impressive display of kung fu skills, this new version sees Raymond Lam take on martial arts actor Oscar Li where horrible CGI is featured throughout. It then has the audacity to implement the same situation where we see Oscar Li’s eagle claw ripping into the pillar which was something that played out in the original film. The ending is an orgy of CGI, energy beams coming out of the swords and things explode. Even with a host of credible fighters such as Donnie Yen, Xiong Xin Xin, Shi Yanneng, Yu Kang and Louis Fan not an ounce of quality fight choreography comes from this film. There’s also this awkward undercranking that is used occasionally in the film and this also filters into the fights.

One positive is that there’s none of the crass humour that featured in the original version.

I think my biggest enjoyment from this film was spotting celebrities like Elvis Tsui, Mars, Jade Leung, Shi Yanneng, Xiong Xin Xin, Louis Fan but none of this makes the film worth sitting through.

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I almost skipped over this movie when it was showing on a Kaiju marathon. That would have been a mistake. The War of the Gargantuas was absurd monster fun.

Unlike a lot of Toho monster movies where the monsters don't show up for half an hour (Godzilla I'm looking at you), the monsters showed up early and often. The big green Frankenstein/Gargantua introduced himself when he fought a giant octopus at sea. The enormous sasquatches were called Frankensteins because their origins were from a lab. For the millionth time, Frankenstein was the name of the mad scientist who created the patched together monster, not the monster. But I digress. The initial brotherly love between the gargantuas was sweet until the ginormous good guy realized his bro was a man-eating monster.

In one scene, a singer aboard a ship belts out what felt like the longest song in movie history called "The Words Get Stuck in My Throat". An interesting choice of words right before the ship was attacked. Big Green liked to eat people whole and then spit out their clothes when they got stuck in his throat.

The actors were about what you'd expect from a monster movie from 1966. I was surprised to see Russ Tamblyn who starred in West Side Story (Riff) show up as one of Frankenstein's scientists. He looked like it was the last place he wanted to be, and I've read he was difficult to work with. Too bad. The people who came to watch the movie were looking to have fun and he missed out on the party. Ifukube Akira's score, familiar from his work in the Godzilla movies was well done as always even if some of the work sounded as if it were spliced in from other films.

What I was most impressed with were the miniatures. The houses were detailed, the forests were well done as well as the weaponry and ships. At times in these movies, the miniature buildings were obviously cardboard, these miniatures looked well crafted.

The biggest drawbacks were the monster costumes. They were bad, not King Kong (KK vs Godzilla) moth eaten costume bad, but not great. On the positive side, the costumes did allow for greater body movement, so unlike Godzilla and his buddies, the monsters' movements were less stilted. Many of the scenes from the movie featured one or both of the Frankensteins which made this flexibility advantageous.

This is a movie only for people who enjoy these old monster movies. You can't go into it expecting great acting and a riveting, logical storyline. War of the Gargantuas was ridiculous, but fun. As always, I score older niche movies on a curve.

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Standard enemies to lovers movie, but with some open conversation about sex

This movie is like a standard version of the trope mentioned above but there were some sweet scenes and cute moments. It's not super creative in terms of plot aside from the doctors using their medical expertise to insult each other. There's some signature Kdrama elements like parental pressure to get married, a distant parental figure, and a past trauma that needs to be overcome. It does touch on some sexual topics not usually explored like some reasons men may feel unconfident in their ability to perform and women feeling the need to be "tighter" to prevent men from cheating. Because of this, it seems like they knew they'd lose the more conservative viewers, so they decided to go completely in the opposite direction added in some softcore scenes that don't really serve any purpose in the movie other than to show off Ha Joo Hee's body. I was hesitant to mention that in the only review on this movie in case people only watch it for that reason, but it did come out a while ago and a lot of people probably already know. And I think that if people end up watch the whole movie even if just for that reason, they may end up becoming more educated and aware of some of the stigmas related to sex.

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Read the manga synopsis

Protip: if you want to even remotely not be slapped in the face by this movie, read the wikipedia synopsis & characters for the manga Hot Gimmick. It will give you enough context to stomach this movie. You get a general sense for why everyone is so tragically messed up af.

Ngl, I only watched this movie bc of Mizuki Itagaki (orange hair guy). I would not watch it again. I cringed a lot. But at least I wasn't as horrified as I would have been without the context of the manga. You understand a bit more of reasons for why each of the MLs are so toxic bc they themselves were traumatized. This is not a healing movie. More like "here's how effed up lives become but they kinda end up ok maybe?"

Idk, I don't think the extra time I got to spend watching Mizuki Itagaki was worth it. If you must watch this movie, try reading up on the manga by the actual books themselves or just the wiki synopsis.

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A complete satisfying BL movie ever!

First of all, I haven't ever watched Senjou no Bokura (mini series). So I don't have other thing to compare.
But, alas, this movie is undoubtedly incredible. Beg my pardon, I think this movie is just low-budget low-quality underrated movie that no one suggests me to watch it, but now … I will let this movie director and producer to slap me on my face at the same time if I ever said that again. I don't exaggerate it.

