Perhaps it's unfair of me to rate this since the action Hong Kong genre is generally not my cup of tea, but I did sit through the whole movie, so I am entitled :)
Surely there are some action sequences that are creatively and excitingly filmed that will satisfy the appetite of the crazy-stunts crowd. But the plot is nearly senseless and Tsui Hark's reliance on cheap tricks do more to cause headaches than adrenaline rushes. Hark's quick and constant camera cuts and use of extremely loud special effects are relied upon to create the suspense and excitement in the scenes, rather than the story and the actual action in the scenes themselves.
This is definitely not an awful movie, and I'll take this any day over these overly cliched Hollywood action thrillers, but in the end, you basically have a decent action movie and a mediocre film. 4 out of 10.
Surely there are some action sequences that are creatively and excitingly filmed that will satisfy the appetite of the crazy-stunts crowd. But the plot is nearly senseless and Tsui Hark's reliance on cheap tricks do more to cause headaches than adrenaline rushes. Hark's quick and constant camera cuts and use of extremely loud special effects are relied upon to create the suspense and excitement in the scenes, rather than the story and the actual action in the scenes themselves.
This is definitely not an awful movie, and I'll take this any day over these overly cliched Hollywood action thrillers, but in the end, you basically have a decent action movie and a mediocre film. 4 out of 10.