Avenging Fist (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

Loosely based on the “Tekken” video game, “Avenging Fist” is a fighting/action film with ups and downs.

TITLE: Avenging Fist

CAST: Lee Hom Wang, Ekin Cheng, Sammo Hung, Kristy Yang, Stephen Fung, Cecilia Yip, Yuen Biao, Chin-Kar Lok and more.

DIRECTED BY: Andrew Lau and Corey Yen

COMPANY: Deltamac DVD version with removable English subtitles.

Scientists experiment on Power glove are on the verge of success. Power glove is designed to active the unknown power in human’s brain to empower the force of human beings. Special agent Dark, Thunder and War 21 are the only survivors in that experiment. Ambitious War 21 gets evil. He captures Thunder with a power glove and disappears…He has become Dark’s fugitive for 20 years. Two decades later. War 21 comes back with brainwashed Thunder and his underground troop aiming to rule the world. Dark is failed to eliminate them but he realizes Thunder has a son who also has the DNA, which enable him to use the power glove to challenge War 21, eventually…

When I heard that “Avenging Fist” was going to be out on DVD, I had this grin on my face because of the “Tekken” hype surrounding the movie.

I finished watching “Avenging Fist” starring Ekin Cheng, Gigi Leung, Lee Hom Wang, Kristy Yeung, Sammo Hung, Stephen Fung and more.

Anyway, this movie has a lot of people you may have seen from many HK movies and a few big names which adds to the allure of the film. Also, the special effects are pretty cool and the futuristic look ala “Blade Runner” was very nice.

This movie is definitely not “Tekken”, it’s more like “Tekken”, “Street Fighter 2″ and “Dragon Ball Z” mixed together.

The only thing that “Tekken” has to do with this film is that it’s a fighting movie (ala videogame like fighting movie) and the main character (Leehom Wang, the guy who played Aaron Kwok’s partner on China Strike Force) has hair like Kazuya which is pretty cool. The only thing that “Street Fighter 2″ has to do with it is the fighting characters and Combat-21 (think M. Bison, or if you are in East Asia think Vega). The only thing that “DBZ” has to do with this is the ending segment which is reminiscent of how DBZ ended with Goku’s battle with Boo.

Anyway, the plot is humans can only use 10% of their brain. What would happen if humans can tap into the other 90% which is called the “Forbidden Zone”. Anyway in the past: Thunder was a guy who perfect the martial art of the “Avenging Fist”. As a police officer, he and two others – Dark and Combat 21 were chosen to test the power glove which would allow police officers to tap into the 90% but something goes wrong. Now it’s twenty years later and Thunder’s twins: Nova (Wang) and Belle (She was the female partner in “For Bad Boys Only”) are twins that have special talents. Nova for fighting and learning his dead father’s “Avenging Fist” and Belle with her power for producing heat. Nova never knew what happened to his father, his mother is not saying anything. Nova’s goal is to have a “Power Glove” for himself, not knowing what it’s for…just knowing that police officer’s use it to kick butt. The day of his birthday, his mom has a surprise but Nova and Belle are in for a surprise when their father Thunder reappears.

If anything, people who love video games especially fighting video games or anime will love this movie. As for the DVD, it only comes with a trailer. No special features which sucks. But this is the first time I seen a DVD featuring DTS 6.1 and Digital Dolby EX on a HK DVD. Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t feature great surround sound like GEN-X Cops but it’s ok.

English subs are good but with the typical typos in HK film.

All in all a great film for those who enjoy video game fighting movies and anime. If you don’t enjoy these type of movies, then you may want to pass.

 

Anna Magdalena (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

An enjoyable love triangle romantic comedy!

TITLE: Anna Magdalena

CAST: Kaneshiro Takeshi, Aaron Kwok, Kelly Chen, Eric Tsang and cameos by Leslie Cheung, Jackie Cheung and Anita Yuen.

DIRECTED BY: Hai Chung Man

DURATION: 98 minutes

COMPANY: Universe DVD version with removable English subtitles.

A truly romantic tale about three young people who starts out as adversatives and blossoms into something else. Our story begins when a gorgeous female (Kelly Chan) moves into the building and heartthrob Aaron Kwok and Takeshi Kaneshiro fall in love with their new neighbor. As usual, the womanizer, Aaron wins the young girls heart and all sympathy reaches out to Takeshi. Will Takeshi fight to win Kelly’s heart or will he remain true to this friend?

This movie has received rave reviews by many fans.  For me, I can’t give this the A+ rating that some fans have given it.  Some may call this similar to a Wong War Kai movie and that it’s artistic.  Here are a few reasons why I had problems with this beautiful movie.

The movie is about three characters.  Two guys who love the same girl.  One guy is a playboy (Kwok) and the other is just a smart guy (Kaneshiro).  Unlike most love triangle films, this one is pretty interesting how each of them are entirely different but somehow fate brought these three individuals together.

Well, without revealing who gets the girl, you will be taken into another reality in the second hour.  All of a sudden out of nowhere you are then taken to a “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” like story asking yourself, “What is going on?”

