Kung Fu Dunk (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

Unless you are a big fan of the various pop stars in “Kung Fu Dunk”, the film suffers from a weak plot and bad utilization of its characters.

Image © 2008 Emperor Motion Picture (International Ltd).  2009 Showbox Media Group Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Kung Fu Dunk

DURATION: 99 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, Dolby Digital Chinese 2.0 Mandarin, Chinese 5.1 Mandarin & English 5.1, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Showbox/Cine Asia

RATED: Suitable only for people 15 years and over (Contains moderate martial arts violence and bloody injury)

RELEASE DATE: July 13, 2008

Directed by Kevin Chu

Action Director: Tony Ching Siu-Tung

Written by Kevin Chu, Lam Chu-Wing, Anne Wang

Executive Producer: Albert Yeung, Wu Tun, Ren Zhonglun

Producers: Albert Lee, Xu Pengle, Fargo Pi

Associate Producers: Wang Tianyun, Wade C. Yaho, Jennifer Chang, Catherine Fu

Director of Photography: Zhao Xiaoding

Edited by Chen Po-Wen

Music by Ko Ishikawa

Costume Designer: Shirley Chan

Production Designer: Yee Chung-Man

Starring:

Jay Chou as Fang Shijie

Eric Tsang as Zhen Li (Uncle)

Gang Wang

Charlene Choi as Lily

Wilson Chen as Ting Wei

Baron Chen as Xiao Lan

Wang Gang as Wang Biao

Will Liu as Li Tian

Ng Man Tat as Master Wu

Bryan Leung as Master Fei

Eddy Ko as Shi Jie’s Master

Kenneth Tsang as Wang Yi Wan

Yen-ping Chu

Orphaned from birth, Jay is raised in a martial arts school, and becomes a prodigious master in the ancient art of Kung Fu. When he is expelled for overshadowing his teachers in an epic showdown, he quickly learns that lightning fast reflexes are good for more than just fighting, and agrees to play for the college basketball team in exchange for information on his long-lost family. After a dazzling display of backboard-breaking slam-dunks, alley-oops and gravity-defying circus-shots, he emerges triumphant as the team’s new star-player. However, when faced with a headlong race to the finals against a team of legendary brutality, he soon discovers that skill alone will not bring home the gold… Showcasing the breathtaking talents of one of action-cinema’s brightest new stars, Kung Fu Dunk delivers a high-velocity, hoop-tastic thrill-ride that will have you cheering for overtime!

I can easily remember the hype that was built around “Kung Fu Dunk”.

First the announcement of pop star Jay Chou playing the lead character and then word that the film would be based on the Japanese manga/anime series “Slam Dunk” caught  the attention of many who were familiar with the series.

But then things changed and the next thing we heard is that the film would be like a “Shaolin Soccer” and feature Kung Fu with basketball.  Needless to say, it sounds unusual but “Shaolin Soccer” was an enjoyable film that you just have to sit back and see what Director Kevin Chu and writers Kevin Wu, Lam Chiu-Wing and Anne Wang had put together.    And the collaboration of Taiwan, Hong Kong and even mainland Chinese talent definitely raised the curiosity of fans of the various talent in the film.

“Kung Fu Dunk” is about an orphaned boy named Fang Shi Jie (played by Jay Chou).  When he was a baby, someone left him with a homeless man.  The homeless man gave the baby to a Kung Fu instructor and at this school is where Fang would be raised.

But one day, his instructor/master was experimenting with a technique and somehow ended up freezing himself to death.  With his master gone, Fang would grow up to become the punching bag by the principal of the school.  And one day when he was to be the punching bag by the principal, Fang played the part right but because he wore a Shaolin iron vest, the principal was upset and kicked Fang out of the school for the night without dinner.

Depressed about not eating, Fang hung out in the city and started throwing cans from a long distance right into a garbage can.  This catches the eye of the down-and-out street hustler Wang Li (played by Eric Tsang).  Wang challenges Fang to throw a coin in his throat from a long distance and if he can, Wang would take him out for dinner.   And Fang does just that and thus, gets a free dinner for the night.

