renosuniverse

Lei ting zhan jing (2000)

It tries but gets bogged down...

I sought the movie for my Mark Dacascos collection, and because of him I watched it all the way through. The scenes he's in are solid, and (of course) his fists and footwork are the icing on this otherwise dry cake. The movie begins very slowly and seems disjointed. You have to piece together plot elements which is unfortunate because a little bit more effort to include the viewer would have improved the flow. The places where you get a break from that feel opportunistic and thin. There is a feeling that the characters are just trying to get to the next action sequence, and those aren't well-timed or particularly powerful. Everyone in the film is visually interesting, but the backdrops seem opportunistic and static, and the stunts often look like the evening news, shot too wide and far away, never sharp or startling enough to rouse. Kwok looks like he's really trying to find a character in there somewhere; he's likable and the bits of banter that occur between Darren (Kwok) and his partner Alex make you want to see their efforts succeed, but it's just too little spread too thin and nobody else is acting like there's room for humor in the scene. Mark Dacascos is top-notch with what he's given. If you like how he moves his presence through a scene, using his skin, eyes, those long elegant hands, you'll appreciate his sense of proportion here. He brings the film a sense of solidity when he's in the frame and offers the only intimacy in the venture, using his eyes to evoke it even though his character is aloof. Coolio wields a brutally candid hood mentality charm, pulling no punches with his brazenly observant racism. I found it refreshing and palatable - it's aimed at everybody, even his old friend Tony Lau (Dacascos). His abrasive drama plays well off Dacascos' polished and saturnine hauteur, but the two of them aren't enough to carry a film about "two other guys and some other stuff"... and that's exactly what this feels like. The action scenes are slow, and shot from less than optimal angles. There are ways to shoot people who look this interesting ( Andrezej Bartkowiak and Christophe Gans both know how to put a camera on Mark Dacascos), and with the abundance of attractive personages it's too bad that didn't happen here. I was hoping for another Cradle 2 The Grave, something that surprised my mode of thought and shook up the mix, that had punch, pride, and balance. I was sorely let down. Even so, I give it four stars out of ten, all of it due to Mark and Coolio.

If you want to watch a movie that goes where this one doesn't - see Cradle 2 the Grave for some good-looking people, broken stereotypes, nice dialogue, fine music, and superb acting by DMX. If you want mystery, lyrical execution, passion, and art with your kung fu - see Crying Freeman for its beautiful dialogue and provocative tone set by Gans' shooting and Julie Condra's amazing voice flowing throughout. Mark Dacascos is in them both, for all the right reasons.