Ok. Seems like I've not been doing much lately but watch DVDs. So with 'Sucker Punch' out of the way, I am going to bring you two other stale movie reviews. One is the re-imagined 'A Chinese Ghost Story' or in Cantonese, 'Sin Nui Yau Wan' starring Louis Koo and Liu Yifei and the other of course is 'Fast Five'.
Seems like Hong Kong is doing what Hollywood is doing - rebooting some famous franchises. Director Wilson Yip or Yip Wai Shun has re-imagined 'A Chinese Ghost Story'. The original was done by Tsui Hark and starred the late Leslie Cheung and Joey Wong in the lead roles. That film became a classic and the de facto standard for Hong Kong romantic ghost stories.
How does this new and re-imagined movie stack up? Not very well. They've updated the look and added snazzy special effects but special effects does not a movie make. In this rebooted film, the romance is now between Siu Sin, the ghost and Yin Chek Ha, the Taoist demon hunter instead of Ning Choi San the scholar. Ning is relegated to the role of a supporting actor but there is still some romance going on.
The movie starts with Yin going up against Siu Sin and ending up falling in love with her. Yin cannot bear to destroy Siu Sin and things end badly for him when 3 of his brother in arms dies in a battle with Lou Lou, the 1000-year old tree demon that is controlling a host of other demons and ghosts to do her eveil deeds that includes Siu Sin. The Taoist demon hunters manages to seal Lou Lou away but it's only a matter of time before she regains enough strength to break the seal.
Meanwhile Siu Sin loses her memory when Yin decides that they cannot be and uses one of his magic weapons to block out all her memories of them together. Even though he wants to end the relationship, Yin hangs around the area where Siu Sin and the evil Lou Lou is entombed. Some way to end a relationship, huh? Time passes and Ning Choi San shows up to help the villagers in the vicinity and thus the 3 of them gets embroiled in a love triangle.
In the end the movie fails as the plot is not fully developed and there is zero chemistry between Yin Chek Ha and Siu Sin as well as zero chemistry between Siu Sin and Ning Choi San. You never care enough to root for them as their performance is never compelling enough to draw you into the story. Lou Lou's role is wasted as she is never much of a threat to either Siu Sin nor the Taoist demon hunters.
I should have just watched the original 'Sin Nui Yau Wan' one more time.
Verdict : 2 stars out of 5
Next up, 'Fast Five' the fifth film in 'The Fast & Furious' series. In this movie, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster reprises their roles along with a host of other characters returning from the previous movies.
The emphasis of this movies is less on the cars and street racing and more on the relationship between Torreto, O' Conner and Mia. They are fugitives of the law and on the run. Down and out on their luck and resources, they end up in Rio, Brazil. A botched jobs of stealing some cars puts them at loggerheads with the local crime big boss, Hernan Reyes.
Tired of running and with Mia being pregnant, they decide to pull off one last job and retire. They assemble their team to pull off a heist where they plan to steal Reyes' money. To add more challenge to the job, Dwayne Johnson plays officer Hobbs, a DSS agent that is tasked with bringing Torreto and O' Conner to justice when 3 DEA agents are killed by one of Reyes' men during the botched job and Torreto's gang is framed for the deed.
This latest installment offers more humour and shifts away from the street racing scene. It's more like 'Ocean's Eleven' on fast cars. Although the planned heist is not as slick as that in "Ocean's Eleven", it is still and entertaining watch. Logic is thrown out the window for entertainment especially during the last action sequence but don't let that distract you from the movie. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride!
Verdict : 3 stars out of 5
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