The Monkey King - 西游記之大鬧天宮

The Monkey King (西游記之大鬧天宮) is an 2014 film out of Zhong Guo. The movie stars Donnie Yen. The other stars include Chow Yun-fat, Aaron Kwok, Joe Chen, Peter Ho. Cameo appearances by Kelly Chen, Gigi Leung, and Faye Wang.



A heavenly fight between the Jade Emperor and the Bull Demon King sends the heavens into ruins. The the Bull Demon King is defeated, Nu Wa Goddess sacrafices herself to save the heavenly kingdom from ruin. All the while, her powers create Sun Wu Kong. When he is released, he's taken in by Pitu and learns to protect his monkey kingdom. When the Bull Demon King comes onto the scene, he tricks the Sun Wu Kong to attack the heavens. The Jade Emperor now has to take action again.



This movie had lots of special effects. Basically, everyone could fly. Everyone had powers. Nice. Let the party begin.



Faye Wang was listed in the credits but I recall seeing her in the film. I doubt I'll rewatch just to get a small glimpse. With that said, the movie was entertaining, but Sun Wu Kong isn't a particularly likable character. Sure he was created out of a sacrificial act and he wants to protect his clan. But he's proud, rude, and gets himself in trouble. I guess the story wouldn't have gotten anywhere without his troublemaker attitude. But you gotta have a likable purpose for doing it. In this case, it was just lame.



Donnie was in make up practically the whole time and I could barely make him out. I know the producers don't want to bring him back due to his large pay day. But the promotion was largely based on him and the story. What's stronger, the story or Donnie. Donnie is of course. He's the strongest in the universe!



The movie was released during Chinese New Years and enjoyed an epic run at the box office. Currently sitting pretty with around ~$175 million USD. The movie is scheduled stateside in the fall from the USA region distributor Global Star Productions. The fall time is pretty far away and the date could move. But from the trailer, it looks like an English dubbed version. That'll be interesting.

Cold War - 寒戰

Cold War (寒戰) is an 2012 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Aaron Kwok and Tony Leung. The supporting cast include Charlie Young, Gordon Lam, Chin Kar-lok, Aarif Rahman, Eddie Peng, Andy On, Terence Yin, Grace Huang, J.J. Jia, Byron Mann, and Michael Wong. Andy Lau makes a brief cameo appearance. The movie was will received both domestically and internationally.



A HK PTU team is kidnapped and the asking ransom is 1/3 of the calculations of the police group budget. When the money is taken from the national vault, only 1/3 is taken to the drop off point, the other 2/3 is shipped back. But because the police were in the middle of a sting, the 2/3 movie shipment back was not well guarded and hijacked. The police now have to deal with a kidnapped PTU team where a team member was killed to make an example. Now, they have to figure out who stole the money. With so much at stake, the internal actions of the police are highly scrutinized and subject to internal review. The movie resolves around the power struggle within the force and those that carried out the kidnapping and hijacking.



The movie was a well made machine. Great cast, complex story, engaging internal struggle, and a wild twist at the end. The movie is one for the ages. This is the type of film you want to introduce HK films to your friends, especially if they do not like Wuxia. Although the main cast is from the old school, the ensemble cast includes a lot of whom may be among the next generation of HK stars.

Saviour of the Soul - 九一神鵰俠侶

Saviour of the Soul (九一神鵰俠侶) is an 1991 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Andy Lau and Anita Mui. The supporting cast include Aaron Kwok, Gloria Yip, Kenny Bee, and Carina Lau. The title of the film is translated to 91 The Return of the Condor Heroes.

Silver Fox breaks his master out of prison. But there clan doesn't accept failure. Thus Silver Fox is forced to kill his master. In order to take revenge, he seeks the person that prevented his master from succeeding, May. May is a bounty hunter in a group. Ching is May's partner from their younger years. Siu Chuen is a recent addition to the group. Siu sacrifices himself to save May during a brutal attack from Silver Fox. May wants to protect her loves one and goes into seclusion. However, Silver Fox and Ching both wait a year before they see May again.

