Iceman

Donnie Yen is in my opinion the best martial arts movie-star out there right now, especially since Jackie Chan and Jet Li have slowed down and Tony Jaa is only just now getting off to a shaky start with the poorly reviewed Tom Yum Goong 2.

That being said, it's a major disappointment that Donnie Yen's latest, "Iceman", is a miss for the now middle aged (not that you can tell) martial arts master.

Iceman is directionless, confusing, poorly paced, and makes very poor use of Donnie Yen's truly impressive and astonishing martial arts skills. The script is a fish out of water/man out of his time type story, that we've seen before, with nothing new to offer. Some other reviewers have drawn comparisons between this and the Marvel Comics character Captain America, and I can assure the only similarity is that both are frozen men who wake up in different time periods. Rip Van Winkle is the same story but is that also similar?

No, Iceman is in a league of it's own poor storytelling, a remake of a previous film with the same premise from the 80's, this rehash has totally juvenile humour that always misses it's mark, a contrived love story, and a main character capable of ridiculous things with little to no explanation. Captain America is at least explained to have a DNA altering serum in his body, learning Kung Fu doesn't make you superhuman.

They don't even make good use of the fish-out-of-water story and Yen's character adjusts to modern times with ridiculous ease and little incident. Granted, some of the humor may have been lost in translation for me, however I'll say that other foreign comedies, like those of the great Stephen Chow, are always great for a laugh in my book.

Absolutely don't go into this thinking you'll see Donnie Yen kick any kind of butt in major degree, the few fight scenes this movie does have are poorly constructed, filled with bad CGI, and nothing new or close to his potential.

Iceman is like the ice-age altogether, worth avoiding.

Judging from the cover I thought this was a period piece Martial Arts movie. But it does play in the modern times (that's in the 21st century). It might be convoluted and not good in its appeal to tell a story, but it does have Donnie Yen in it. And while he has done some way better movies (just the IP Man trilogy alone, but many more of course), he's always a pleasure to watch (fight).

Sometimes the comedy does work, though it's very plain to put it mildly. But while this isn't a masterpiece by any means, there have been worse movies. And I've seen a couple of them too. So this is entertaining to a degree, but if you don't watch too many movies, you may wanna skip this

I have been a Donnie Yen fan every since I saw him in the first Ip Man film. Now every time I see a Donnie Yen film shown locally (which is not often), I try to catch it. Last year, he shifted his fighting style from elegant Wing Chun to gritty MMA in the film called "Special ID". This year, Yen turns to fantasy fighting in "Iceman".

Mainly "Iceman" was about a group of four friends who are high officials in the Imperial Guards during the Ming Dynasty. Three of them frame He Ying with conspiring with Japanese pirates, leading to his execution. As he tries to escape, he gets caught in an avalanche, gets cryogenically preserved, only to wake up in present day Hong Kong. Two of his traitor "friends" also wake up with him to continue their 400 year old fight.

He Wing is a kind and helpful guy, especially to the girl who took him in, May. He even helps May with her invalid mother currently in a nursing home. He Wing is also on some sort of quest, searching for the key to the so-called Golden Wheel of Time, an ancient time machine of sorts. Furthermore there is a group of corrupt cops who are after the three frozen Ming guys to sell to a North Korean buyer. All these plot lines could not really be settled in one film, as the ending obviously pointed towards a sequel.

Acting is cheesy. The comedy is lowbrow, slapstick with jokes about various body functions. The best parts of the film are still the fight scenes, even if the style was old-fashioned with a lot of obvious wire work. The climactic fight scene is the awesome three-way in the middle of a suspension bridge, with chains vs. sword vs. battle axe. Exciting stuff, though it went a bit overboard with its length.

"Iceman" begins with a ship carrying what looks like three cryogenic tubes. Then, in a flashback, a Chinese officer is being accused of conspiring with the dreaded Japanese pirates back in the 17th century. However, when the Emperor of China's men try to apprehend him, his is transported to the present day Hong Kong--and you realize he's one of the guys in the cryo tubes. Here in the 21st century, he's out of place but also amazingly clever and helpful. I liked this part of the film. Soon, however, he's caught up in all sorts of intrigues and it all has to do with the Golden Wheel of Time and the god Shiva's penis (I am serious about this last part) and a bazillion cops trying to kill him. Can this visitor from the past take on a HUGE army of cops and win?

When "Iceman" began, it felt a lot like I'd seen this sort of plot in another film. The French film "Les Visiteurs" (remade in the US as "Just Visiting") is a silly film where the hero is magically transported many centuries into the future. Here in the present, the knight is completely out of his element and is a bumbler. The film is played strictly for laughs. Here with "Iceman", however, when the soldier is magically transported into the future, he inexplicably is like superman! Not only does he possess nearly god-like fighting and intellectual powers at times, but he also seems to magically understand technology--and he inexplicably uses the internet and destroys surveillance cameras! To me, none of this really made a lot of sense. How could a man from centuries before know how to do an internet search or understand what cameras are?! For me, this was a big problem with Iceman--it just didn't make a lot of sense. If a man is somehow transported to today from the distant past, the comical way "Les Visiteurs" handled it seems much, much more likely--with the guy drinking from toilets and getting into one problem after another. Instead, it goes from being a bit charming to being very confusing and very violent. Then, it becomes a huge, explosive finale where there are tons of explosions and violence and mindless mayhem. The charm just doesn't last very long.

So is it worth seeing? Well, if you have nothing better to do...sure. But as I mentioned above, quite a bit about the hero just didn't make a lot of sense in "Iceman". Instead, while I never loved "Les Visiteurs", I'd recommend you see it over "Iceman".

Normally I am not overly keen on remakes or re-visiting of old movies. I mean, why meddle with something that had already been made? But I will say that this 2014 version of "Iceman" (aka "Bing feng: Chong sheng zhi men") was actually an entertaining and enjoyable remake and one well worthy of the older movie.

And it is because of the good special effects and CGI effects in the movie. Plus the dazzling martial arts performance from Donnie Yen, which always spices up a movie. Those two things put together make for a very enjoyable remake.

The story in "Iceman" is about an Imperial guard in the Ming Dynasty who was frozen solid during an epic battle. Then 400 years later he and his nemesis are brought back to life in modern day Hong Kong, which makes for a clash of cultures, traditions and customs.

"Iceman" is a very fast paced movie, as most Donnie Yen movies tend to be. And it is enjoyable from start to end.

The cast in "Iceman" was good, and people were doing good jobs with their respective roles and characters. Donnie Yen did, of course, steal the scene with his performances. But it was also nice to see Simon Yam and Wang Bao-Qiang in the movie.

There is also elements of comedy thrown into the movie, making it a combination of action and comedy. However, it is not done to the extend where the comedy is too much. This is, of course, a matter of preference if you enjoy a mix of comedy and action. I did enjoy it, especially because the comedy was done with moderation.

This is not a movie which challenges the audience in any way. You can essentially just sit back and enjoy the ride. The story is very self-explanatory and there are no plot twists along the way. So just sit back and watch the movie.

If you enjoy Asian cinema, then "Iceman" is definitely worth a watch.