Reviews

Underrated

I was hesitant to watch this movie because I saw the first review on here under this movie saying this is a miss.
THIS MOVIE IS UNDERRATED and lemme tell you why.
1. I was never a fan of song joong ki just because I thought he can't ACT and it is just face card. This movie proved it wrong! I was honestly impressed by his versatile acting. It might not be over the top but at least I now know that he CAN act.
2. The message is same old but the way they made it interesting and make you want to know what gonna happen is what matters.
3. I can't help but praise for lee hee jun acting here. I have been learning about this actor recently because of how versatile he can be in every drama and movies he is in. You may say it biased, but I gave much attention on him and noticed small things he did which made the scene more meaningful than ever. I don't want to put any spoilers here so I will just leave it as it is.

Overall, this is a decent movie that you can watch when you feel down and thinking your life is such a mess. People may take it differently but for me, this movie motivated me to do what I should be doing (studying) instead of doing nothing. There are people out there who trying this hard just to survive but you have a roof and food. This is one of those movies that makes you rethink about your choices.

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After so long, I decided to rewatch this movie again as much as I bemoan the absence of Jet Li as the titular Wong Feihung in this movie and the one after. But to be fair, though, I don't really blame Jet Li regarding his old issue with Tsui Hark... especially considering that he often gets hurt a lot during the earlier filming of the first three movies. So his concerns about how much he should be paid for his appearance did have some grounds, since Jet do try to give his best performance in every work he does, but all the many retakes can be taxing.

This movie follows not too long after the previous one, with the last Lion King competition concluded. And we even got a brief montage of the lion battle from the last movie with clever edits that showed Jet Li's scenes without really showing his face.

So, despite having returned the golden medal after winning the competition, another officer had gone to visit Poh Chi Lam to give back the medal to Feihung... as well as honouring his victory in the competition with a Dragon dance, which was almost ruined by Leung Foon, who thought the incoming dragon was yet another challenger. The new governor, Guan Shing Tao, soon informed Feihung that there would be yet another Lion King competition... this time against foreign teams. Meanwhile, there's another anti-foreigner group called the Red Lantern that started to kill any foreigner they encountered,

At first glance, this movie was almost exactly a repeat of the third movie, with the opponents for the competition coming from the eight-nation alliance, instead of the Taiping gangsters, with the bonus side story about the Red Lantern group... which was like the female version of the Red Lotus group from the second movie. Well, technically, the overall plot was pretty okay... once I set aside my personal bias about Jet Li. That said though, I really don't get the reasoning for the side romance with the 14th Aunt to be included. And I really can't get around the whole bit about Vincent Zhou's Feihung being somewhat bedazzled towards not only the 14th Aunt but also Lady Miao from the Red Lantern. Cos it made it appear as if this Feihung was slightly more of a womaniser (and easily distracted by pretty women) compared to Jet Li's Feihung. Aside from this bit... I don't really have that much of an issue with Vincent Zhou. And ugh, seeing 14th Aunt throwing herself towards Feihung at every possible chance can get annoying. Like yes, Siu Kwan told her sister to watch over Feihung for her while she's away... but I don't think she meant it like ... very close. And then there's also Lady Miao being drawn to Feihung... and this Feihung not really doing anything to discourage the affection felt somewhat out of character. And I don't get why 14th Aunt needs to be an almost exact clone of Siu Kwan? Why? I'm also voicing the same exact concern as that one student asking if their master was trying to hog all the sisters. Like it's fine if these two girls were shown to have a one-sided affection for Feihung, but to turn it like he also felt the pull made him feel out of character. Especially since in the first 3 movies, it took Jet Li's Wong Feihung a very long time to even admit that he liked Siu Kwan.

There were also quite a number of new villains in this movie, this time with the Germans as well as a few anti-Qing people... which is fine, I guess. Though I wished there were some mention of what happened to those Russians last time that tried to kill Eunuch Li, as well as the Taiping group. That said, since most of the other casts were more or less the same... at least I had other reasons to continue watching this movie. I mean, having Hung Yanyan still around as Ah Chat made me feel like there's still a trace of Jet Li's presence remaining, so I'm a bit okay about that.

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Almost .....

I was looking for a film/series that's new and exciting.

Great actors, great acting, great premise ... that is why I rated it this as high as I did, but wow was it filmed in such a long-winded unnecessarily dull way.

I was frustrated watching this, surely people don’t act/react this way in situations like this?
There were no back stories, we didn't know the characters so were not able to feel the pain, frustration and vulnerability.
We did not know why or how the plot was happening.
I prefer to watch shows where people show intelligence, so it is more fulfilling to watch. I fast forwarded through most of it. So much potential ... sadly, did not deliver.

