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Gen-X Cops
Gen-Y Cops
God of Cookery
God of Gamblers
God of Gamblers III: Back to Shanghai
Goodbye Mr. Cool
Gorgeous
Green Snake
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A trio of police recruits (cool Nicholas Tse, cute Stephen Fung and loony Sam Lee) is molded into a Mod Squad-ish youth unit by Eric Tsang, and become involved in an explosive gang war. Produced by Jackie Chan, “Gen-X Cops” is a deft blend of comedy, action and drama which defined a new (and distinctly international) style for Hong Kong action films. Language flits between Cantonese, English and Japanese, there are expensive CGI effects – even the title implies that the heroes belong to some global demographic. That the film is cannily directed, the action well choreographed, and the performances top notch are the icing on the cake: in supporting roles, Daniel Wu, Francis Ng and Toru Nakamura all shine. And a Jackie cameo is the cherry on the icing. |
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Decidedly inferior sequel to the above, with Nicholas Tse mysteriously gone and Edison Chen in his place, as the team deal with sabotage at a military technology convention. Not a complete failure – testy FBI agent Paul Rudd is a good foil for the team, and it has a few well-done fights – but some weird scenes with fighting robots take away from the street-savvy feel of the first film. |
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A very, very funny film indeed, and one of the high watermarks in Stephen Chow’s body of work, “God of Cookery” follows Chow’s selfish food mogul through a series of adventures. Outrageous dishes, bizarre visual gags, ace support from Vincent Kok and Karen Mok and an absolutely side splitting deadpan performance by Chow should put it near the top of any comedy fan’s ‘must see’ list. |
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Wong Jing’s tale of gambling gangsters has everything – comedy, action, great performances from leads Chow Yun Fat, Joey Wong and Andy Lau, a fresh and unusual plot – it’s no surprise that it went crazy at the Asian box office. Chow is particularly great as the high rolling titular playa, mentally reduced to childhood by a nasty blow to the head but losing none of his supernatural betting prowess. Countless sequels and rip-offs followed, and the concept and execution proved ripe pickings for filmmakers all over the world, but this stands head and shoulders above them all. |
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God of Gamblers III: Back to Shanghai (1991) |
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One of the better sequels sees Stephen Chow Sing Chi’s ‘Saint of Gamblers’ transported back through time to 1930’s Shanghai for some Michael J Fox-esque adventures. There is class support from Gong Li, Ng Man Tat and Ray Lui, and it’s funny with some good action sequences, but it’s not going to win any of the participants an Oscar. |
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A somewhat mixed bag, "Goodbye Mr. Cool" somehow manages to emerge as more than the sum of its parts. Ekin Cheng plays the triad of the title, coming out of jail a reformed character - but gangsters, girls, and the small matter of a child he's never met conspire to force him to show why the toughest hoods are scared of him. The problem here isn't the cast: Karen Mok, the brilliant Lam Suet, even Ekin is more than his usual male-model self... but the tone is muddled and at times it's horribly cliched. Ultimately the anti-violence message and some sensitive direction let it coast by without too much trouble - just don't put it at the top of your Christmas list. |
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Another attempt by Jackie Chan to shake up his career places him in an entertaining romantic drama-comedy, with Shu Qi chasing a love letter in a bottle to Tony Leung Chui Wai. Chan stars as an eco-conscious multi-billionaire – hardly the typical Jackie everyman – and the formula chase/fight/stunt of his 90s Hong Kong output are gone. The action quotient is more than satisfied by a couple of blistering fights with Brad Allen, and Emil Chau provides excellent support as Jackie’s business nemesis and part-time friend. |
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Crazy Chinese folk tale about two snake sisters – Maggie Cheung and Joey Wong - assuming gorgeous human form and hiding their true forms from the world until they can achieve reincarnation. Their problem is Chiu Man Cheuk’s righteous monk, intent on keeping the human and animal worlds apart… It’s a tad bewildering to say the least, but this is a Tsui Hark movie so it all looks amazing. The opening scenes, with the sisters writhing into life in a storm and joining in with a Bollywoodish dance routine is simply astonishing, and not a little sexy. |
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