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The Adventurers
#1
So this is awkward.  What to say when a film made by some one you know really sucks?  This was a flailing attempt at a Chinese-Euro crossover written and directed by Stephen Fung, who never really gives me face although I've had dim sum with him and considered putting him on the cover once.  It suffers from the Shu Qi effect - and yes, that's his wife - in fact they were married while making this film - she's so gorgeous that she distracts filmmakers from making a decent film.  This is a heist film with that late 80s James Bond wannabe sensibility - very global, soundtrack with cool spy-sounding horn sections, absurd tech toys that defy plausibility.  It starts in Cannes, goes through several postcard-perfect locations and ends up in Prague.  The locations are cool.  Andy Lau - a fave actor who has run the gambit of varied roles over his career - is a master thief.  This is a heist flick, and an implausible one where hi-tech is the magical deus ex machina - a CGI spider-drone does a lot of the heavy lifting and it's just silly. Like it's the size of a baseball, but deposits mini-machine gun drones in one scene that lay down cover fire - how does that many bullets fit into this tiny drone? Magic tech.  And Jean Reno - another great actor who gets crappy roles in any film not made in France - is the dogged investigator tracking him.  Shu Qi is a lollipop-sucking accomplice/seductress/getaway driver.  She has a lollipop in her mouth in almost every scene and it DOES NOT WORK. It's not sexy.  It's just annoying. Even more painful is that Andy and Jean - who are both fine actors - do all their scenes in English - which neither has a decent enough command over to get any sort of chemistry going.  This film would be better if you turn off the sound and just read subtitles because all the emPHAsis is on the wrong sylLAbles.  Eric Tsang plays a triad leader and is the only saving grace - even though his name is...King Kong.  

But you could win it now on our KFM sweepstakes. On Blu-Ray+DVD combo pack even.  They're even supposed to send a special added prize - a soundtrack CD.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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#2
I've grown very tired of heist movies.  Which is unfortunate, because almost all action movies these days come down to that.

I did see a movie a year or two ago that did impress me, and it sounds like this movie was attempting to do much of what it succeeded in doing.

The Thieves (2012).  I don't remember it well enough to review it now.  But it was clever and genuinely sexy and a bit absurd in a few places.  Overall, very satisfying.  The ensemble cast includes Simon Yam, who steals every scene he's in.  The guy continues to amaze.  The team of thieves is multinational, part Korean and part Chinese, such that language becomes one of the obstacles they face in working together.

If you have to watch a heist movie, I'd recommend this one.
I'm nobody's pony.
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#3
I'm so with you about heist flicks.  I've always thought that was a dumb premise, not to mention amoral.  

I'm also with you on The Thieves.  I could've sworn I reviewed that here but a search turned up zilch.  I reviewed it on KFM - http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/show...ost1228092
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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