Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

jonsimon-132-132052 Chow-Yun Fat stars in this Hong Kong spaghetti western as 'The Killer', an unstoppable bounty hunter and mercenary who has decided to retire after his wife's death. Setting up the 'Peace Hotel', the Killer offers sanctuary to anyone who is on the run from someone who wants them dead. But his altruism is tested to the limit when a young female swindler (played by Cecilia Yip) arrives, on the run from a gang that wants her dead. Soon the Killer is forced into an unpleasant choice - to send her on her way, or violate his own rules and risk an all-out war with the gang.Well directed, good casting and decent acting. I like the narration at the start telling the story of him you get to know a bit about his character and why he did the thunga he did.The action is decent but ruined by poor editing. Good film as i said but could have been much better.Overall a decent Western action film.

Paul Magne Haakonsen Well, this was sort of interesting, but not really in an overly great way. A typical western (cowboy) movie that is mixed with a traditional Chinese setting. It just didn't really come off as something that was particularly good.For a Chow Yun-Fat movie, then I was rather disappointed with this. Sure, he did perform well enough, but the story and the setting of the movie was just not working in his favor. I am sure there are someone out there who find this approach of a Hong Kong movie to be interest. Sure, I will agree that it was unorthodox, but I am not going to agree to it being a good concept.The story in "Peace Hotel" is about 'The Killer' (played by Chow Yun-Fat) who witness his wife being murdered and hellbent on revenge he kills every single person responsible. Then to repent, he builds a hotel, naming it Peace Hotel. This hotel becomes a safe haven for all who come to it, without anyone asking about one's past and will be protected as long as one stays within the confines of the hotel. Then one day a woman in a red dress shows up, claiming to be the long lost wife of the owner of the hotel, and hot on her tail is a gang of ruthless men.I will say that the movie was well enough acted, though at certain times it was a bit forced and over the edge, going just a notch too far in extreme display. And there was some subtle attempts at comedy, which for most parts worked out well enough. And why not throw in a musical act while at it - wait, wait, that's right, there was a musical act in the middle of the movie. That was just too much and made the movie come off as more of a joke than it came off as serious.For a Hong Kong movie, then "Peace Hotel" isn't much of an impressive movie. Even from the moment the DVD menu popped up, I knew it was going to be bad, because it even said "A John Woo production" on that DVD menu. What the... Are you kidding me? It was so lame, and reeked of low budget production.The movie itself actually had a good production value, and had some good camera work to it as well. The action scenes were adequate, but nowhere near anything even remotely close to what you'd expect from a Chow Yun-Fat movie, despite it this being the last Hong Kong movie he made before rocketing off to bigger fame and fortune in Hollywood. If you are a fan of Chow Yun-Fat, then "Peace Hotel" is a good enough watch, but if you are a fan of Hong Kong cinema, then "Peace Hotel" is not really a good addition or choice of entertainment.

c-kelsall This contribution to the "Western" genre from Hong Kong is just about the most offensively poor film I've seen that actually had a budget. I don't know how much it cost to make (I'm guessing at a few million), but it was money down the toilet. I am an admirer of the work of Chow Yun Fat, both in Hong Kong and Hollywood, but I was shocked and disappointed to discover how low his standards are capable of dropping, as demonstrated by his heavy involvement in this shoddy piece of work (main actor and co-writer). Essentially, the story is of a part of wild China in/around early 20th c, in which a former gangster and mass-murderer reforms his life and builds the Peace Hotel, a refuge for all the area's disowned and hunted. This situation is maintained for 10 years, when a woman of dubious character turns up and claims refuge. However, she is at the centre of a plot to bring down the Peace Hotel, the owner, and all he stands for. Why is this a disastrous production? Where do I start.....The back-stories of the two main characters are treated in an overly sentimental way, the soundtrack throughout the film is irritating, the story didn't interest me, I found the pacing to be slow without being gripping, and most of the characters seemed to be one-dimensional, pointless, irritating and/or unlikeable. I also got the impression that there were gaps in the story in terms of explaining motives, but it may be that if I had taken more of an interest in the film I might have understood it better. Frankly, I was bored rigid after the first 30 minutes, and couldn't wait for it to end. Yawn.

Eson This review contains minor spoilers.This whole movie's look is very similar to the spaghetti western, but with richer production values. Peace Hotel is noteworthy in several respects. First, it is the last Hong Kong movie Chow Yun-Fat has made to this date. Also, Chow Yun-Fat is bald in the beginning, and does some fast-paced swordplay. These both are precursors to his now famous part as Li Mu Bai in Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (which is not a Hong Kong movie, as Ang Lee does not work within the Hong Kong movie system, and the film is in Mandarin, not Cantonese). This movie also marks the reunion of Chow Yun-Fat and Cecilia Yip, who had not worked together since 1984 (Hong Kong 1941). This was also the last time Wu Chien-lien was in a movie with Chow Yun-Fat, who had been in Treasure Hunt and God of Gamblers' Return with him the year prior to this. However, her cameo lasts about two seconds.Anyway, enough background. One of the few movies where Chow Yun-Fat contributed to the writing, this movie has his brand of comedy. It also has Chow Yun-Fat just killin' a whole mess of people. The visual design and costumes are pretty fantastic, and the movie has a good pace to it. There is a kind of fantasy feeling to this movie, as it is a mixture of the American western genre, but with Chinese tints to it. Cecilia Yip gives a pretty good performance here, and Chow Yun-Fat gets to show much of his range here as an actor, even though he tries to remain distant throughout the movie.