Micitype Pretty Good

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Scott LeBrun The great cult filmmaker Brian Trenchard-Smith strikes again, with this lively international crime / kung fu picture, which he also scripted. Yu Wang stars as Chinese police inspector Fang Sing Leng of the "Special Branch". He travels to Australia for the purpose of extraditing a drug dealer (Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, also the martial arts choreographer). Before he is silenced by an assassin (legendary Aussie stuntman Grant Page), the dealer gives up the name of the man for whom he works: Wilton (one-time James Bond, George Lazenby), a prominent gangster. Our intrepid hero takes on all comers (and there are a lot of them) as he attempts to take down this Mr. Big."The Man from Hong Kong" is simply grand entertainment. There's no deep thinking involved; it's just plain fun. It serves up one glorious action set piece after another, even opening the movie with some action as Hung is apprehended. It's pretty damn violent, but it's also stylish and amusing and never, ever boring. The various locations (including Aussie landmark Ayers Rock) are well photographed, and the script by Mr. Trenchard-Smith is often humorous as it throws in everything but the kitchen sink.Yu Wang is an amiable hero who shows remarkable indestructibility; he has more lives than nine cats. He even takes time to make sweet love to ladies such as reporter Caroline Thorne (Rosalind Speirs) and the adorable, pretty Rebecca Gilling. A couple of Aussie icons have supporting roles: future "Mad Max" cast members Hugh Keays-Byrne and Roger Ward as detectives, Frank Thring as an underling named Willard, and Bill Hunter as Peterson. Lazenby is an enjoyably smug, smarmy villain. The incredible fight between Yu Wang and Page goes on for quite a while. Look for the director in an extended cameo as one of various thugs.The movie may be best known for spawning that hit song "Sky High", performed by Jigsaw. It accompanies the opening credits and sure gets you in the proper mood for this diversion.The finale with Lazenby might well have inspired the makers of "Wanted: Dead or Alive" a dozen years later.Eight out of 10.

ithearod All the pieces are here for a terrific Bond-like movie - including the original Bond himself! How much more A-list can you get? Unfortunately, none of it comes together; it gets played out in typical Hong Kong style. That is to say, wildly erratic pacing, gaping plot holes, absolutely no concern for continuity of time or character, etc. It starts out so promising, with first-rate set locations, helicopter chases, Sammo Hung - and quickly, very quickly, degenerates into schlock detective yarn, and not even good schlock detective yarn.Reasons to watch this movie? First of all, the theme song! "Sky High", by Jigsaw, is a very familiar pop song from the 70's that many of you will remember, for better or for worse... I personally didn't know it was written to be the theme song for this film, but that only adds to the whole "Bond"-ness of this movie (or failure therein).Next reason - the chase sequences. Seriously: from the opening helicopter-vs-car quickie (wait until you see your head almost get taken off by that unpredictable flying car door, truly frightening!); to the on-foot chase that startles many dogs and gets free oranges to children playing jump rope; to the final, lengthy, multi-stage car chase that gets the brand-new love interest killed (look for Wang Yu's emotive shaking of a clenched fist over the limp body!), and many, many innocent drivers knocked about horribly in multi-flip car crashes, only to have them pop their heads out of the smoking wrecks, mouthing mildly amusing obscenities, or shaking their fists while standing in ditches next to their overturned vehicles.Where does this movie go wrong? It's hard to tell. Having Wang Yu climb a drainpipe for ten stories, only to have him break through the same all-glass door he could have broken through in the first place is a good starter. Maybe it was when the grubby, chubby second Aussie cop bumps into the parked motorcycle while walking through some dialogue and they don't bother to re-shoot. Or maybe it was the sex scene with the random hang gliding journalist fifteen minutes into the movie that ends up providing almost nothing for the film except a quick way for Wang to get to the penthouse apartment for the final fight (shades of "Game of Death", anyone?) I wanted to like this movie, but it drags, the fights are just lousy (admit it, you all), and none of the pieces, from actors to locations, ever get used well at all. Like a wonderful movie poster come to life, and just as entertaining to watch as a movie poster for one and a half hours.

superfische I really liked this movie but the close comparison to Bob Jones the Australian Karate Tycoon of the 1970's and Wilton is a little scary. I would think that Jackie Chan would have made a better Hong Kong Cop thus shoring up fight scenes with a little credibility. What drew me in was the Australian 'Occer' predominant in this film. It looks like they borrowed the cast from Mad Max 1 which was good in my opinion as the actors in that film were good but needed more development and this film gave them that. If they made a remake of this film it would have to be set in the same era, as difficult as that sounds it would have to strive hard to capture the same feel. Bolo's early bit-parts are the best in my opinion and he did not disappoint.

gridoon The hero, Yu Wang, is a poor man's Bruce Lee in this action film which is a poor man's James Bond adventure. It's an astonishingly lame-brained movie, with no plot or suspense: instead, it provides endless fight sequences which produce more yawns (from us) than thrills. As for George Lazenby, who plays the villain, he has absolutely no charm as an actor, but at least here he's passable and ALMOST makes you forget his Bond past...