Rob-B-Hood (Hong Kong 2006)

After Jackie Chan had seemingly returned to Hong Kong to show us what he's made of (see: New Police Story), I was starting to wonder if he would continue giving us that brand of comedic-action that he's known for. With Rob-B-Hood (寶貝計劃), not only does Jackie give us the stunts and action that we've come to love from him, but the slap-stick antics as well. Still, the film as a whole is far from perfect.

Thongs (Jackie Chan) and Octopus (Louis Koo) are two burglars under the direction of Landlord (Michael Hui) who find themselves in a hairy situation while trying to steal prescription medication from the hospital. Security finally catches on to their thievery, but before they can do anything about it, they're distracted by some madman (Terence Yin) trying to steal a woman's newborn baby. During the ruckus, the kidnapper falls to his death with Thongs coming to the rescue of the newborn. As we learn more about our thieving trio, we see that Thongs, even with a very large family, is really all alone. They obviously don't approve of his questionable lifestyle, and with a major gambling problem, he still tries to win them over with lavish gifts. Octopus can't stop spending his money on expensive clothes, cars, and women that he takes out on the town...even though his wife Yan (Charlene Choi) is working as hard as she can to keep his attention. Landlord has been saving his cut of the money over the years and is planning his retirement with his wife (Teresa Carpio). She seems to have lost her mind due to a miscarriage from years earlier that left her mentally scarred and desiring a baby, which her husband can no longer provide. Things seem to be completely normal in their world until someone robs Landlord of his millions in savings. Desperate, he tries to convince Thongs and Octopus to take on one last job which will result in a massive payday for the three of them. Little do Thongs and Octopus realize, Landlord plans to kidnap a baby (unbeknownst to his understudies), the same baby (Matthew Medvedev) caught up in the ruckus at the hospital, which goes against everything Landlord has taught the two. However, as the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures. During the escape, Thongs and Octopus (with baby in tow) are separated from Landlord who was captured by the police. Now the two thieves are stuck with a baby and neither of them have any idea how to take care of one. Let the hilarity ensue!

Thongs and Octopus struggle with buying the right type of diapers, changing those diapers, feeding the baby with the proper food and so on. A cute, friendly nurse (Gao Yuanyuan) assists the two in taking care of the child and possibly even crushes on Thongs in the process. All the while, Landlord is working on a deal with a crime boss (Chen Baoguo) who wants the baby in order to find out if it's a party of family. See, the son of the crime boss was the madman trying to steal the baby from the hospital, claiming he was the father. Needless to say, Thongs and Octopus grow increasingly affectionate towards the baby are not exactly thrilled in handing him over to the baddies. When they do, they realize the mistake they've made and storm through the front gates to get him back.

What can you say about Jackie Chan, who despite his age, still manages to muster up enough inspiration to amuse and entertain his audience in creative new ways. Sure the addition of a baby thrown into the mix makes for more CGI moments than I care to see, but I don't expect to see the child really hanging off the side of a building so it's easy to let moments like this slide. Jackie's performance is amusing as always, but even next to the man with the tan, you can't help but feel like Louis Koo is the real comic relief here. Basically, both actors do a great job at providing the laughs. Michael Hui rides that fine line between being someone you can sympathize with and someone who's just a complete weasel. Teresa Carpio as his mentally distraught wife, while at times portraying someone quite pitiful, comes across more as over-the-top to me. The action scenes are great to watch, and the inclusion of Yuen Baio as Officer Mok amps up a cleverly choreographed apartment scene. The action scene in the final act, against the men in white, is the true stand-out of the film and props are cleverly used in true Jackie Chan fashion. The only real trouble with Rob-B-Hood is the ending. I know, I know...the ending is so important to the film in the grand scheme of things, but the insanely dramatic and wholly unnecessary manner in which things are played out (cars, batteries, babies!), while somewhat emotion-inducing, was also enough to make me scratch my head.

