Absurd!

Rating: 1/10 (11 March 2001)

With the amount over-zealous hype surrounding this film, one would expect something of grand design. Sadly, that's all it is, over-zealous hype. Possibly the most over-hyped film since Star Wars: Phantom Menace. As I sat in the theatre watching this I couldn't help but laugh heartily at the defying gravity antics that only made me want to start singing, "Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can." Yes, it is that bad. Two women sitting in front of me kept shooting dirty looks my way, but really how could anyone take this absurd movie seriously? In fact, Jade Fox (the film's remorseless "bad guy")merely alters the hairdo and for some strange reason no one recognizes him. I suppose everyone is blind, and dumb. And that's what this movie is, dumb.
First, the acting is on par with every other absurd "action," gravity defying kung-fu film. Nothing special, period. The script is littered with the most inane dialogue, again like most films of this type. Really, had it been dubbed the pathetic reality of that would be more noticed. The story is, again, on par with every other film in this genre... tinged with a little spaghetti western thrown in for good measure. So, in reality there is nothing special about this film. Nothing!
Ok, so perhaps some people will find the gravity-defying antics some sort of brainless entertainment for two hours. I didn't. The action scenes are well choreographed, but when they begin to toss their hands in the air and take off like Superman, crawl around on bamboo tree tops like somekind of monkey, crawl up walls and skip across roofs you just can NOT take it seriously. It's just comical to the extreme. And really, it is so very obvious that these people are on wires, you can practically see them (and in a few scenes, if you pay close attention, you can).
This film is too absurd to be any good, too serious to be campy or fun and just doesn't work at all. With the boxoffice booming on this, I can only imagine a select few people are seeing it over and over and over, and in the process tricking their friends into seeing it too. I rarely feel as though I wasted my money when I go see a film, but I DID in fact waste my money when I saw this turkey.