Peace Hotel

First time director Ka-Fai Wai, a seasoned TV writer, and producer John Woo team up to create a very interesting vehicle for Chow Yun Fat. Styled like a spaghetti western, the film is set in the chaotic times after the fall of the last emperor and start of the Chinese republic.

Chow Yun Fat plays the Killer, a gang leader with a tragic past. During a fight with a gang, his wife is killed. The Killer goes nuts and kills everyone including his own gang. Years later he opens the "Peace Hotel", a place for criminals on the run to find refuge and reform. In enters a woman claiming to be his dead wife. The residents of the Hotel are fooled but of course the Killer isn't and is very angry at her deception. His anger is compounded when she steals his belongings. He is about to throw her out when a huge gang shows up on horseback. They are after her for killing their beloved leader. The Killer changes his mind and shelters the woman. Despite his kindness, the woman continues her deceptive ways. The gang demands that the woman be delivered to them in 21 days or else they are going to storm the hotel.

A very well made production, the sets are great, the acting overall very good and Ka-Fai Wai's direction is very assured for a first time effort. There is a good sense of humor throughout. Chow Yun Fat is great and carries the film from start to finish. The music is good, very reminiscent of Morricone or the great chambara themes although the obvious use of synthesizers for all the instruments lowers the quality a little. The biggest problem for me was a couple of very big plot holes (at least that's how I saw it) which is sad since the film is very good. The action is not central to the movie and those looking for elaborate martial arts will likely be disappointed. The big action scenes are shot in blurry close-ups with lots of dust and shaky camera work. Celia Yip's character gets beaten and slapped around a lot in this film (the character repeatedly provokes most of the abuse) so you might think twice before watching this with a girlfriend.

A good film for Chow Yun Fat fans and anyone looking for unique examples of HK film making.

This movie is very unique. Just the idea of a Chinese Spaghetti Western is mind-boggling. In this movie, Chow Yun-Fat plays "The Killer." He sets up a hotel as a refuge for people on the run. Their safety within the confines of the hotel is guaranteed. When a mysterious girl, played by Cecilia Yip, comes to hotel, his ideals and the sanctity of the hotel becomes threatened as her enemies wish to violate the rules of the hotel.

There are very good performances in this film. Chow Yun-Fat does an excellent job as "The Killer." Cecilia Yip is a very strong and bold female character. As the relationship of the two develop, I actually sympathised and liked the two characters.

The action scenes are well done, for the most part. The machine gun attack and the final sword fight were very well done. The other sword fights were somewhat blurry. Ching Siu-Tung should have been on hand to choreograph those scenes.

I also thought that the end was very powerful and emotional. It even rivals the ending of The Killer. In the end, this movie is worth seeing not only for its action sequences, but for the great performances by the two leads. This movie is not as good as his Woo films, but it is still a powerful movie.

In a weird Western wasteland, a bandit by the name of Wong A-Ping- known ominously as The Killer- is something of a legend. Unstoppable and unmatched in brutality, he roams the land, wreaking havoc and taking lives. After a personal tragedy, he establishes the so-called Peace Hotel, a sanctuary where violence is strictly forbidden. For a time, the hotel thrives, acting as a beacon of order and safety throughout the unlawful, dangerous land. However, the machinations of an attractive con-woman named Shau Siu-man- as well as the villainous gang hot on her tail- threaten to disrupt the situation irrevocably, in Wai Ka-Fai's directorial debut 'Peace Hotel.'

A western with artistic stylizations, the film is off-beat and somewhat entertaining; if not terribly original or well-written. The majority of the characters are caricatures, the dialogue is farcical and to call the story predictable would be an understatement. The central conceit is an interesting one, but it is not exploited in a manner that is either subtle or particularly effective. However, one does get quite wrapped up in 'Peace Hotel' anyway, as one would with a cowboy B-movie from the 50's. There are plenty of twists in the tale, a dash of romance and much humor; a concoction that makes for an enjoyable- if underwhelming- viewing experience.

