Tokyo Raiders - Nell' occhio dell'intrigo

Not a bad action flick by director Jingle Ma, and actor Tony Lueng Chiu Wai.

It's an international affair when the groom runs away to Japan, and his bride come after him from Hong Kong. Not only is he a run away groom, he had many underworld connection, that has gangs and yakuzas hot on his trail. All converge in Tokyo and mayhem ensues.

The visuals (on DVD) is very good, and although the story was bit silly, it had enough impact to be entertaining. If there was one thing I didn't like was Kelly Chan's acting. She always appears wooden and fails to bring the voltage up on the story. They've also failed to cash in on the talent of Japanese actors, and couldn't make a good story around them. Hiroshi Abe should have been the lead role on the Japanese side, and should have been pit against Tony Lueng Chiu Wai. Then the story and the movie would have been 200% better.

So it's a movie that needs little more work, and some change in the actors, but overall it was an acceptable action drama.

Jingle Ma's 'Tokyo Raiders' is a fun-packed action comedy. It's one of those films where the story is secondary. Yes, the story is flawed and a little silly but there is enough of the other stuff to keep one entertained. The action sequences are well choreographed. There isn't too much violence or gore (there's hardly any blood on screen). The cinematography is pretty good too as it captures modern Japan so brilliantly. Tony Leung Chi Wai, Kelly Chen and Ekin Cheng form quite a cool trio. Leung proves to be a very good comedic actor which adds to his versatility. Kelly Chen impressed me with her acting for a change. Cheng does a fine job as he holds his own against Leung. With amusing fight sequences, slapstick and situational comedy and funny lines, 'Tokyo Raiders' has the ingredients of a successful enjoyable action comedy.

`Tokyo Raiders' starts off fast and furious. Before we are on a first name basis with one of the main characters, he is embroiled in a fight scene the can only be described as Jet Li meets James Bond meets MacGyver.

`Tokyo Raiders' moves at an incredibly fast pace, Fight and Chase, Fight and Chase, and I found myself fighting and chasing the ever elusive plot. I saw the version dubbed into English, and perhaps that's the only fault of the movie. I never fully got a grasp of who each character was, what their name was, as well as the purpose for their actions. Introductions to the characters are never properly given, and soon the plot twists so much you don't know who's who, who's Chinese, who's Japanese, who's working for which mob boss, and who's actually a good guy. This might be part of the film's mystique, or just really bad English dubbing. In any event I didn't really care. The martial arts fight scenes are plentiful in this film, and they are brilliantly done. The actors themselves are very skilled in the martial arts, and the director really enjoys playing with slow motion and rotating camera angles. The effect is absolute brilliance: a truly new art form made up of technical merit and intelligence in both filmmaking and martial arts skill.

This movie has been called a comedy. It's not so much a comedy as it is a comedy of errors. I liken it to `Lock Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels' as both involve some frantically hysterical antics that happen when average Joes get mixed up in the seedy mob underworld. Both films move at a mile a minute as well. Have I mentioned this film moves fast yet?

The artfully done martial arts more than makes up for any confusion caused by the speed of the plot and the poor English dubbing. If you thought `Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels' needed some Kung Fu added to it, this movie might just be your soulmate. . 7/9 Stars

I have watched a lot of HK and martial arts movies, and this is one of the best I've seen. There's a good story behind it, it twists and turns all the time. Lots of cool gadgets, the fighting is really good. Lots of humour in it, I laughed quite alot. If you gonna see this see it subbed and not dubbed. I have seen both versions and when I saw it subbed it was much funnier. I didn't really know so much about Tony Leung before this movie, but now I really like him. He was very very cool in this movie. See it now!

Rating 10/10 (can I give it a 11?)

When I saw the cast on the posters for 'Tokyo' I went "wow". Kelly Chen, Ekin Cheng and of course Tonly Leung. I was at first sceptical because of the Director Jingle Ma who directed another action film 'VR cops' which was terrible. But for his 2nd action film he really has learned a lot. Obviously basing himself on John Woo (note the amount of dove shots and use of slow motions) and trying out some 'timelapse' shots, it really brings out some life into the film. Tony Leung and Ekin Cheng actually play well off each other, for the cantonese audience it is at times obvious when the cast ad-lib which was left untranslated and simplified on the English translation. The film is very simple and the twists get a bit over-done with one after another, but overall it did turn out quite good. Personally, I enjoyed the film with it's unique blend of Japanese and Chinese acting and a comedic score, it is a fun film.