Was this review helpful to you?
When Aryoung has to lay low in Korea with a bunch of goofball gangsters, the gangster farce begins. I actually enjoyed most of the comedy, especially the translator's liberal and less than literal translations. The five disparate characters bonded quickly into their own familial gang.
Shu Qi's deadly, fearless, and taciturn character played well off the three stooges of crime. I'm always pleased when the female lead isn't a damsel in distress. In this case, she played the rescuing or avenging hero more often than not and she was glorious when she was fighting.
This is one of those strange mash-ups of straightforward crime story and ridiculous crime comedy. For the most part it worked for me. Shu Qi can conjure up chemistry with just about anyone but I never bought the romance between her and the mullet-headed and not too bright leader of the Stooges, and would have been happy if they had not introduced a romance between them. Other than the forced romance and some of the over the top slap stick comedy I enjoyed this strange amalgam of Hong Kong and Korean movie.
Was this review helpful to you?
But with barely any of what makes them great.
Also, where’s Zhang Ziyi?
Not that I dislike Shu Qi but that’s not what I was promised at the end of the last one!
_________________________________________
Stunts - 81/100
Narrative - 51/100 | Lesson number 1 when making a Hong Kong Triad movie: length should be 90 minutes, not 120 minutes, unless there’s an interesting dynamic going on like in the previous movies. This sequel was excruciatingly boring because it’s half an hour too long. And the absence of Shin Eun-kyung severely hamstrings this movie. Clearly, she was the central pillar that made this whole thing work, at least for me.
Fight Choreography - 78/100 | Steady camera with exciting athleticism always gets a thumbs up from me on the fighting front. Shu Qi is obviously doubled but they did a good job with it. Minus points right there because of the huge missed opportunity of having Ken Lo be the final boss in your movie and not have him throw a single kick. -sigh- It is our lot in life as Ken Lo fans to suffer, is it not? He always plays overconfident mob bosses so why the hell don’t they make him back up that confidence? He certainly can. Oh well, enough ranting about that…
Enjoyment - 42/100 | Hold that thought, still got one more in stock. The translator was so annoying, I couldn’t figure out whether she was a comic relief character or one you’re supposed to root for... or totally hate? I’m lost on this one.
I’m all for their attempt to make a girl empowerment movie but it just falls flat on its head. Stick with the previous entries in my opinion, you get a fully-developed character that’s much more interesting. And a better story. And better comedy. Better everything.
Was this review helpful to you?
The acting was very good by the leads but the casting just didnt work for me. Lee Bum Soo was perfect and lovable as always but the Chinese actress who plays the lead wasnt likeable at all. I think it could have worked if they had her speaking Korean when she got to Korea at least instead of speaking Chinese the entire movie. I did like the supporting characters who were apart of LBS's gangster posse.
Overall this movie has a lot to entertain but i wont be watching it again cause i really did not like the main female character at all.
Was this review helpful to you?
Comedy was decent though repetitive. For a movie from this way back, I guess the cinematography wasn't too bad, but perhaps could've been better.
Acting was, hm... Relevant to the script, and the script was pretty much written by a stoned chimpanzee, so I can't blame it's state.
In all honesty, if it wasn't Korean these people wouldn't rate it so high.
Was this review helpful to you?
