This script has two plots one not so related to the other. There is a love story, that of a failing marriage and blossoming love affair and the second of a three way war in Chinatown, NY, between two sides of a Chinese Tong and on the third side an uncompromising honest policeman. he actors in the love story, (Mickey Rourke and "Ariane,") acted so stiffly that I thought that they were made of frozen sheet metal. It may have been their lines,because when Mickey Rourke, at least, plays in the rest of the film the acting lights up and there is a real person on the screen. Perhaps the two screen writers, (Oliver Stone and Michael Cimino) split the writing and one took the romantic scenes and the other the action. Which ever one took the romance gets a 1 out of 10, while the other moves up to an eight. I discounted completely the romantic thread of the story and gave the film a seven.
Michael Cimino has a great film buried deep in himself, but he should get himself to a monastery and read Hemingway for a few years, then come back to film.
- I believe in Michael Cimino, and think that his work is first rate, and usually underrated, but his principle weakness is unnecessary extension of scenes.
Michael Cimino has a great film buried deep in himself, but he should get himself to a monastery and read Hemingway for a few years, then come back to film.