Hey folks, Harry here with a look at a Hong Kong flick that so far I'm unfamiliar with, but that Jotarou seems really hot to tell us all about. It stars Aaron Kwok and Mark Dascascos (Who rules btw) and... COOLIO? Yup, but I haven't seen it and have no opinion on the following other than it sounds like something that I wanna see. Here ya go...
Mr. Harry Knowles:
Here is my review of "China Strike Force", a Hong Kong Film starring Aaron Kwok, Mark Dascascos and Coolio. The film will likely be released worldwide and is currently available on VCD in East Asia(Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore). Here goes:
China Strike Force is a real step forward for the Hong Kong film industry in general. Like Gen-Y Cops it casts experienced english speaking actors and is filmed mainly in English. Unlike Gen-Y Cops, China Strike Force is much more polished in terms of script, special effects, acting and most important of all, action!!
The plot is fairly simple, which is important when it comes to action films. Aaron Kwok plays Darren, an up and coming police officer in China(Shanghai region). His partner, Alex(Leehom Wang) is dating their chief's daughter played by the sexy Ruby Lin who is an up and coming fashion model. These are our heroes. The villains are little bit more interesting. Tony, played by Mark Dascascos is the successor to a Chinese smuggling ring and wants to start bringing drugs in to the Mainland with the help of a drug dealer from LA named Coolio played by well...Coolio. However, Tony's boss, Ma, does not want drugs as a part of their operation. At the suggestion of Coolio, Tony murders Ma and the ball starts rolling. Norika(played by sexy Japanese model Noriko Fujiwara)is an undercover Interpol agent framed by Coolio for the murder of Ma.
The rest of the film concerns Darren uncovering the drug ring and to find out the true colors of Norika whom he develops a crush on(once you see her, you will have a crush also). The plot may sound rather elementary but that doesn't matter considering the key word is action and it does not get much better than this movie. A number of great set pieces include: a foot chase on top of cars, a car chase with a lamborghini and an indy style race car, and the trademark Kung Fu fights of Hong Kong cinema. The climatic action scene is probably one of the best in modern action cinema. Aaron, Norika and Coolio duke it out on a hanging window pane in mid-air!! It has to be seen to be believed!!!
Director, Stanley Tong has made a very slick looking production here. He has directed some of Jackie Chan's and Michelle Yeoh's best work(Police Story 3: Supercop and Project S). His directing style has a very refined Hollywood feel to it but is mixed with the nitro-fire power of Hong Kong action making a potent mix of hand to hand combat and set pieces. After making the abysmal Mr. Magoo for Disney, this film feels like a cry of freedom from director Tong.
The actors all do their jobs well. Since Stanley Tong is a stickler for accuracy, all the Chinese dialogue is in Mandarin rather than Cantonese, since the film takes place on the Mainland. Aaron Kwok has proven himself as a legitimate action star with this picture rather than just another pretty faced pop star. Mark Dascascos is no Anthony Hopkins but he is far better than the normal English speaker in Hong Kong films and his martial arts come off worlds better in this film compared to the straight to video actioners he seems to have been condemned to. I really hope his career moves forward. However the two most impressive thespians of this film are Coolio and Noriko Fujiwara. Coolio delivers all his lines with great urban wit and even does some good Kung Fu work(it might have been a stunt double). Noriko is just plain sexy and oozes charisma as both a cop and femme fatale.
China Strike Force is releasable world wide if studios will just give it a chance and a theatrical release. Unfortunately it has no major Hollywood stars so it might not get that chance. It is for sure going to get a straight to video release and when it is available in your video store please check it out, you won't regret it!!
That's my review. Thanks for your time!!
Sincerely,
Jotarou