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Delightfully Unhinged

I loved this off beat, unhinged, refreshing original movie. It's funny, playful and quirky but underneath it all, the movie actually addresses the question that many of us has at least once asked in our life time. namely...what is the meaning of life? Are we just all blindly following a scripted destiny pathway or can one really change ones life and destiny? Brilliantly, this serious question was asked in the silliest, craziest way by the ML "fighting" the aliens for the remote control ( aka to take over his life's control) on the mother ship. And yet. in the end he did stop fighting and let destiny take it's course.. . meaning, sometimes in life, no matter how hard one fights for something. it will never happen if it wasn't meant to be. Plenty of examples in my and many friends' real life story.
Bravo! Truly brilliant!! Loved it! Highly recommend it for people with imagination and for those who/whom are able to focus on and understand the actual meaning beneath the silliness.

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Can't believe that it took me this long to finally watch this movie fully; like I've seen bits of this movie as well as bits of the original when I was younger, but never completely.

I have to agree that this movie was one of the best movie that Jet LI had produced and it was sad that initially, this movie didn't quite gain popularity when it was initially released.

For a remake of the original Fist of Fury this movie was very well made. I love how multi-lingual this movie was, considering that the setting involved scenes set in Japan and China and involving the said people in either country. The dubbing works was also very well made that unless you have a very good ear you won't really notice the difference.

The fight choreography in this movie was also very well done. And I have to say that Jet Li was one of the very few martial artists who could really emulate a similar fighting style as Bruce Lee without making it look too silly.

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An OK adaptation

I didn't know this has a page on MDL, but i very much in love with the Manga, and for a while i didn't know about the adaptation, i dare say i watched it pretty late...

This has no reviews here so i decided to write one for reference.

The movie covers pretty much the first 2 volumes of the manga (out of 7) with some major changes of course.

Now the good changes are:
1- He became more human after Emu broke his curse, stopping Koh from killing innocent people.

SPOİLER: skip this paragraph if you plan to read the manga ~~
İn the manga he kept killing people normally, innocent or guilty, and the rule of "killing anyone who find out their secret" still stands which is weird cause why would he not kill Emu if he didn't break the hypnosis.

2- Less nudity, which is kinda expected because it was excessive and unnecessary in the manga, also very not practical, imagine killing a bunch of guys while being completely naked lol 😂 here it's moderate and mostly carried on by Mark.

3- They skipped the whole Tiger lady part... İYKYK, i didn't even like her lol

Other changes that i didn't like.
1- Everyone's role became very shallow, and made the whole movie inconsistent, hadn't i read the manga, I'd probably be so lost while watching.
2- The weird slow motion action sequences, oh my goodness i was laughing the whole time and being a 90s movie doesn't excuse that at all.
3-Emu had no weight at all in the story which is a major change cause everything is basically involves her, and she didn't shot anyone xD
4-they changed some tiny details that was necessary like when Emu asked Freeman to sleep with her BEFORE killing her cause she was 29 and virgin, as he was too which was something significant for the story yet they made her only 20, and nothing about her or his past experiences.

Aside from that it was an OK movie, i wouldn't recommend it unless you are a huge fan of the manga and wants to see more ~
But judging it as a movie, it's not the best except for the most beautiful Mark Dacascos ❣️ everything else is pretty meh, i only rated it higher than it deserves cause I'm a hardcore fan of the manga ~

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Their opinions of life got reversed

Mi Sha and XingXing had more than a genuine friendship, they shared a treasurable bond between them which can't be named just as a friendship. MiSha helped XingXing in realising her dreams, while XingXing was like a mother to her which she never had. Though they were drifted apart due to misunderstandings and in a fit of anger, their place in other's life was irreplaceable. After years, they had a bittersweet reunion, however, I'm sure that the only regret XingXing had was that she didn't get more time to spend with MiSha. Also, she wants MiSha to get out of her regrets and live her life better.

When LuLi entered in between them, initially it was cute and heart-warming to watch but things started to get complicated when they began to catch feelings for each other. I was thankful to him for taking care of XingXing as a faithful childhood friend, but did that only because he was the reason her mother died. That's such a turn off!

As the title suggests, their destinies or I can say their perspectives of their mother swapped at some point. MiSha thought her mother abandoned her, only to find out that she didn't leave her but got into an accident. And XingXing who was fond of her mother's love, got a reality check that she (XingXing's mother) regretted having her. It was a lot to handle for both of them, yet it was a relief that they had someone to lean on. And it definitely wasn't LuLi.

MiSha and XingXing's closeness give lowkey Sapphic taste to the movie. The entire time while watching the movie, I wished for it to turn into a GL. LuLi's presence was just to bring a rift between them. That's it. I didn't find other significance for his character. It's sad that he had to pay the price with an life-long injury.

Actors did a great job at conveying their emotions. Anger. Betrayal. Love. Pity. All of it was outstanding. Actress who played as XingXing deserves a special praise to act the scenes where XingXing suffers from episodes also actress who played MiSha, while shooting the harrassing scene. It must've been quite traumatic.

