User reviews

Many of the same sort of visual gags found in Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle get their first sparks here. The comedy is very broad, as usual for an HK production, and the production is uneven at times. The kung-fu is more crazy-fu and shot in dizzying super wide angle close- ups. In contrast the non-fighting portions are photographed nicely.

Chow is a good comic actor following in the footsteps of notable actors like Fu Sheng, Jacky Chan and others. The relationship between Chow's character and the wife is very well done for this type of film. There are lots of anachronistic media references and sometimes the film seems more like a TV show. Much of the action seems to be influenced by Ng See Yuen's Shaolin Drunkard films of the 1980's, not that that's bad at all.

Not as polished as Chow's later films but good fun.

I really like this movie, indeed. Love the way Stephen Chow shows on screen.

What makes 'Daai laap mat taam 008' different from other Kong Fu comedies is that it's slightly more offbeat and has less kong fu. But hang on, it's funny as hell and endearing. I love the character Ling Ling Fat (Stephen Chow) and his wife Kar Ling (Karina Lau). Chow as Fat is a royal servant, an inventor, a medicine man, a devoted husband and a cop is amazing. He shows another side of his comedic talent that is very different from what he did in 'Shaolin Soccer' and 'Kung Fu'. Carina Lau displays her versatility by playing a comic role as the devoted and loving wife Kar. The relationship of the two characters is very well portrayed and is one of the highlights of the film. There are also many funny characters as I mentioned in the summary that just make the movie experience more fun. The over the top fight scenes are both comical and well shot, fitting well with the context. Yes, a lot of the scenes are done in a cheesy way, a lot of them are far fetched too but then again, it just adds to the humour. There are several laugh out loud moments and very funny twists. I am pretty sure that one will be unstoppably laughing throughout the film. I find 'Daai laap mat taam 008' to be a very refreshing comedy but it's probably the kind one would either hate or like very much.

FORBIDDEN CITY COP follows the usual mould for a Stephen Chow comedy. It has a handful of truly impressive, immersive and highly creative action sequences that showcase some wacky special effects and choreography, and it shares a couple of cast members with the '80s likes of SHAOLIN DRUNKARD which it pays homage to. These action bits are outstanding and quite hilarious. As usual, it's the bits in between that fall flat; the scenes of Chow and his wife or Chow searching for a concubine are pretty dull and not up to par. Chow is an immensely likeable presence and I just wish the bits in between the good bits were as good as the good bits, if you see what I'm getting at.

Well, if you are familiar with Stephen Chow, then you should definitely watch "Forbidden City Cop" (aka "Daai laap mat taam Ling Ling Fat") from 1996. Now, with my interest in Hong Kong cinema, I oddly enough had managed to not watch this movie before 2020. Actually, I hadn't even heard about it prior to sitting down to watch it.

Which was a mistake on my behalf, because "Forbidden City Cop" was entertaining and enjoyable, and it was a very archetypical Stephen Chow movie, for better or worse. I enjoy his movies and his comedy, so this was a nice treat for me to watch.

The storyline is actually good, and it is laced with a good amount of action and comedy. Of course it is, this is a Stephen Chow movie after all. And directors Stephen Chow and Vincent Kok managed to put together a very enjoyable movie.

The movie offers a wide variety of genre mixes, such as comedy, martial arts, drama and mystery, so there definitely is something for just about anyone sitting down to watch it.

If you haven't already seen "Forbidden City Cop" then you should do so if you get the chance, especially if you have an interest in these types of Asian movies.

My rating for this movie lands on a six out of ten stars.

Even within only the first few minutes one can readily discern that this is the type of title where some of the humor (if not also the scene writing at large) will be lost on those who don't speak Cantonese, and who don't possess meaningful awareness of both Chinese and international culture. The protagonist's very name exemplifies this, toying with a reference to Ian Fleming's James Bond, 007, and more specifically the film franchise of Eon Productions - and further emphasized with the opening credits that allude to Eon Productions, the protagonist's obsession with inventions (gadgets), and more. After its own fashion, this is a spy spoof with a setting in the imperial China of several hundred years ago. By no means is any of this to suggest that 'Forbidden City cop' can't be enjoyed by international viewers, but the first impression it makes is as a feature that's very distinctly made for a domestic audience, further including film-making sensibilities that may catch off-guard even those who are accustomed to, for example, the kung fu flicks of The Shaw Brothers or Golden Harvest, or the action romps of Jackie Chan.

Incidentally, some of Jackie Chan's body of work may be a fair point of reference in general, for as an action-comedy this quite consistently embraces outrageous cartoonishness that's only amplified by the brisk pacing. We get wildly exaggerated expressions and acting, loud and boorish scenes sure to ruffle the feathers of anyone who is sensitive to audio, plain silliness, crude sex jokes, slapstick, and more. It's relatively infrequently that the humor relies on more subtle variations, like a witty exchange of dialogue, sight gags, or a bit drawn out over a scene with the punch coming at the end. To that point, perhaps we can say that what we're seeing is a reflection of comedy and film-making in a different culture, but I'm inclined to think these qualities tie into actual criticisms. That pacing is broadly so steady as to be vexing, and that tendency in the audio toward clamor makes the proceedings feel harried and brusque. While there's much to appreciate here, in these ways the direction of Vincent Kok and Stephen Chow strikes me as a tad uncareful, and I think the humor would have benefited from a more nuanced, thoughtful hand.

