Zhong hua zhan shi

Watching fresh-faced Michelle Yeoh at age 24 kicking butt in her martial arts scenes and channeling Indiana Jones early on was a lot of fun. The role required a lot of physicality and she was more than up to the task. Unfortunately, the story is weak and the film is tonally all over the map, veering from lame humor to violent war scenes at the drop of a hat. It's a patriotic film about the defense of China from Japanese invasion which I respected, but it's too scattered and cartoonish, working better in its smaller fight scenes in the first half. Meanwhile, there are extraneous characters like Chin-chin and what seemed like a soundtrack consisting of a single song. Worth seeing for Michelle Yeoh, but messy.