All over, this was an excellent movie to watch that will definitely leave you with buckets of tears.

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As long as you're with me, you won't feel scared

This movie adaptation was overall very solid. While it did have to cut several minor plotlines and at least one major one from the manga due to time constraints, I liked the writers' choice to rework the script in a way that preserved the feeling of the original while giving themselves enough wiggle room to abridge and condense some of the more complex subplots without sacrificing the overall internal logic of the story.

The characters remained consistent with their original selves and the actors nicely captured the despair these lonely people were feeling, as well as their clumsy and desperate attempts to find connection with someone who understand them. The dialogue in particular was well utilized to explain important concepts while keeping the plot moving in a cohesive direction—while the first half of the movie can be confusing for people who haven't read the source material, I found that the second half tied the plotlines together rather nicely and provided enough context to help the viewer along, granted you aren't watching this in the background while focusing on some other activity.

My favourite aspect of this adaptation was the production quality, though. The photography and lighting were especially well done, giving a sharp and somber feeling to the movie that perfectly fit with the mystery/suspense plotline. The scenarios, while mostly made up of dingy streets and half-empty buildings, actually enhanced the gritty aesthetics of the story, as did the understated costume design. The editing was also very consistent, and it managed to balance the many different threads of the story without losing track of how all the subplots fit together or making the pace feel stilted or overly scattered.

Also, I want to emphasize that the BL aspects of this story are mostly unspoken and hinted at throughout the movie, so don't go into this expecting it to have any on-screen discussion or even resolution. Just like in the manga, the storyline related to the curses takes precedence and you have to read between the lines to infer the main characters' romantic entanglement. But make no mistake: the whole exorcism plot is a thinly veiled metaphor for their relationship, both romantic and physical, and you can see how it develops through sexual innuendos, casual touches, and one or two insane life-long promises (was it casual when they called each other their fate???).

Lastly, a fun fact: Akutami Gege, the author of Jujutsu Kaisen, is a fan of Yamashita-sensei's work and used some of the plot points from The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window as an inspiration for his own series! You can see it more clearly in the manga as it delves into curse manipulation and curse users, so I recommend checking it out if that interests you.

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No Touching At All is a slow sunrise. And sometimes that's even more beautiful.

How do you review No Touching At All when your main memories are awkward silences, lingering glances, and two grown men acting like feelings were a government conspiracy?

This film really looked at office romances and said, "What if we removed all unnecessary noise and replaced it with yearning?"

Shima had already learned how to survive disappointment.

Keep your distance.

Keep things casual.

Don't expect too much from people.

Simple.

Then Togawa walked into his life and immediately made all of that significantly more difficult.

Because unfortunately for Shima, Togawa possessed three dangerous qualities:

Patience.

Kindness.

And the ability to see straight through him.

Naturally, disaster followed.

Yonashiro Sho brought so much quiet vulnerability to Shima that sometimes it felt like watching someone trying to hold themselves together with sheer determination.

And Watanabe Shu as Togawa?

The king of gentle persistence.

The emperor of emotional intelligence.

The CEO of asking, "Are you okay?" and actually waiting for the answer.

Their relationship wasn't built on dramatic confessions or grand romantic gestures.

It was built on small moments.

Shared drinks after work.

Conversations in elevators.

Walking home together.

The kind of moments that don't look important until one day you realize they've become your entire world.

And honestly?

That's exactly what made this story feel so real.

Because love doesn't always arrive loudly.

Sometimes it arrives quietly.

Sometimes it sits beside you after a long day at work.

Sometimes it asks if you've eaten.

Sometimes it waits patiently for you to believe that you're worth staying for.

And can we talk about the people behind the camera?

Director Chihiro Amano understood exactly what this story needed: restraint.

The film trusted silence.

It trusted body language.

It trusted the audience enough to understand what wasn't being said.

The pacing was quiet, deliberate, and deeply intimate.

The office spaces felt ordinary.

The city felt ordinary.

The lives being lived inside them felt ordinary.

And somehow that made everything feel extraordinary.

The cinematography deserves special praise.

The fluorescent office lights.

The rainy streets.

The late-night trains.

Every frame felt grounded in reality.

And the soundtrack?

Minimal.

Subtle.

Perfect.

No Touching At All wasn't trying to reinvent romance.

It wasn't trying to shock you.

It wasn't trying to emotionally destroy you.

It was simply telling the story of two adults learning that vulnerability might be terrifying, but loneliness isn't any easier.

This wasn't enemies-to-lovers.

This wasn't friends-to-lovers.

This was emotionally unavailable office worker × emotionally intelligent man with the patience of a saint.

10/10.

Would absolutely stand awkwardly in that elevator, share convenience store drinks after work, and watch these two slowly learn how to let someone in all over again.

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