Unbeatable - 激戰:勇者不敗

Unbeatable (激戰:勇者不敗) is an 2013 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Eddie Peng and Nick Cheung. The supporting cast include Mei Ting, Crystal Lee, Li Fei-Er , Andy On, and Jack Kao. Vivian Leung and Wang Bao-Qiang make cameo appearances.



Cheung plays Fai, a former 2 time Asian boxing champion from 1988. Fai throws some matches for money and does jail time. Now 48 and a taxi driver in Hong Kong, he's owes 20K of money to some loan sharks. Fai escapes to Macao to dodge the loan sharks. Once there, he resides in a room with a mom and daughter pair. The mom lost a son recently and was left by her former husband. Fai works at a local gym teaching aerobatics and does janitorial duties. Li is a young buck that travels the country (Zhong Guo) on his bike refusing to use his fathers money. Li's father is a big shot real estate mogul. In Beijing, Li find out through a newspaper article that his father is now bankrupt. Li finds him in Macao and tries to straighten him out. Li takes on a construction job and takes on MMA in order to enter the Golden Rumble tournament. Li and Fai find a special connection. Fai coaches Li to enter the MMA tourney. Fai takes to his host family he rents from. However, things go south when the loan sharks find Fai and the mom goes a little crazy again. Li strives to show his father that if he can do MMA, his father can start over. You don't always have to win all your fights, but the journey there and the reasons for the fight are emphasized.



So far, this could be my favorite movie of 2013, US or Asian. I loved it. Maybe because I am also an MMA fan, this movie speaks to me a little more. The story of the two leads is easy but also complex. You have both male leads trying to find their way in life having to start over in Macao. Both have a love story at play away from the gym. Both have a family element in play. Throw in the stuff in the gym and the goal to achieve something in life. The human element of a kid always gets to me. Maybe because I am a father with young daughters, those types of story lines get me all emotional. The love interest both have similar looks and in the beginning of the film, I had a little bit of a hard telling them apart. But you figure it out real quick.



So, if I were to pick the best of 2013, this would be on that list and very high if not #1. I have to look back at all the films I watched in 2013 to figure this out. This is up there. Don't miss it and get watch it.

停車 - Parking

停車 (Parking) is a 2008 film out of Taiwan. The movie stars Chang Chen. The rest of the supporting cast include Kwai Lun-mei, Jack Kao, Leon Dai, Peggy Tseng and Chapman To.



The movie revolves around Chang Chen and his parked car. While buying a cake, someone double parks next to him, preventing him from leaving. Because of this, Chen gets involved with the happens of Chengde road, where his car is park. Chen patiently waits from late afternoon to sundown. The first is a one hand barber next to his car. The barber is played by Jack Kao and tells him that the car probably belongs to the people on floor 3. Chen goes up and finds an elderly couple with their granddaughter Nini. The grandfather calls him Xiao Ma, the nickname of their deceased son. Chen goes along with it and ends up having dinner with them. When he's done with dinner, the double parked car is gone. About to leave, Chen receives a phone call. Distracted by the phone call, he sits on the cake he bought. Now Chen's butt is covered in frosting and he goes back to the barber to clean up. After cleaning up, he finds that another parked car has blocked him via double parking. Chen goes to a nearby tailor store to ask for help. Chapman To is that tailor and doesn't help him. Chen calls the towing company to get the car towed. The towing company is busy from it being Mother's Day and a Sunday. The towing company tells him to take a cab. Chen finds a cab but the cabby refuses to take him to his destination. Leaving the car angered, he kicks the double parked car. The car is not empty and filled with triad members. Just as they are going to do something bad to Chen, To runs out being chased by triad members. The barber steps out and tells the triad head to let them go. The barber and triad boss are old buddies and chat about a little history and their current situation. Chen's car is still double parked, but by a different car now. Chen heads to the fourth floor to ask if its their car. Chen than gets into an argument with them and is beaten up and thrown into a park ditch.



The movie is a trip as there are many small subplots along the way. I didn't even bring up Peggy Tseng's character. One of the subplots revolves around Chang Chen and Kwai Lun-mei as his wife. There's also the subplot of tha barber that gets somewhat explored.



This was a slow moving movie, but for a purpose. The slowness in the beginning turns into lots and lots of things going on in the second half of the film. Peggy Tseng makes her movie debut. I've not seen Peggy before because she's in Taiwan commercials and appeared in a few MVs, two things I see very little to none of here in LA. I think she gives a breakout performance.

I highly recommend this film.

淚王子 - Prince Of Tears - Upcoming

淚王子 (Prince Of Tears) is being released in Taiwan tomorrow, Friday, October 30, 2009. Just in time for Halloween. The kind of terror you'll see isn't going to be ghost and goblins, but White Terror.

The movie stars Joseph Chang, Terri Kwan, Zhu Xuan, and Jack Kao. Helmed by Hong Kong director Yonfan, the trailer looks amazing.

I am looking forward to this film as the cast looks great and its a slice of Taiwan that few have looked at before.