Because of his skill, Wang comes up with an idea to use Fang to win some money at a local gambling club via bet of darts.  Fang keeps winning by throwing the darts directly at the center of the target and because he had won so much money, the local triad boss, Brother Hu has his men try to take back the money from Wang.  But Fang, being raised from a Kung Fu school ends up defeating every gangster at the club (and also destroying it).

What Fang doesn’t know is that the Kung Fu school’s owners are working for Brother Hu and are being paid by him.  Because one of their students has caused considerable damage at the triad boss club, Fang is punished and beaten by his teachers and is expelled from the school.

With nowhere to go, Wang takes him in and decides to use his talent by having him join the First University basketball team.  Fang meets the girl of his dreams, manager Lily (played by pop star/actress Charlene Choi) and her brother Ting Wei (played by Bo-Lin Chen), the captain of the team.  Fang learned that the Captain hasn’t been the same after losing an important championship match against a former teammate and has now become an alcoholic. But Fang learns that although he has talent because of his shooting technique and martial arts training, he doesn’t have the basketball discipline.

So, the Captain Ting Wei and their slam dunk expert Xiao Lan (played by Baron Chen) teach him the value of teamwork and how to improve his game and hope they can make it to the basketball championships and get revenge against their former teammate and now rival Li Tian (played by Will Liu) who leads a team of martial arts brutes.

VIDEO:

“Kung Fu Dunk” is presented in 1080p.  For the most part, the picture quality looks very good on Blu-ray and much better than its DVD counterpart.  Blacks are nice and deep, I didn’t notice any aliasing or compression artifacts but for the most part, the PQ was very solid for this release.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

Where the Blu-ray shines in PQ, unfortunately this 2008 Blu-ray release is missing a lossless soundtrack.  Not sure why but “Kung Fu Dunk” is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Mandrarin and English Dolby Digital 5.1.  The audio quality is fine, but the fact that the audio is not lossless is a bit of a letdown, especially since the film has its share of action sequences.   The Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 track is good but the English dub is on par with a lot of the English dubs for Asian films these days.  It’s not my preference but I did re-watch the film in English and for the most part, it works.

As for subtitles, subtitles are presented in English and the good news is that I didn’t notice any bad subtitling errors or anything problematic.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Kung Fu Dunk” comes with the following special features:

Please note: This is an all-region Blu-ray but there are times with European Blu-ray special features will not work on American Region A players.  For “Kung Fu Dunk”, I was able to play the special features with no problems.

• Original Theatrical Trailer – (1:36) The original theatrical trailer.
• Interview Gallery – Featuring interviews with Jay Chou (11:49), Charlene Choi (7:31), Kevin Chu (5:26), Zhao Xiaoding (1:32), Lichun Lee (2:47), Ni Yan (2:03), Ka-Yan Leung (1:02), Gang Wang (1:41), Chen Bo-lin (3:14), Eric Tsang (4:34), Wu Tun (4:22), Baron Chen (4:01), Shaun Tam (1:33), Bo Huang (:52), Man Tat Ng (2:21) and Jacky Wu (2:51).   Subtitles are in English for the interviews.
• Behind-the-Scenes – The following behind-the-scene features are in five parts: The Action (7:05), The Stunts (2:52), Training with the Bus (1:03), Shooting on the Streets (2:16) and Shooting Hoops (3:13).
• Storyboard – (:51) Featuring the hand drawn, digital and printed storyboards.
• Lost Scenes – Featuring two behind-the-scenes footage not used in the final cut: Cheerleaders (:39) and Punishment (:44).
• Just For Fun – (3:00) Featuring Jay Chou playing the piano and having fun on the set.

