The Children of Huang Shi - Escape from Huang Shi -- 黄石的孩子 -黃石任務

The Children of Huang Shi (黄石的孩子) is a 2008 film about children who travel the silk road during the China-Japanese war. The movie stars Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Radha Mitchell, Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh.

In 1937, the Japanese have invaded Nanjing and George Hogg sneaks in to report on it. Hogg is saved by Chow, a communist officer and eventually lands in Huang Shi to recover. While there, he sets up a mini society with the children. But as the Nationalist are driven closer to Huang Shi by the Japanese from Nanjing, Hogg decides to take the children to Shan Dan. This prevents the children from being targeted for involuntary enlistment into the army and is far away from the heart of the war.

The movie is loosely based on Hogg's life. From Hogg's profile on Wikipedia, the events of the movie and the real life children are very far apart. In real life, Hogg lead the children in 1944, but the movie places it in 1937.

I was really surprised at Rhys-Meyers and Mitchell's Chinese. If you compare it to RDJ's Chinese from Topic Thunder, this was so much better. I could understand it for the most part.

In Hollywood, the normal procedure is that the Asians can't save themselves but its the white guy that swoops in and cultures them to salvation. This film is no different, but it is based on a true story. It is what is is.

Mission: Impossible III - 不可能的任務III

I caught Mission: Impossible III (不可能的任務III) right when it was released on DVD back in 2006. One of the best things about this movie was that they filmed roughly 20% in Shanghai, China. The city of one set of my grandparents. Shanghai will always hold a special place in my heart. I got a chance to visit Shanghai for 2 days back in 2000. I've been pining to get back there and spent at least a week.



So, when the movie moved to the Shanghai portion of the film, I was all eyes and ears. It was quite funny to hear Tom Cruise shout a couple of Mandarin Chinese terms.



You would be better off getting a movie synopsis from Yahoo! Movies or Wikipedia or even the M:i:3 site.



One of the standout features of the film is Maggie Q. Maggie plays one of the agents that supports Tom Cruise on his mission. Maggie actually has a nice roll and is credited with playing someone called Zhen Lei. Maggie Q was not the dragon lady bad gurl or the the eye candy for white guys to drool over. She was part of the team and did her part.



I thought the plot was a little confusing, but I understood it for the most part. I was a huge fan of Alias and thought this was a good vehicle for J.J. Abrams to enter the film market.