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There are some movies that are so bad they are good. This wasn't one of them. As much as it pains me to say it, because I love Angela Mao, this movie was awful.The story involved a secret list of rebels (who keeps making these troublesome lists!) and more crisscross double crosses than you could shake a stick at. Few people were as they appeared to be. The most disappointing character was Angela's. No subterfuge with her character, she was just a spiteful jealous woman who jumped to conclusions about her friends and trusted the wrong guy when he was the one she should have been the most suspicious of. Rule #1, never, ever trust the guy in sparkly silver lamé in a kung fu movie.
It didn't help that John Liu's character came across as arrogant and uninteresting. Not a good sign when the male lead was boringly irritating. Chen Sing's Big Bad was really bad, complete with blue hands that could poison people and a great evil laugh. He was actually one of the few highlights of the film.
If the story is weak and convoluted, the fighting better be great. The fight scenes were atrocious in this movie. Stunt men whipped their heads back or fell back before a hit or kick was supposed to connect and the sound effects were completely off at times. Most egregiously John and Angela did this weird kicking pose that in real life would serve no purpose except to leave you horribly exposed. Though John Liu was known for being a super kicker, in this movie he did a lot of kick posing.
One positive was that, as in many Taiwanese movies, they took advantage of filming outdoors with the mountains and trees in the shots. It might well have been because they didn't have the budget for interior sets, but at least the scenery was pretty. I can only imagine how beautiful it would have been in the original cut at the theaters. That's it, that's all I have when it comes to saying something positive about this film.
The story was thread bare, the fights were poorly choreographed, and the sound effects were awful. Sorry kung fu fans, this one did not go in the win column for me.
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