The story is nearly on-par with other mediocre martial arts movies. From a high view, it seems like a standard story. But from close-up, the interactions and the dialogue make it very bad. The entire ending scene horribly stretches the viewer's disbelief in multiple ways. For instance, in a one-on-one kickboxing match, a third man interferes in the match, and from there, the match just continues 2-on-1 without stopping or without any intervention from anyone in attendance (even the martial artist peers of the man getting double-teamed do not bother to help him). The conflict between factions is resolved when one of the kickboxers slices his own sister with a katana, and then abruptly Johnny Woo carries her to the hospital, with smiles all around, including himself and herself both smiling, like the wound is a big inside joke.
The camera quality, acting, and dialogue are all of the absolute lowest quality. In these particular areas, it is as bad as a movie like Hobgoblins or The Room (minus Tommy Wiseau's legendary bad acting), and this is not an exaggeration.
There is a quotation in this movie where Johnny Woo says "Before you conquer your enemy, you must first conquer yourself." This quote was possibly the singular point of redeeming value in the movie.
The fight choreography is occasionally acceptable, as several of the actors are titled fighters with very skilled movements. But some of the action is also very bad, including stunt men who take a kick and then jump in the wrong direction (back into the direction that the kick came from).
The camera quality, acting, and dialogue are all of the absolute lowest quality. In these particular areas, it is as bad as a movie like Hobgoblins or The Room (minus Tommy Wiseau's legendary bad acting), and this is not an exaggeration.
There is a quotation in this movie where Johnny Woo says "Before you conquer your enemy, you must first conquer yourself." This quote was possibly the singular point of redeeming value in the movie.
The fight choreography is occasionally acceptable, as several of the actors are titled fighters with very skilled movements. But some of the action is also very bad, including stunt men who take a kick and then jump in the wrong direction (back into the direction that the kick came from).