It must be said that the production design overseen by Wai Ming Yau and Chung-Man Yee is impressive and atmospheric work. The sets look weathered, with the titular hotel being particularly striking. The costume design is also worthy of note, not to mention Wing-Hang Wong's cinematography. It is highly stylized and distinct, at times almost dreamlike. Admittedly though, the hurried camera movement occasionally makes for sequences that are overly hectic, particularly the fight scenes; which are quite hard to follow.

That may be more of an issue resulting from Kuo-Chung Chou's editing, though; which is loose and untidy. Many scenes feel disjointed and the narrative is made unnecessarily abstruse, with the impact of the overall film being somewhat lessened. As mentioned above, the fight scenes are especially bewildering, looking like they were shot on 8mm and edited by a blind man for an amateur music video from the early nineties. The pacing is also problematic, with the beginning being quite slow and the latter half of the film feeling quite rushed. Under Wai Ka-Fai's direction, Chou's work leaves an impression on the viewer alright- and not a positive one.

The cast do much more memorable work, Chow Yun-Fat and Cecilia Yip in particular. Chow is a very charismatic performer, with a magnetic screen presence, and his performance as Wong A-Ping is reserved and steady. The character may be underwritten, but he makes him a likable fellow of some depth all the same. Credit for the film's story also goes to Chow, so aside from a good performance he came up with an intriguing concept to boot.

Yip plays Shau Siu-man, a self-centered rogue you cant help but like; perhaps because of the joy of her performance. She doesn't take the role too seriously, there's a tongue-in-cheek element to her chicanery that is most attractive, and she and Chow have a natural chemistry that makes watching them together a treat. Of note from the supporting cast are Shun Lau as a blind resident of the hotel and Jacklyn Wu, who appears in flashback as Chow's wife.

In short, 'Peace Hotel' doesn't make for fantastic cinema, but it does hold entertainment value. The visuals are strong, as are the performances from the cast. The unremarkable story and its oftentimes laughably banal dialogue is problematic though- as is the terrible editing- dooming the film to the realm of mediocrity. John Lennon once sang 'Give Peace A Chance,' but if it's 'Peace Hotel;' perhaps it isn't worth it.

There are 2 essential things wrong with this movie.

First, the 'girl always lying joke' that gets repeated over and over again in the first half of the film. The first couple of times it vaguely amusing, after that its just monotonous.

Second, its no secret Chow Yun Fat cannot fight. He is not a martial artist. Now by the time Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is released they come up with a work-around for this problem. In Peace Hotel they don't. So they set CYF as this great fighting hero who slays many but when we see evidence of this it is simply awful. Jet Li for example would have been a much better choice for this particular role.

The idea for the story is a good one but it fails to get the job done.

Peace Hotel is a western set in China in the 1930's and is probably best described as a cross between 'A Fistful Of Dollars' and 'The Killer'. Chow Yun-Fat (in his last film in Hong Kong before going to America) plays a retired killer who opens the 'Peace Hotel' where people can hide from their enemies with no questions asked. He teams up with Cecilia Yip with whom he had last starred with in the gripping World War II drama 'Hong Kong 1941' (1984). She plays a confidence trickster who is wanted by a large and dangerous gang that threaten to destroy the refuge to get to her. Both are excellent in this film and have a great on-screen chemistry.

The music by Healthy Poon and Cacine Wong is effective and in a similar vein to the Ennio Morricone score in the spaghetti westerns and the theme song by Alex San (music),Erica Lee (lyricist)and Cass Pang Ling (performer) fully deserved its win at the 1996 Hong Kong Film awards.

Those watching this film expecting highly choreographed gun-play sequences due to the presence of John Woo as executive producer will be disappointed as the action is infrequent and is filmed in a confusing style that probably better represents the confusion of a real fight. Peace Hotel is more character-driven than action orientated anyway and is all the better for it. Written by Chow Yun-Fat and Wai Ka-Fai (who is probably best known for co-directing 'Fulltime Killer' (2001)) there is some great dialogue and more character development than is usual for a film in the genre.

Peace Hotel may not be as good as some of Chow Yun-Fat's earlier work with John Woo, but it makes an attempt to be different and deserves credit for that.