|
.......................................................................................Film
Review
THIRTY
SIX SPECIAL EFFECTS OF SHAOLIN
 When
a movie is billed as "from the producer of The Matrix,"
you go with certain expectations. The Matrix was one of the better
films out of Hollywood last year, with a sombre feel to it and some
spectacular effects. The last thing that you want is the same effects
and the same feel zabardasti imposed on a totally different
film. What worked so well for a science fiction movie does not for
a kung fu film.
This is a kung fu film with a difference though. The pace here
is deliberately slow. There is an emphasis on music with some numbers
that go very well with the feel of the movie. The plot and intrigue
are given a lot of importance, may be even too much, especially
for die hard kung fu fans. There are very few fights, but unfortunately
they are a bit much. The effects are used to achieve some bizarre
stunts that would put even our Rajnikant to shame. Haven't these
guys heard of gravity?
 The
film begins with Chinese and black mafia families confronting each
other over Oakland's waterfront. There is a delicate truce between
the two due to some business interests. Things flare up when the
younger son of the Chinese don is found killed. The elder son Han
(Jet Li) used to be a police officer in Hong Kong and is
now jailed because he had helped his criminal father and brother
flee the law. He escapes from prison and comes to Oakland to find
his brother's killer. There he unknowingly befriends Trish O'Day
(Aaliyah), daughter of his father's biggest rival - the black
don Isaak O'Day (Delroy Lindo). Trish's brother gets killed
in retaliation and the two lovers find themselves in a game of intrigue
and greed.
Of the cast, Jet Li does not extrude the menace that he did in
Lethal Weapon IV. But the film does have some good performances
from Delroy Lindo, Isaah Washington as the right hand
man of Isaak O'Day and DMX as Silk, the owner of a nightclub
on the waterfront.
All said, too stylised a film to enthrall those who swear by their
essential kung fu flick.
more...
| |
|
|
 |  |
|
