*This Post Contains Spoilers*
While better than Battlefield Earth, no wait...while every bit as bad as *BE* thankfully this was a made for TV film shown on the TBS cable network which should save it from making the top 250 worst films on the database. I was so glad I taped it which saved some time but still it was a major disappointment. Produced by none other that Mel Gibson & Jet Li, which led me to expect something entertaining, I can't imagine that they ever read the lame script before putting their names and money behind this dog.
Speaking of the script, now many times can one stand Billy Zane delivering his never ending cascade of condescending dialogue to the rest of the cast about how they were the saviors of the known universe against all evil and so on and so forth ad nauseam?, most of which takes place in a kind of sacred pool none the less. I guess setting in the pool was supposed to add a mystic flavor to those scenes but I kept asking myself, "what's to point"? The *impact* lines were even worse as they were so obvious that I had to laugh out loud more that once! All those bad guys dressed in all black was another good joke. This would have been a great comedy if only they were not trying to be so bloody serious all the time.
Ah, but this was advertised a Kung-Fu action movie right? You know you are in trouble when a lot of the fighting and even some of the students in training scenes are shot in a blurry slo-motion that does not quite focus on the actor making the moves. The only good Kung-Fu moves were performed by actors behind an opaque screen so one could see that they were not the main characters yet we were to believe that they were. It had wire work too. Yuen Wo Ping (Wing Chun, The Matrix & Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) the Master of this technique would hang his head in shame at it's use here it was so poorly executed. Was there any ever any doubt who would win in the end? Let's just hope this was not the pilot for a new series. It's been said that CTHD would start a new interest in, as well as a bunch of American made knock-off's of, Hong Kong style martial arts action films. I can only hope for better than this in the future. Rating: 2/10
While better than Battlefield Earth, no wait...while every bit as bad as *BE* thankfully this was a made for TV film shown on the TBS cable network which should save it from making the top 250 worst films on the database. I was so glad I taped it which saved some time but still it was a major disappointment. Produced by none other that Mel Gibson & Jet Li, which led me to expect something entertaining, I can't imagine that they ever read the lame script before putting their names and money behind this dog.
Speaking of the script, now many times can one stand Billy Zane delivering his never ending cascade of condescending dialogue to the rest of the cast about how they were the saviors of the known universe against all evil and so on and so forth ad nauseam?, most of which takes place in a kind of sacred pool none the less. I guess setting in the pool was supposed to add a mystic flavor to those scenes but I kept asking myself, "what's to point"? The *impact* lines were even worse as they were so obvious that I had to laugh out loud more that once! All those bad guys dressed in all black was another good joke. This would have been a great comedy if only they were not trying to be so bloody serious all the time.
Ah, but this was advertised a Kung-Fu action movie right? You know you are in trouble when a lot of the fighting and even some of the students in training scenes are shot in a blurry slo-motion that does not quite focus on the actor making the moves. The only good Kung-Fu moves were performed by actors behind an opaque screen so one could see that they were not the main characters yet we were to believe that they were. It had wire work too. Yuen Wo Ping (Wing Chun, The Matrix & Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) the Master of this technique would hang his head in shame at it's use here it was so poorly executed. Was there any ever any doubt who would win in the end? Let's just hope this was not the pilot for a new series. It's been said that CTHD would start a new interest in, as well as a bunch of American made knock-off's of, Hong Kong style martial arts action films. I can only hope for better than this in the future. Rating: 2/10