gohmifune

So, just watched the series finale. As an American it was experience. Not much in the ways of culture shock, there was a bit, but the ride itself, with the characters and their lives and loves, was amazing.

There are highs and lows, both emotionally and regards to quality, but all said and done, it was worth it. You love these characters. You love these actors. You feel what they go through. It was something I have looked forward to every week for all these years, and looking beyond what it can do to you personally, it really is a good show.

It is a worthy show.

Best hours of television for me in such a long time. I'm glad I saw it, it gave back to its audience. The show was choice, and let me leave it at that.

This is a very low key, low budget, crime thriller that has Francis Ng. That's all you need to know. Really.

It is well acted enough, some parts were rough, but more likely because they were underwritten. The script could have had more substance as it plays out like a television drama pilot instead of a film. It is only 80 minutes when it really could have been two full hours. There was some substance in the story, but it isn't fully developed, so watching for the story isn't a great idea, like most genre flicks. However, despite this, the story does play out rather well. The movie does have a great climax, but not really much build up before hand.

There were some really great looking shots, and if one can except that there are production limitations, the value of the movie goes up, and it is visible how impressive it actually is.

It is a solid crime thriller when there aren't many around, and as such, if you are in the mood for one, it is worth your time.

I enjoyed this movie, partially because of its length, and partially because of just a lot being extremely right with this film. Firstly some perspective, the film seems to be made for teenagers and/or early twenty-somethings. It is extremely dumbed down and the bulk of it is quite superficial. It has almost the exact formula of a bad slasher movie but just with kicks to the face. I believe any negative reviews will likely fail to acknowledge that they are not in the right mindset or not the right audience.

The story is straightforward; foreigners decide to buy the bar the main characters work at and use force when they are refused. It's just at about 80min. so that really is just enough story frankly. Despite that being the main plot, there is a subplot, and this is the best part of the film, about the main character dealing with his father's death and ultimately meeting his killer(and of course fighting) again.

The significance of this is that the move has the theme of learning to deal with the consequences of one's actions, and always being in the state of mind where right choices can be made. This crops up several times in the story and had this been a straight two hour drama, this would've probably been the weightiest martial arts movie in recent film history.

On the technical side, there is practically no budget and very little script. The actors do a fine job at acting, but there just isn't much acting to do, so everyone wears as little clothing as possible. Everyone.

The movie could've been a little subtler with the music, as many of the accompanying shots were dramatic and impressive. This was an extremely well shot movie in places. Fight choreography was fantastic. The fights tended to be balanced with both parties getting equally injured and lots of tension in the fights.

The movie is an odd mix of two distinct approaches, and while I would have preferred a straight drama as I think it would've be great at it, I can't fault it for being what it is, and it is what is very well. This movie is well worth the eighty minutes.