76 minutes in, and this film is *beep* dire.

God this film is terrible. Really, really bad.

I've watched for it looking for a movie with an in-depth look at Triads in America, and this film seemed rated highly, but it's just awful. Not just because of the casual racism, no, it's the sheer hamminess of the cliched, card-board cut-out characters that bothers me. So far, not a single character or scene or plot device have I seen in this that isn't recycled from some other dated cop movie that tries to be a kitchen-sink drama as well.

And yes, I may be a lily-livered liberal lefty (though I increasingly think the US and the UK definitions of the word 'liberal' must be several light years apart, given the context I see the word thrown around by Americans) but I value realism in art whenever possible, and if people use racist language in real-life, then don't condone or endorse it but show it, by all means. It's just that Mickey Rourke's character in this film (an annoying cross between Billy Rosewood from Beverly Hills Cop and every other hard-assed US movie cop ever, but mostly John Belushi from K9 and Sly Stallone from Cobra, two of the absolute worst of the worst of these) is not just a guy too lazy to avoid using bigoted language that will offend people, he is a douche in general, and the Asian-American reporter's falling for the all-engulfing black hole of his crude anti-charm requires more suspension of disbelief than a Michael Bay Star Wars reboot starring Fox News, shot in 3D.

Give yourself a big present today, tomorrow and forever: don't watch this film.

EDIT: that said, John Lone as the bad guy is pretty good, he gives a realistically subdued performance. Bad '80s movies usually get extra points for having good villains.


[truth]I am bisexual. If you dont like that: you can blow me. If you do: same deal.[/truth]