First, let me just say that I was really looking forward to this film.  As a big fan of music from Jay Chou and even TWINS member Charlene Choi, I felt that their pairing would be something unique and enjoyable.  And as a fan of Eric Tsang and seeing how he was there for HK actor Nicholas Tse when he first started out on film, I figured that Tsang would be a wonderful father-like figure for Jay Chou’s character in “Slam Dunk”.

But when I heard that the film was going to be more like “Shaolin Soccer”, my skepticism for the film reached it’s peak.  I couldn’t fathom it.  If anything, memories of the video game “NBA Jam” came to mind and I imagined there would be high flying, crazy looking slam dunks and after watching this film, I was right.

The good news is that some action sequences were quite entertaining and the cameo by a few of the stars from “Shaolin Soccer” making their appearance on “Kung Fu Dunk” was pretty cool.  But unfortunately, the plot of the film is extremely kitschy.  After seeing Chou in “Initial D”, I figured that this film would bring him more emotional depth but he’s playing a stoic character and if anything, putting the talent in a martial arts position.  Nothing wrong with that, since it’s common to see this in films, especially HK films.

But the build-up to the battle against the rivals wasn’t as impressive as “Shaolin Soccer”.  You felt the emotion of when the team was beaten by their rivals.  In “Kung Fu Dunk”, everything was all over the place and to make things worse was the inclusion of “time travel” via martial arts.

Unfortunately, unless you are a hardcore fan of Jay Chou, Charlene Choi or any of the talent…”Kung Fu Dunk” is a film that has its few enjoyable moments but mostly moments because of a badly written screenplay that the characters are not well-utilized, too many variables thrown in and as mentioned, everything looked like it was all over the place.

Where “Shaolin Soccer” focused on team dynamics, taking on a bad team and a relationship angle for the protagonist, in “Kung Fu Dunk”, the viewer has to deal with not just those elements but also a relationship between Fang and Wang, Fang looking for his real parents, the inclusion of his martial arts teachers in a basketball match (which was not done well at all) and did I mention “time travel”.  “Shaolin Soccer” kept things simple and utilized its characters effectively, director Kevin Chu may have been the action director of “Shaolin Soccer” but somehow his directorial effort in this film was poorly executed and part of it has to do with its ambitious screenplay of trying to have so many characters with too many variables.

As for the Blu-ray, you do get a lot of special features and a good looking film but unfortunately no lossless track.  Granted, I can chalk that up to this being a 2008 release (and its Hollywood counterparts doing the same thing for their older Blu-ray releases).

Overall, “Kung Fu Dunk” is a film that I was longing to see and in the end, I felt disappointed.  I’ve read that there will be a sequel and I can only hope that the writing for the film is much better than the first.

Hong Kong pop duo TWINS to reunite

They were the media darlings in the early 2000′s and pop duo TWINS feat. Gillian Chung and Charlene Choi were hot on the music charts and also on the big screen. But in 2007, scandal hit Gillian Chung after Edison Chen’s computer revealed nude photos of the starlet (and other starlets). With the 10th Anniversary of the TWINS coming up, the duo are once again reuniting.

CRIEnglish.com has reported Gillian Chung telling the press about the happier theme of their return, “There are many different obstacles in life; I have already seen through these and will not think about unhappy things. Through our actions, we hope to prove that humans are not only capable of rising from their downfalls, but are able to bounce back even higher than before.”

Leave Me Alone (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

Easily one of my favorite HK films of 2004!  Ekin Cheng shows us once again why he’s one of Hong Kong cinema’s top stars!

Leave Me Alone (2004)

CAST: Ekin Cheng, Charlene Choi, Kenny Bee, Lawrence Chou, Jan Lamb, Chi Wah Wong

Directed by Danny Pang

DURATION: 97 minutes

COMPANY:  Tai Seng Entertainment

2004 had several cool movies come out of Hong Kong and among my top 5 movies was “Leave Me Alone”.

The story is about two twin brothers (both played by Ekin Cheng). Yiu Chun-Man is a gay fashion designer who has problems with holding any relationships because of his fast paced work life. He is visited by his twin brother Yiu Chun-Kit, who came from Thailand to visit his brother in Hong Kong.