This movie was early 1990s goodness all rolled up into one. Cheezy acting and style, a la the crazy trench coats. The crazy kung fu magic of the clans. The modern take on The Return of the Condor Heroes. I love it. But I am from that era and learned to love HK film during that time. The craziness of HK films was so different than the American films of that era.

The story itself is based on one of the more famous story arcs of The Return of the Condor Heroes. GuGu and Yang Guo are separated for ten years and crazy things happen to them both. Although some elements were swapped, it was in essential the story arc made into a film, with a modern spin.

I recently rented this via Netflix.

City Under Siege - 全城戒備

City Under Siege (全城戒備) is an 2010 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Aaron Kwok, Shu Qi, Collin Chou, Jacky Wu, and Zhang Jingchu.

Aaron Kwok plays Sunny, a orphan and an apprentice to the knife throwing star of a traveling circus. Collin Chou plays the main bad guy and main knife thrower. However, when they trick Sunny into finding buried treasure, they are all exposed to gas from an long forgotten WWII lab. They all inherit superpowers and start to mutate. With this mutation, Sunny becomes an star, but Chou's gang robs armored bank trucks. Jacky Wu and Zhang Jingchu play a couple that are also special agents set to bring in the Chou gang.

The movie was really full of action, but the action was way over the top. The mutations are at an extreme at the end of the film. I'll be honest, this wasn't a good film. But its one of those guilty pleasure films. Lots of action, cheezy dialogue, really hard to follow plot, a gazillion characters.

The Storm Warriors - 風雲II - 風雲2

The Storm Warriors (風雲II/風雲2) is 2009 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng. The supporting cast include Simon Yam, Charlene Choi, Nicholas Tse, Tiffany Tang Yan, and Kenny Ho. The movie is a sequel to the 1998 film, Storm Riders.

The movie starts with the capture of Nameless, Storm, and many other jiang hu warriors. They are captured by Lord Godless and his son, Heart. However, many of them do make an escape. Lord Godless has also been given all power by the emperor. Nameless and Lord Godless have a intense fight, but Nameless is fighting hurt and cannot defeat Godless. They all escape and Godless's men start to look for them. Wind, who was not captured, comes and aids in their escape.

After they escaped, Storm and Wind are given instructions by Nameless to seek out Lord Wicked for help. Once there, Wind is chosen by Lord Wicked to become one with a wicked demon power. Storm is than trained by Nameless.

Once Storm and Wind are trained in their arts, they go after Lord Godless and defeat him. But Wind's no longer himself, but possessed by the wicked demon eye. Storm and Wind than go at it. They fight to a standstill, but the cliff around them crumbles and Storm finally cuts the demon eye to restore Wind. But Storm falls to his demise off the cliff.



How can the sequel match the original, produced more than ten years after the original, to live up to the hype? You can't, so you just go with the flow. The movie starts off in a confusing place. How did Lord Godless capture all these heroes? Why did they escape so easily? But to the credit of the movie, it says, "forget the story, bring on the fighting". The movie is seriously 75% fighting. Swordplay fantasy fighting. CGI, slow mo, "chi" all thrown in there for good measure.

What should you expect, you should expect a film that says "to hell with character development" and say yes to "computer style fighting". This is not your Jet Li style wuxia film, but a 2009 CGI extravaganza.

I never did read the comics so I am not all that familiar with all the characters of the story, but if you watched Storm Rider: Clash of Evils (風雲決), some of the plot points are also used from there.

Empire of Silver - 白銀帝國

Empire of Silver (白銀帝國) is a 2009 film out of China. The movie stars Aaron Kwok, Zhang Tielin, and Hao Lei.

