Armageddon

Starting off as promising as any other Gordon Chan film, this tale about Hong Kong special forces, the supernatural, Heaven & Hell, soon buckles underneath it's own weight & moves from interesting and promising to just plain silly and tedious, before sputtering to a lifeless and unfulfilled conclusion. Both Andy Lau and Anthony Wong are as good as always, but they really deserve a much better movie for both their considerable talents. This is not one of my favorite Chan films by a long shot to say the least. That's sad as he's usually a solidly good director.

My Grade: D+

DVD Extras: Commentary by Gordon Chan; A 22 minute Making of; Both Hong Kong & US Trailers, & Trailers for "King of Beggars", "Beast Cops", "Option Zero", "First Option", "2000 A.D.", "Running out of Time", "Body Weapon", "Dragon Inn", "Fist Power", & "the Duel"

Starting out like a Chinese take-off on the X Files, this film eventually degenerates into a bizarre eschatological parable lacking any clear moral. The ending is particularly over-inflated, anticlimactic and nonsensical. Anthony Wong's performance is the only redeeming quality of this failed effort, but it falls far short of his next performance for Gordon Chan in Beast Cops.

This intriguing mystery-thriller with supernatural overtones is entertaining on several levels. Those who seek out Hong Kong film only for fight sequences and gun battles should steer clear of this more complex film. By "more complex" I am not implying that this is an art film; rather, this is an enjoyable Hong Kong pop film with a few twists that make it all the more interesting.

Especially recommended for those who are new to Hong Kong popular cinema. Current fans of HK cinema who can tolerate an offbeat storyline without lots of gangbanging ought to give it a try. The leads are good; actress Michelle Reis is especially spirited and sexy.

Armageddon (dir. Gordon Chan) . In this picture director Gordon Chan drops his successful foray into the 'Cop and Martial Arts Genres', and tackles a theme steeped in woozy metaphysics and SciFi which was very popular in Hollywood in the late 90's. However, exceptionally cheesy CGI and a brain- dead story line make this a pretty weak effort, but it's not without a few pluses. Anthony Wong and Andy Lau are Asian Superstars, and they have the best roles in this film, and several of the actors that were in BEAST COPS show up in this film. Gordon Chan is trying to show Hollywood that diverse and varied films from Hong Kong can hold there own in the worldwide market place. Too bad that Armageddon was not more of a successful venture.

The movie starts out pretty well. Has some engaging moments but then falls apart. At the end it just makes you think, what the heck was that. Goes on totally different logical direction in contrasts to how it builds up. It's like turning a suspensful mystery sci-fi movie into some sort of supernatural romantic nonsense in the end. Completely two different scripts.