This movie is a whole thing you can comprehend as a gays or fujoshis. There are sadness, cry, anxiety, confusion, pride, happiness, laughter, acceptance, and amazement in one package. You will not be overwhelmed by the plot or the flow, but you will not yawn in boredom too. Everything is sequentially organized at right time and right place. This movie illustrates enough the reality of gay struggle in this decade. You will find yourself relate to any of character's aspect. No one's doing good, but no one's wrong either. More or less, it can widen your perspective.

STORY
This movie delivers very great story. Characters get quite few background stories but those few are the most important. Like I said, we can relate to the story, characters, and events. All in the movie can happen too realistically. It begins with itty-bitty event that seems not particular, grows to love roller coaster, and finally faces the conflicts and climax.

ACTING/CAST
Main leads are impressive. Shirasu Jin portrayal of Itou's burdens pretty good, as well as Itou's lust. Nishi's cuteness and innocence are clearly showed too by Raiku's performance. I have no problem at all in the cast selection.

MUSIC
Firstly I thought that this movie will use fully Japanese songs. All the musics always enhance the emotion conveyed in the scenes. They are catchy too. Music department is worthy enough to get salary raise.

REWATCH VALUE
Umm, I think I must end my review. I will watch this movie again. You can join me. *wink*

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AN AMAZING REALISTIC SHORT MOVIE

This movie deserve multiple rewatch and an award for great story telling and acting.

An amazing healthy relationship depicted there between the two characters.

No complex plot
No many cast (just the two leads)
But focus was on telling the truth(based on true life events) and delivering the message they are trying to pass across.

The acting and delivery from the two leads were so impeccable you would think they actually are in a real life relationship. The message was very well detailed and told

An amazing ending.

The support they gave each other was too amazing.

His fear for having to deal with his now reality and trying to run away from it made me feel so emotional I could sympathize with him and the depiction of them having to know each other's habit made their relationship a whole wholesome one.

The confession at the end was very beautiful and one that would give any queer person hope if they watch this.

Truly Amazing

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Some privileged men with power suck (literally)

Before you watch this check the tags!

If you are here for the pretty faced fuckboys than back away... and go watch something else. If you feel like watching something slightly suspenseful that shows the less flattering side of MANkind, with a side od pretty faces (and nude bodies) this is not a bad place to look for it.

The movie starts off a bit slow and messy, but about half way in to it the darkness takes over and we get to see how one thing leads to another as well as the seemingly never ending circle or dare I say avalanche of blackmail abuse where one thing leads to another and just gets worse and worse... All to satisfy the never ending desire of the predator. This part is actually done pretty well and VERY graphic...

I am not sure I would say this is a great movie, neither was it very entertaining but the acting was pretty good some of the scenery lovely and well the suspense ok and the story may not be revolutionary but it is defiantly one worth watching so all in all a pretty decent movie.

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Full oF Action

This movie fully revolved around professional fighting, about the lives of three fighters in their younger days who became involved in a crime. They are forced to fight again due to their present circumstances or simply saying the need for money. The backstory is well written which shows the societal difference they faced due to greedy people and still live in it. They are professional fighters, so they cant use their force to fight when they see something wrong, otherwise, it would be against the rules. I felt really bad due to the backstory because, they were young unaware of the laws too, which the elderly use to manipulate the people and they couldn't do anything.

The actors tried their best with the script they were given. Younger actors also did an excellent job portraying the characters perfectly. The emotions they showcased made the backstory strong.
Hwang Jung Min portraying the noodle owner and a father had a delicate storyline and he nailed it. His struggle as a single father and the way he bonds with her daughter was magnificent.
Yu Jun Sang as the office worker fighting legend was also amazing. He finally broke off from the unhealthy friendship and chose something for himself.
Yoon Je Moon, well he always looks like a villain to me. He had a funny and friendly feel in the movie.

Because it has no unnecessary BGM, having silence and natural sounds is nice.

Although it's an action movie I would watch this again to see the mixed martial arts done by the actors.

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10/10 Would Recommend

If you are not good with gore and blood, I wouldn't suggest this to you. Im Si Wan did an amazing job acting his part. The storyline was well thought out and the ends met. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It was violent, exciting, and emotional. The main character was very likeable (in my opinion) and since Im Si Wan is very experienced in acting these types of characters, it was even better. I am someone who enjoys psychopathic main characters, and this satisfies it. The main character develops so much throughout the story but maintains his attractive qualities. Honestly, it reminds me of Parasite, as a comparison, because it was such a good, bloody, violent movie.

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Dear Dakanda...

The film takes us to two different timelines of the main character Khaiyoi, and tells the story of a shy young boy with a nonchalant attitude. The story brings us on a journey of people finding their love, and mustering up the courage to tell that person how they truly feel.

Although the story/plot was decent, I'll have to admit that Sunny's acting in his movie debut was not entirely convincing. I felt that you could've replaced him with anyone and the emotions the film brought would've been the same. Dakanda, Nui, and the other nurse's acting really carried the movie here.

I know there will be people that won't like this film, or find it boring. Somehow (ignoring the ML's acting), I found this film to be quite interesting and relatable. Most of us will probably have had this one friend for whom we've been gathering the courage to tell them our feelings, but it usually ends up being too late or never. The feelings of moving on and moving towards the next chapter of your life is often difficult, but necessary. On a personal level, that's what this film reflects upon me. Because of this, I recommend this film.

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