The movie is based on the Shanxi bankers roughly 100-110 years ago in China. Nicknamed the "Wall Street of China". The Kang family are influential bankers headquartered in Shanxi. They have branches all over the eastern part of China. Beijin, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Fujian are mentioned branches. The Kang family is run by the elder Kang, played by Zhang Tielin. Elder Kang has 4 sons. The first is deaf and mute. The second is brash and hot headed. The third drowns himself in alcohol. The fourth goes crazy when his wife is abducted, raped, and commits suicide.

The third son (老三) is played by Aaron Kwok. 老三 is secretly in love with his step mother. The back story to their secret love and how she became 老三's step mother is throughly explored.

The story also covers the turbulent times of China from 1899-1910. In this case, it was the banking industry of China. Where silver taels have been the common currency of China. And than a switch to paper. And than the fall of the Qin dynasty.



The movie was visually very impressive. From the desert to the mountains, to the Shanghai, to the compounds of Shanxi, I was awestruck. Movies like this enhance the beauty of China in my mind.

It was also a very slow moving film. The film present 3 very heavy subject matters. The first is coming to grips with traditions handed down to you. The second is the freedom to search for love. The third is ethics in business. In all three areas, 老三 was the focus in relation to the others around him.

Aaron gives a strong performance. Hao Lei is a beauty to behold. This film is worth a watch if you want to think and see a slice of history.

The Storm Warriors - 風雲II - Upcoming

The Storm Warriors (風雲II/風雲2) is set for release in Hong Kong on December 17, 2009. I've been hearing about this movie since the summer of 2008. The film is produced and directed by the Pang Brothers. This is the sequel to the 1998 film, The Storm Riders. Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng reprise their roles as Cloud and Wind. Simon Yam, Charlene Choi, and Nicholas Tse round out the rest of the star studded cast.

The poster, teaser, scene and trailers are now available. The build up starts now. This could be a visual extravaganza or a total letdown. I hope its good. But I don't have high hopes for the story.

The Storm Riders - 風雲之雄霸天下

The Storm Riders (風雲之雄霸天下) is a 1998 film out of Hong Kong starring Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng. Consider the first of a martial arts movie trilogy from Andrew Lau.

Based off a Hong Kong comic book called Wind Cloud (風雲), it follows Aaron Kwok as Cloud and Ekin Cheng as Wind. Cloud's special martial arts is to leverage water and Wind's is his kicking. Both obtain legendary weapons.

The movie's been around for a long time. Back in 1998 when it came out, it was considered amazing as it was a HK movie with heavy CGI. Before this, no HK movie had used this much CGI in a film. In a sense, it was a pioneer for HK films, back in 1998. Fast forward to 2009! CGI all over the place. But still not to the extent of The Storm Riders.

I had a chance to re-watch the Taiwan DVD recently while washing dishes and it was pretty good. I am a big fan of Aaron Kwok and thought he presented Cloud the way his character is. Emotionless until those dear to him are in danger. That emotion turns to rage.

But don't come here looking for classic HK martial arts. The CGI is heavy and the fights are fantasy based.

The Detective - C+偵探

The Detective (C+偵探) is a 2007 film out of Hong Kong based in Thailand starring Aaron Kwok (郭富城), directed by Oxide Pang of The Pang Brothers.

Aaron Kwok plays a private investigator named Tam. Tam is approached by a bar buddy to investigate a girl. The bar buddy, now client, says that the girl is trying to kill her. At first Tam, rejects the request saying that the client is just trying to get a girls phone number. But when he drops a stack of bills, Tam quickly changes his mind. The investigation happens and that's where the fun begins. The movie seems to be based in a "Chinatown" type area of what I presumed to be Bangkok. However, I first thought he was in Vietnam when the movie started.

The movie is gritty and dark. Which added to the appeal. It presented a slice of Chinese immigrant life in Bangkok that I've never seen (hey, I live in LA). If there were more scenes at night and a love interest, I'd classify this film as film noir.

But its a thriller suspense mystery movie all rolled up into one. Aaron Kwok gives another stellar performance after his turn as a degenerate father in 父子 (After This Our Exile).