Well, what do we have here? Why it's a modern cut and paste effort in true Godfrey Ho style! But hold on a minute......do my eyes deceive me or is that actually the great man himself appearing in this?!!!! Good God! - Yes it is indeed! And who directed this film? - Ed Woo eh? Hmmmmmm........pull the other one! - Godfrey, you old scoundrel you! You've been at it again haven't you?!
Yep, all of our God(frey's) trademarks are here; an indecipherable plot (in this case something about the Yakuza and Triads teaming up), plus some brand new footage featuring western actors edited into proceedings in order to give the finished movie a wider international appeal (ostensibly). In this case our lead man happens to be none other than kickboxing legend Joe Lewis. Unfortunately all of Joe's scenes stand out like a sore thumb however as they have been shot on the cheap, on what appears to be regular video tape(!) Added to this, judging by the decidedly awkward performances in these newer segments, the script to was presumably skimped on leaving the impression that the actors are ad libbing most of their lines! On the positive side however, whilst sadly getting very little screen time, Joe does at least get to demonstrate some of his moves towards the end in this.
OK so that describes the newer sequences; what about the original film into which they are (clumsily) edited?
Well actually it's rather solid stuff featuring some excellent John Woo style shootouts plus some cool martial arts throughout. Particularly noteworthy is the rather splendid beginning in this wherein the bad guys gate crash a wedding and proceed to wipe out virtually every guest!
But let's be quite honest here folks; this film is chiefly memorable for one thing and one thing only and that my friends is the majestic on screen presence of one man......ney, one demi-god......the great man himself Mr Godfrey Ho! His electrifying performance here is surely comparable even to his directorial genius; In fact he clearly demonstrates that he is easily in the same league as the likes of the Brando's and De Niro's of this world. Indeed, quite how this master of his craft was overlooked for the best foreign actor award at the Oscar's is a veritable crime! Shame on you Hollywood!
*Cough!*
Yep, all of our God(frey's) trademarks are here; an indecipherable plot (in this case something about the Yakuza and Triads teaming up), plus some brand new footage featuring western actors edited into proceedings in order to give the finished movie a wider international appeal (ostensibly). In this case our lead man happens to be none other than kickboxing legend Joe Lewis. Unfortunately all of Joe's scenes stand out like a sore thumb however as they have been shot on the cheap, on what appears to be regular video tape(!) Added to this, judging by the decidedly awkward performances in these newer segments, the script to was presumably skimped on leaving the impression that the actors are ad libbing most of their lines! On the positive side however, whilst sadly getting very little screen time, Joe does at least get to demonstrate some of his moves towards the end in this.
OK so that describes the newer sequences; what about the original film into which they are (clumsily) edited?
Well actually it's rather solid stuff featuring some excellent John Woo style shootouts plus some cool martial arts throughout. Particularly noteworthy is the rather splendid beginning in this wherein the bad guys gate crash a wedding and proceed to wipe out virtually every guest!
But let's be quite honest here folks; this film is chiefly memorable for one thing and one thing only and that my friends is the majestic on screen presence of one man......ney, one demi-god......the great man himself Mr Godfrey Ho! His electrifying performance here is surely comparable even to his directorial genius; In fact he clearly demonstrates that he is easily in the same league as the likes of the Brando's and De Niro's of this world. Indeed, quite how this master of his craft was overlooked for the best foreign actor award at the Oscar's is a veritable crime! Shame on you Hollywood!
*Cough!*