Both were separated when their parents divorced, so both brothers wanted to catch up on how their lives have been in the last ten years. Yiu Chun-Kit is not aware that his brother is gay but he makes the trip to Hong Kong with more than just a reason just to meet his brother and catch up on old times.

One morning, Yiu Chun-Kit borrows his brotherʼs car and runs into a woman and gets into an accident. Since he doesnʼt have his license, it is assumed that Yiu Chun-Man is the person who got into an accident. As Yiu Chun-Man awaits in the hospital while his brother is in a coma, his brotherʼs phone rings and it appears that Yiu Chun-Kitʼs girlfriend, Jane (played by Charlene Choi) needs her boyfriend back in Thailand to sign papers for a loan. Since his brother is in a coma and due to the accident, it is assumed that Yiu Chun-Man is in a coma, he goes to Thailand in his brotherʼs place. It is there that you learn that the life that Yiu Chun-Kit has lived has been borrowing money from loan sharks who are expecting payment within the next few days and if they donʼt receive the loan money from the bank, Yiu Chun-Kit and Jane will pay with their lives.

They donʼt get the loan and Jane and Yiu Chun-Man (using his twinʼs identity) are on the run, trying to find ways to get money to pay off the debt. Unfortunately, Jane tends to do what she wants and it tends to get her into trouble and leads to both she and Yiu Chun-Man taking on triad bosses. “Leave Me Alone” is actually very entertaining and the camera work is very well done.

Ekin Cheng does a fantastic job playing two different roles. Yiu Chun- Man has frilly hair, gay and is passive and Yiu Chun-Kit is Mr. Cool, he dresses well but very pro-active. Eking Cheng did a great job that you reallyndonʼt question him playing two roles at all.

As for Charlene Choi (member of the music duo, TWINS), I actually found it very entertaining to see her play another different type of role. I also found her much more mature and sexy in this role.  This time around, the chemistry between Ekin and Charlene works a lot better this time around compared to their first pairing in “My Wife is 18” due to their different types of roles played and frankly, their age difference. Charlene Choi is quite sexy in this film but what may be a long stretch for many HK viewers is to see Charlene play an active role as a gun-toting, action heroine and Ekin Cheng standing back in his role as Yiu Chun-Man (Well, Yiu Chun-Man is a fashion designer) and to see these two work with each otherʼs characters, definitely works.

The action scenes are typical HK fun with guns ablazing, unimaginable ammo coming from one clip, car chase segments and much more. The computer generated graphics are good and not as fake looking. Although an action movie, the film offers another story about relationships. Since both brothers have to assume the otherʼs identities, they get to learn more about how each brother has lived, their faults and why they both have problems with their relationships and the people they love. As for the DVD, I found the video quality very good, presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen and the audio quality is served in DTS or Digital 5.1 and sounded sweet during the action segments on my home theater system.

The DVD offers several special features such as a making of featurette, teaser, trailer, production notes and other extras or usual offerings on HK DVDʼs. If there was one negative that I found, itʼs not more of a negative but more nitpicking is that if you select the title menu button on your remote, it will take you directly to the movie and not the title screen. Thus you need to select the DTS or Digital 5.1 sound first after the copyright screen to access the title menu and not by remote.

“Leave Me Alone” is a fun film that was among my top 5 for 2004. Ekin Cheng does a wonderful job of playing two different characters, Charlene Choi showing us that she can play something new and to find an actionfilm that a good balance of humor and not so much seriousness was nice to have and I recommend people to check this DVD out.

6 AM (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

Pop duo, the BOY’Z – Kenny Kwan and Steven Cheung in their first major film along with the TWINS.  Unfortunately, this film fails in so many levels.