What is going on?  You really don’t know until the fantasy reality ends.  So, in a way it’s like watching a completely different movie.  Yes, Wong War Kai movies do that but this Hai Chung Man movie takes it to an extreme.

But once you watch everything, you start to understand what is going on and why the fantasy reality was shown.  The question is if you as a viewer enjoyed this type of pacing in the movie.

Otherwise the movie is beautiful and looks awesome on DVD.  The music is typical dialogue, so no expectations of major sound effects.  As for the DVD special features, just two trailers and Chinese/English cast info.

So, it’s a good movie but with a transition to another storyline that some people will enjoy and some people will dislike.

 

2000 AD (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

An exciting action thriller from beginning to end!

TITLE: 2000 AD

CAST:   Aaron Kwok, Phyllis Quek, Daniel Wu, Francis Ng and more.

DIRECTED BY: Gordon Chan

DURATION: 104 minutes

COMPANY:  Universe DVD version with Burned in English subtitles (All Region)

Aaron Kwok’s brother is a top shot computer programmer at a tech company that supplies technology to the U.S. military. The company has created a stealth virus that would allow them to disable or take control of any infected computer systems. Kwok’s brother finds out someone has been stealing the technology and he is soon framed for the theft. A rogue CIA agent turns out to be the head of the group stealing the technology. He uses his position to try to frame Kwok’s brother by enlisting HK secret service type agents.  Kwok’s brother is later killed…and Kwok then begins his quest to find out what really happened and who was trying to frame his brother.

I was really impressed by 2000 AD.  The movie has some intense action and each character in the movie are actually characters that you are interested in.

I think it’s also one of those movies that will go on to have more than one movie.  It has a lot of potential.  I also like the fact that they treat Aaron Kwok’s character not like a superhuman but a regular guy who doesn’t act like an action star.  Because the point of the movie is that Kwok’s character is involved because of his brother and he wants to find out who killed his brother.

As for the DVD, the DVD is one of the best from Universe.  The movie is beautiful to watch and the audio is pretty good too.  I wish they released this DVD on DTS though…

Since I don’t have a DVD-Rom, I don’t know if this movie carries the game, screensaver, and wallpaper like the VCD version does.

As for special features, although HK movies are known to having the typical character bios and trailers, this one has a making of featurette.  Unfortunately, Universe doesn’t subtitle the featurettes which sucks and includes the typical stuff that we usually get from Universe.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Photo gallery

• Character summaries

• Actor Bios

• Trailers for 2000 AD, Purple Storm, Gen-X Cops

• Making of featurette.

Overall,  a very good DVD with a great price!  Recommended!

 

Twelve Nights (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

Not a film to watch if you are on a verge of a breakup.  Overall, an average film at best.

TITLE: Twelve Nights

CAST: Eason Chan, Cecilia Cheung, Candy Lo, Nicola Cheung

DIRECTED BY: Aubrey Lam

PRODUCED BY:  Peter Chan

DURATION: 91 minutes

COMPANY: UNIVERSE DVD version with removable English subtitles (All Region)

When Jeannie sets eyes on Alan, she thinks she has finally found the love of her life. She gives a hundred percent of herself, but when loves slips away, she is left with nothing but a bitter smile. Twelve particular nights, from falling in love to drifting apart to tentative separation and, finally to the inevitable split, these nocturnal passages encapsulate the entire experience.

I understand that many people are going to watch this movie expecting a romantic movie about a couple who are having their share of difficulties.  Many people are expecting the typical love story that you see from many movies but “12 Nights” is not of those movies.

This movie is a unique story that goes into the faults of relationships and people who have had relationships similar to the two characters are going to have their eyes widened and think of their past relationships and say…”My gosh…that’s me!”

I have had similar relationships with similar situations seen in this movie. In the beginning, relationships are new and beautiful but sometimes with certain people, it can be suffocating.  How many times have you met friends or even yourself ask the question of why do I need to be in a relationship?  What is it that I want?  Why is it when I say I love you, the person doesn’t say it back?

As much as this movie takes the negative aspects of relationships to make an anti-relationship.  This movie is not targeted in my opinion for people who are looking for a relationship movie or a major plot. This movie is for people who have experienced relationships such as these characters in depth and during the movie you actually start thinking of the past relationships that are similar to this movie and wonder if you or that other person was a jerk.

This is not a movie to watch if you just broke up with someone either.  It’s one of those movies that after time has past, a good way to evaluate your own past relationships and mistakes and see it on screen, this time Cecilia or Eason is playing a part of you.

I think it’s a film that few will truly understand but that’s ok.  Hopefully for those who didn’t get it are doing a lot better in their relationships than the characters in this movie.

As for the DVD, the video quality looked good during the dark scenes. I really wasn’t keeping an eye out for artifacts though.  The sound was typical for a dialogue film.  The DVD special features is typical for other Universe DVD releases with information and trailers, nothing major.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• English/Chinese removable subtitles
• Synopsis and cast info.
• Trailers for “12 Nights”, “Tokyo Raiders” and “When I fall in love with both”

All in all, if you can rent it, then rent it.  But if your relationship mimics what I have mentioned in this review or what you have read in the summary, then this movie is probably worth the purchase.