In fairness, however, all these matters are rather superficial. In many other ways there's much to love about this picture, and at its core it's splendidly entertaining. The filming locations are beautiful, and the production design and art direction maybe even more so with their rich detail. Tremendous care went into the costume design, hair and makeup, and props and weapons, let alone stunts, fight choreography, dance choreography, and practical effects, and even the minimal post-production visuals. The camerawork and editing could maybe be a bit cleaner when it comes to visualizing the action sequences, but mostly Lee Kin-keung and Kwong Chi-leung demonstrate deft skill to help shape the feature. Even at their most overcooked I can't fault the cast for spirited acting, and in some instances the performances are genuinely great; more than not, when it comes to the fundamental orchestration of shots and scenes - especially the more shrewd or complicated ones - Kok and Chow's direction is pretty darn smart. Case in point, where the humor does rely on a more delicate touch (e.g., concurrent scenes of violence and frivolity), the comedic timing is kind of brilliant, and 'Forbidden City cop' definitely earns some laughs along the way.

The action is a blast, the best of the comedy is a joy, it's terrifically well made in general and easy on the eyes (further include superb use of lighting), and at its best the direction is wonderfully sharp. Very importantly, all this necessarily stems from the screenplay of Kok,Chow, and Edmund Liu. We might say reasonably enough that the quality varies some in the writing just as in the execution, particularly where the comedy is concerned. It does also seem to me that, strictly speaking, narrative cohesion breaks down some over time, and the movie becomes more about the action, the comedy, and broad vibes of a plot more than a discrete tale. Be that as it may, the story is duly engaging and compelling, and the scene writing is fabulously strong. Some details are stupendously clever (fantastical capabilities of antagonists, a centerpiece fight involving the protagonist's inventions) even as they may be paired with more overdone aspects. And through it all, what we end up with is a film that stirs together kung fu, period drama, action, various strains of comedy, and fantasy into a weird, vibrant, highly enjoyable whole.

It remains true that 'Forbidden City cop' has its faults. Some tidbits (mostly the more outlandish and/or sexual ones) completely fail to land, nevermind scattered tinges of sexism, fatphobia, and transphobia. Even at only ninety minutes I wonder if this isn't a smidgen longer than it should be, as the major sequence near the end of the second act feels like a proper climax. There are plenty of swell ideas here, but not all of them are treated well; even as it boasts some excellent humor and writing, the third act comes off to some degree like something taken from a totally different screenplay and rewritten to adjoin the first two-thirds. Still, this was made with no loftier intent than to have fun, and no matter how much we may scrutinize, it ably achieves that goal. I sat to watch with no real foreknowledge or expectations, and though not every facet meets with equal success, I'm pleasantly surprised by how much of a good time it turned out to be. Unless one has a special impetus to watch there's no need to go out of your way for this, but I'm very pleased with how entertaining 'Forbidden Citiy cop' is overall, and I'm glad to give it my solid recommendation!

I saw the movie in a theater during a Martial Arts HK movie festival and like the other reviewer, couldn't stop laughing! It's silly, fun, not historically accurate, there are some creative "side bits", i.e. the academy award scene mentioned in the other comment, but everything that happens in the movie drives the plot and fits with the style of the movie.

It's the one movie I always look for when I go to rent videos. It's hard to find, (there's only one place in Seattle that has it, as a DVD)but if you see it at the store, or playing during a movie festival, go see it!

It's hard to know what I would think of this parody of cheesy martial arts movies if it were properly translated. Would it make more sense? Are there clever jokes hidden in there? It's hard to tell.

The story seems episodic, coming across as two separate stories that each end with a big fight. In terms of the non-dialogue parts, the first story has the better final fight, a crazy, often funny scene involving gadgets that gets a lot of laughs out of giant magnets. The other big action scene was less interesting.

What comes through even with the bad translation is a really charming relationship between protagonist Chow and wife Carina Lau. Those scenes are really fun.

Outside of one action scene and the relationship scenes I didn't care much for this. It's very lowbrow slapstick and while it's a parody of bad, cheaply made movies, it's not far from what it's mocking.

But still, with better subtitles this might be a better movie than I think it is.

Forbidden City Cop was a movie that suprised the hell out of me. When i first saw a copy of the thing, i twisted my face up in confusion, not knowing what the hell i was in for. Lucky, i picked up a copy and about an hour and a half after chucking it into my vcr, i was still laughing my ass off.

This film is the perfect mix of comedy, corruption, and sheer lunacy. The fight scene with the magnets had me in tears, and the amount of golden one-liners in the film was hilarious.

In the immoral words of the Faceless Ninja: "BLAND AND FACELESS, MY SKILLS ARE UNFATHOMABLE!"

This movie is one of those which I can't decide whether I like or not.

It has some crazy fight sequences (verging on ridiculous) which are great, and some really impressive p**s-takes of james bond, butch cassidy etc... the action is great if you like over-the top silliness.

However, after about the first hour, the plot takes a turn and when 'inspector gadget' goes off to find a new concubine for the emperor pretty much nothing happens for about half an hour.

This is made up for in the final sequence which seemed surprisingly high-budget.

You should see this film if you are willing to accept that it is not to be taken seriously - and do not despair if you think they 'used up' all their action when the first few fights were over - be patient.

Saw this on a flight from Tokyo to HK - had no idea what it was about (still don't, really) but it had my wife and I ROTFL. There's bits about the alien autopsy, Academy Award speeches and cooking shows, I think.

Doesn't make any sense, has cheesy effects and this isn't really acting, just mugging for the camera and winking at the audience, but everyone's very charming and once you stop worrying about the story (there might have been one, somewhere), you won't stop laughing.

This is a pretty off-beat sort of HK film with a fair share of action and a lot of silliness. Our hero may be incompetent at Kung Fu, but his gadgetry reminds me of Q from the Bond films, whose music is ripped off and whose sexy introductions are parodied at the start of the film. The usual HK blood spilling, a very twisting and contorting (and even surprising in its predictability) plot and a sentimental thread of the happy couple make this worth a look. It kind of sits between Jackie Chan and the Chinese Ghost Story series.