Rich and Famous

As a fan of Chow Yun-Fat and Hong Kong-movies I saw "Rich and Famous" yesterday, and I thought that it was pretty good. The movie wasn`t as good as "The Killer" and "Hard Boiled"(both 10/10), but then nothing is.

"Rich and Famous" had what I like about Hong Kong-films, namely cool characters and well-choreographed action, but it wouldn`t hurt this movie if it had more action.

A pretty good film, and Chow Yun-Fat is cool as always. 7,5/10

I always enjoyed this two part movie with a all star cast that includes Chow Yun Fat, Andy Lau, Alex Man, Hell even Danny Lee shows up later. Rich And Famous is a absorbing action/ drama that would be best described as A Better Tommorrow crossed with The Godfather. The characters are drawn out really good The action scenes look good, but nothing compared to John Woo's work. In the sequel Tragic Hero the tension builds for a blood and bullet drenched climax, that few films can compete with. This might seem standard for the Heroic Bloodshed genre but was done well enough to be worth watching..

Despite the negative reviews I really liked this one, I thought it did the job very nicely. Made at a time when the heroic bloodshed genre was just taking off and with Andy Lau and Chow Yun-Fat as the stars it's impossible to dislike it. The story starts off a little confusing but soon boils down into a tale of rivalry between gangsters, and the cast, which includes Danny Lee and the great Alex Man, is excellent. Plus the vibrant action sequences have a sadistic edge which appeals; the ending in particular is spectacular. A sequel, TRAGIC HERO, followed.

"Rich and Famous" is a film that is most definitely trying to emulate the classic Godfather films. The film focuses on both family, crime, loyalty, and revenge; themes Godfather explored to a greater, and better, degree. Also like the Godfather, this was a two-part series (at the time it was made, rather). However, this film comes nowhere near the level of those classic films and actually doesn't even rise above the status of average.

One reason is the acting. With the exception of Chow Yun Fat, who exudes a high level of charisma, the acting is generally over the top and unbelievable. The audience tends to find the proceedings humorous simply because the actors' inability to maintain any degree of seriousness. As a result, we find the film not truly emotionally involving or intense since we don't particularly care what occurs with these characters.

Another reason is the film's lack of focus. The narrative tries to incorporate many different story elements into the film, but this results in portions of the movie becoming underdeveloped as well as lacking any real sense of coherency. The audience sometimes becomes lost at the proceedings we are viewing, not knowing what are character's motivations are. We also get confused in which characters are whom since the narrative readily shifts focus between characters at a rapid rate.

The film's climax does contain a decent gun fight and is probably the highlight of the film. The movie tries to create an dramatic set piece with it taking place on grand steps of a church, but again since we don't care about the characters, we don't care about what happens; The scene loses it's intensity and suspense because of this. The other action set pieces are rather mundane in nature, with a feeling of it being too controlled rather than free flowing.

In general, this is a strictly average film and isn't recommended to the general film viewer... Only hard core genre enthusiasts and fans of Chow Yun Fat should consider this film for viewing.

While much better then the sequel, this is still by no means a great movie. Every once in a while it approaches greatness, but one thing or another keeps it from achieving it. The character development is better then usual, and Alex Man gives a very good performance as the ambitious, bumbling brother. The two action sequences are excellent, and the surprisingly low body count finale actually has some feeling and emotion in it.