Rob-B-Hood is a good movie, not great, but definitely entertaining and innocent enough to please the young ones. It isn't without it's flaws, and few movies are, but in the grand scheme of things, they can be overlooked due to having far more good parts than bad. A worth-while viewing and a must for Jackie Chan fans. (Lee)

Grade: B

 

New Police Story (Hong Kong 2004)

Symbolizing the long-awaited (by most) return to Hong Kong cinema for Jackie Chan, New Police Story (新警察故事) is almost exactly what you'd expect from everyone's favorite death-defying entertainer. It's got high-flying leaps, well-choreographed fights, and a lot of shattering glass, which is customary in Benny Chan territory. Not the best JC movie on the market, but an excellent return to form nonetheless.

Detective Kwok-Wing Chan (Jackie Chan) is merely a shell of his former self. What remains of the happy-go-lucky policeman of yesteryear is a sad, drunken, mess of a man, who honestly has every right to be that way. It's only been a year since the team under his command was brutally murdered on what appeared to be a fairly routine operation. However, Wing severly underestimated the sadistic nature of Joe (Daniel Wu) and his cop-killing cohorts (say that three times fast). The gang get their kicks by robbing banks and killing as many police officers as they can to earn "points" for their sick game. Wing and his men, including his soon to be brother-in-law (Deep Ng), were led into a warehouse rigged with numerous traps that led to them being picked off one-by-one. Clearly distraught by having his men mowed down, Wing is unable to fight Joe and his croneys off by himself, leaving him with unbearable amount of shame and guilt. Fast-forward to today and Joe and his gang still haven't been caught as they continue to rob banks and kill cops all for the thrill. The newest cop on the force, Frank (Nicholas Tse), has been assigned as Wing's new partner to take on the case. Frank knows that Wing has a score to settle and wants nothing more than to help return Wing to his former glory. Not only does this entail getting him back to the detective he used to be, but by also restoring his relationship with his girlfriend Ho-Yee (Charlie Young), as the two haven't been the same since her brother's death. Needless to say, Frank gives Wing the push he needs in order to get back in the saddle and take down these baddies once and for all.

We eventually see what makes Joe tick, as his father is a chief police inspector who constantly beats Joe at home for being a lazy, good-for-nothing brat. This in turn makes Joe hate authority figures, police included. Growing up I could definitely understand the desire to be angry with authority figures, and while I've never been treated as poorly as ol' Joe in New Police Story, the urge to murder every single cop I possible could never seemed like the right avenue for me. What I'm saying is, the motivation driving Joe and his gang of thugs seems a bit much, but it's an action movie, so no one is really going to care. They just want to see Jackie Chan do what he does best, and in New Police Story he delivers in spades...for the most part. Jackie isn't getting any younger, so naturally the presence of more wire-work is more obvious, but you can still overlook it for the sheer fact that you still know it's Jackie putting his butt on the line for your entertainment. Not many Hollywood-types can claim to go so far. Also of note is Jackie's performance in the film. We're all used to see the wacky, slapstick-humor Jackie in just about every one of his movies, but in New Police Story we see a different side to his acting. He's carrying a lot of emotional baggage and is generally just an unpleasant person to be around. Life has hit the man hard, and his portrayal of such a distraught soul is admirable, if not a bit over-the-top at times. Nicholas Tse is great at taking over the comic-relief role, and even Daniel Wu (Golden Horse Winner for Best Supporting Actor) conveys the troubled-youth angle in a believable fashion. Andy One (on the the gang members) does an excellent job holding his own in the fight scenes with Jackie. All I'll say is I love Legos! Charlene Choi of TWINS makes an appearance as the police departments IT personality, and is really only notable because I know there are a lot of TWINS fans out there.

I really welcomed New Police Story with open arms. Jackie had been reduced to side-kick only roles (for the most part) here in the states, and when he was the leading man, it was a sad sight to see (The Medallion, The Tuxedo, etc.). I really couldn't have expected more out a man well into his fifties, that continues to impress and entertain with his acrobatic ability. It has the feel of a well-polished popcorn movie, but for Jackie Chan fans, it's a ray of hope in what appeared to be a career on the downward spiral. A return to the motherland, is a return to form. Viva la Hong Kong! (Lee)

Grade: A

 

Invisible Target (Hong Kong 2007)

Invisible Target (男兒本色) consists of martial-arts, gun-play, chase sequences, crooked-cops, and the most shattered glass I've seen since the original Police Story. However, none of these things are bad by any means because it's a Benny Chan film, and who does Hong Kong action cinema better than Benny Chan? No one. Could be the best action film of the year.