TITLE: 6 AM

CAST: Kenny Kwan, Steven Cheung, Charlene Choi, Gillian Cheung, Ray Lui, Cheung Tat Ming

DIRECTED BY: Adrian Kwan

DURATION: 88 minutes

COMPANY: Tai Seng, Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1, Mandarin Stereo 2.0, Subtitles: English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese

Since the film “Papa Loves You” debuted and featured TWINS vocalist and actress Charlene Choi and the film debut of BOY’Z members Kenny Kwan and Steven Cheung, it was
inevitable that there soon would be a film starring the music pop duo.

“6 AM” is a story about Bowl (Kenny) and Noodles (Steven) who are your normal teenage guys who love TWINS and in one unfortunate day, has a run-in with restaurant workers (and wannabe gangsters) led by Razor (played by Cheung Tat Ming). Upon trying to run away from Razor and his goons, the duo happen to be
in the wrong place, in the wrong time.

The triad mini-boss has to meet with the big boss and needs to look for more members temporarily for the day so that it appears he has many young gangsters under him. Unfortunately, for the BOY’Z the get recruited.

At the meeting with the big boss (played by Ray Lui), due to a situation where he needs to stay calm in order to protect his family, he asks for each of the triad members to take part in a lottery and take part in a “Glory Mission”. And who wins the lottery? Itʼs our unlucky duo.

Their mission is to kill a rival gang member who is usually by himself after leaving the gym at 6:00 a.m. and to do it within 30 seconds after the clock strikes 6. With taking this glory mission, the duo are given $300,000HK and there is no way out. You either get killed or you end up in prison.  And thus the storyline of “6 AM” with the duo trying to find ways to spend their money and reflecting on their lives on a day that may very well be their last.

Written by Tsang Kan-Cheong (Coscreenwriter of popular Stephen Chow films “Shaolin Soccer” and “Kung Fu Hustle”) and directed by Adrian Kwan (“Miracle Box” and “If U Care”), 6 AM definitely has a problem within its storyline and pacing.

Itʼs not because it is a movie to promote a pop music idol duo but the problem is trying to make two clean cut music stars as triad members. From watching them nearly spend
all their money on gambling to paying to be part in a scene in a film starring the TWINS. Watching them in a variety of ways to how they will spend their money became very boring and irritating.

Granted, some parts of the film were enjoyable but itʼs very difficult to sit back and watch this film comfortably. A “Young and Dangerous” film, this is not. This movie is about reflection about oneʼs life an what has been taken for granted. Unfortunately, by the time you get to the “reflection” part of the film, you had to sit back an watch how the duo will spend their money.

A third character, Bowlʼs sister (played by Katie Kwok) has several scenes which serves as a break after a BOY’Z scene.

Although serving as a break after long BOY’Z scenes, the scenes just show her as an unfavorable character as she shows off how tough she is and how she is a girl who caught her boyfriend cheating with another girl. I felt that this film shouldnʼt even wasted so much of unnecessary
scenes on her.

My favorite part of the film? Of course, I mentioned the TWINS and this is possibly one of my few favorite parts of the movie as Bowl and Noodles spend a lot of money to be part of a scene with Charlene and Gillian (playing themselves). But there are not many scenes that I enjoyed and the scene with the BOY’Z and TWINS could be seen as cute or very irritating.

As for the DVD, I have the Tai Seng US release which doesnʼt feature any special features but a trailer for the film. This film joins many other Asian films that feature popular music stars. Mainly showcasing the talent and not having much of a storyline.

Where TWINZ members Charlene Choi and Gillian Cheung fortunately have had the opportunity to be part of really good films as individuals, not sure if the BOY’Z will ever be parted and be featured individually in their own films anytime soon because “6 AM” is a disappointment.  This film joins many other Asian films that feature popular music stars. Mainly showcasing the talent and not having much of a storyline. “6 AM” is a disappointment.

I will say that BOY’Z duo, Kenny Kwan and Steven Cheung have potential and we will see more of them in the future, unfortunately for the present, their major debut in “6 AM” is unfortunately disappointing.