Chen Jin (Nicolas Tse) is a heart-broken, bitter cop who lost his fiancee Ivy during a heist in which Tian Yang-Seng's (Wu Jing) and his team blew up an armored van and stole all the money being transported. Wei Ching-Hao (Jaycee Chan) is a young, somewhat naive patrol cop who lives with his Grandmother after his parents died in a car accident when he was young. His older brother Wei Ching-Da, also a police officer, disappeared and Wei eagerly awaits for his return. Fang Yi-Wei (Shawn Yu) thinks with his head, but still knows how to handle himself in action.

Six months after he lost his fiancee, Chen Jin's team is looking for a gangster by the name of Little Tiger, who works for Tian and is smuggling weapons in from Thailand. After finding where Tiger keeps his stash of guns, Tian and his crew show up on the scene. Since Tiger has such a big mouth, Chen Jin finds out that Tian is the one responsible for the explosion that killed his fiancee six months prior. Chen Jin is displeased with Tiger for not knowing where the money from the heist disappeared to, as it seems the mastermind behind the heist has betrayed Tian and run off with the money. Fang also finds himself in a run-in with Tian and his crew after what appeared to be a routine traffic stop. Fang and his fellow officers were caught off guard and attacked by Tian and his team resulting in a lot of injured cop's in the hospital. Ching-Hao is brought into interrogation because his older brother is suspected of being one of Tian's men. He refuses to believe his brother would be responsible for such violent acts, and chooses to believe that when his brother disappeared, he was going undercover within Tian's gang. It's through this suspected connection of Ching-Da that Chen Jin, Fang and Ching-Hao come together. Chen Jin and Fang want answers with revenge being the primary fuel that drives them, and Ching-Hao wants to find out where his brother is and why he disappeared without saying a word. After realizing that the mastermind behind the van heist goes higher up than Tian and could be one of their fellow officers, Chen Jin, Fang, and Ching-Hao have no other choice but to go rogue and do whatever it takes to stop Tian and his crew from getting to the person responsible for causing this mess before they do.

Right off the bat you know you're in for a good two hours of pure entertainment. It just goes with the Benny Chan territory. Invisible Target really is no exception to this rule. The story treads familiar waters, with money being the cause for so much death and betrayal, but again, you know you're here for one thing and one thing only: the action. Trust me my friends when I say that Invisible Target delivers it in spades. There are moments here that will have your eyes glued to the screen wondering if the person in that scene just died for your entertainment. Benny Chan films action, particularly martial-arts scenes the way they should be filmed. They're filmed at a wide-shot angle so you can actually see who's fighting who and it makes the scenes all the more intense and realistic. I have to say that I'm a fan of Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yu, but I'd been waiting for Jaycee Chan to really show me if he was capable of an action movie after having seen 2 Young and the disappointing Twins Effect 2. Big shoes to fill aside, Jaycee does an excellent job as the rookie patrol cop who is all about upholding the law and doing things by-the-book. He has a few action scenes that are nicely done, in the sense that they seem well within his capabilities. I no longer have any doubts as to his acting abilities after watching his performance as Ching-Hao. Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yu are both excellent as the hard-hitting cops Chen Jin and Fang, and Wu Jing delivers as the antagonist, as well as an excellent martial-artist. If I had any complaints at all, it would be minor gripes against the use of some CG and wire-work, but they are both used minimally and without those wires, we'd have some dead actors on our hands. There is one awkward scene involving our three main characters, shirt-less with a bottle of Red Flower oil that seemed a bit out of place, and strictly for the ladies enjoyment.

I have to say, Invisible Target could be the action movie of the year, but I'll keep my eye out for Flashpoint, the prequel to 2005's fantastic action film S.P.L., just in case. Even so, the Asian cinema viewing public should be grateful to have movies like Invisible Target, if only to remind us why we fell in love with Hong Kong cinema in the first place. (Lee)

Grade: A