Movies: Police Story 2013

Movies: Police Story 2013

A very strange title for a show, with an additional 2013 added at the end of the movie title. This is because there seems to be another movie released previously called Police Story that seems to not be related to this movie so the 2013 is added to highlight that it is a different movie. This movie is produced by none other than Jackie Chan and gang and of course involves Jackie and his kungfu antics.

As per his usual style, its a action, thriller flick that includes cops. So is this a show that you should see alongside the slew of other cop related shows such as firestorm and the white storm? Or does this movie pale in comparison? Is it too similar that there is no novelty of watching this movie now? Lets read on and find out

Storyline 3.5/5

This movie is presented in a rather unique manner, using the main storyline which is the hostage situation that the star cop gets himself into, as the backdrop into explaining how did this cop actually get into this situation in the first place i.e. why he was targeted to be a hostage in the first place. 

As a result, the whole story only comes together at the end of the movie where you will realise oh this is the whole trigger for the entire movie. In more obvious terms, this movie is basically a hostage situation that adds more fluff to the movie by including the story telling of the reason for the hostage taking in first place.

Because of this however, the early part of the show is actually slightly confusing as to what is happening and does take a bit of effort to try to link everything together. Not entirely a relaxing effort if you ask me.

None the less because of this, the two hour movie has enough substance to remain interesting and compelling but it overall it takes a bit of effort and even at the end when everything is reveal, the storyline is just at best above average. Will cover this further in the character section.

Character 3/5

This is where this movie is slightly lacking. Besides the main character played by Jackie, all the other characters have very minor and slightly confusing roles. However, one aspect that this movie wants us to try to experience is to empathize with the villain in the way he does things or the reason behind them. However, I personally feel that there is too little effort put into trying to flesh him out maybe cause of the time, or cause of the way the movie is presented and in the end there is little pity or whatever you are supposed to feel for him.

There are also too many characters that merely just appear to help drive the story slightly but they just seem randomly added and add little extra value but might have added unnecessary complexity to the story.

The main character is also probably supposed to be emotionally messed up in some way or other due to the history of things that has happened to him. However, because of this, the things he does are sometimes rather confusing and strange which would sometimes make the movie slightly unbelievable.

Cinematography 3.5/5

This movie does some aspects of cinematography well, and some not so well which overall averages out. It does good slow motion scenes and improve excitement and action level. However, the scene of the movie is generally dark and sometimes hard to follow since the star actor is moving around in the pipelines which is supposed to be dark.

Also 90% of the movie is confined to that single one place which does not help to retain the attention of the audience. (The feeling of 1 and a half hour into the movie and you are still in the same place)

It does try to use the alternative vision method to keep the movie interesting i.e. the movie will play out a possible scenario in the thought process if the person takes this action, while in the end he will decide not to take that action and do something else after considering the possible outcome.

Music 3.5/5

There is actually visible emphasis on the music in this movie and overall it does support the overall feeling of the movie. Nothing to spectacular but its effect on the movie is definitely there.

Spectacle 3.5/5

For a action movie, it is above average but definitely not one of Jackie's best work thus far. Storyline wise is pretty unique, but slightly too simple overall with no final OH SO THATS WHAT HAPPENED feeling. When everything in the end is revealed the feeling is rather muted and not entirely a big deal. The movie doesn't really play on twists and turns of the mind but rather just adds complexity by purposefully omitting details to be revealed later. Hence the audience does not really feel that they were misled or misunderstood anything which takes out a lot of the fun factor of plot twists.

Overall

Storyline: 3.5 (Somewhat unique, but complex and not that enticing)

Character: 3 (Too little drawing of the audience to empathize with the characters, also too many characters that seem to just randomly be added to minor effect)

Cinematography: 3.5 (There is visible effort but not above the top yet. Also has some not too great cinematography portions)

Music: 3.5 (Visible effort but not too fantastic.)

Spectacle: 3.5 (At best it is just merely above average for both aspects.)

Overall: 3.4 (Its not above 4 so its safe to say that this is not a must see movie honestly. You probably will still enjoy it if you like the genre and are pretty interested in the story telling method. However, you won't particularly be impressed by any aspect of the show. Given its 2 hours long, its ok if there are no other movies that interest you as long as you manage expectation. Note that for a Jackie Chan show, this movie does not have particularly much fight scenes.)

Its the last day of the year so safe to say this will be the last review for this year. Hopefully for the new year I will be able to consistently review more things and do more reviews :) Thanks for the support for this year and see you all next year :D

Movies: The White Storm

Movies: The White Storm

Its been a while since I last caught a chinese movie, and I had the opportunity to catch one recently. The nice part about chinese or actually Hong Kong movies in general is that they love to do action flicks involving gangsters and policemen and they generally do it pretty well. In fact one popular game called "Sleeping Dogs" uses Hong Kong as the backdrop of the game itself and its like GTA with Kungfu and Asians.

Sorry this its the game! not the movie.

Look at the KungFu GTA right there!

With the usage of these 3 actors whom seem to always work together, will we have a combination that would be a hit in the box office? Take note that the title totally does not make any sense. Its not a racist movie dealing with white supremacy, neither is there a hurricane or storm involved in the movie. Nope, its not a hurricane that came from some western country either... GEDDIT!??! WHITE STORM?!?!?!

Now this is the movie!

Plenty of guns here.. pretty useless against... (WOOPS nearly spoilered! ^_^ )

Ok enough of that. Lets see how the movie fared!

Storyline 4/5

Whoa whoa whoa really? That high a score? Yep.. to be honest this show could deserve even a 4.5 if Hong Kong didn't keep doing cop shows that has explored almost every possible angle and way of doing the cop genre, this movie would be pretty high on the creativity chart.

What this means is that basically, from the start all the way to the end, you will be drawn in by the evolving storyline, confused (positively) in certain areas and then it all gets clear again. The way the show is shot and its focus on 3 different cops plays a very important role in keeping the audience interested. Whats more, this show allows a long time budget, which means they do have sufficient time to do every scene properly and flesh out the movie appropriately. Little screen time is considered redundant.

The movie also changes from Hong Kong, to Thailand for a fair bit of the show which prevents monotony of seeing the same scenes and people.

In fact, given the amount of plot twists in this show,  and how it managed to keep me interested all the way, I shall go ahead and score it as 4.5 for overall scoring and you will agree with this point especially if you havent seen a Hong Kong cop show for a while.

Storyline 4.5/5

Character 4.5/5

The character development in this movie is pretty astounding considering that they had to focus on 3 main characters throughout the movie and yet all three are distinct people with varying backgrounds and yet good and fair screen time. It is their chemistry that greatly adds to the enjoyment of the movie and during one of the movie's quiet time you will appreciate the relationship that these 3 actors have actually built in their acting careers and see how the movie directors have put this into great effect. All in all, you will be concerned and realise how different people think and relate, but the end of the movie sums out everything very nicely and you should be pretty well pleased.

The supporting cast in this movie is also very entertaining although in some way they are slightly a bit more bland due to lack of screen time. Nonetheless, during the little moments that they appear, they do make a very good impact and the actors chosen from the role do perform very convincingly.

Do look out for the famous actor/ess from Thailand that really spices up the show because of the person's background. Its a good way to make use of or even exploit the person's off screen personality for the benefit of the movie and the person.

I'll just put the person's picture here and let you find out the rest

Its the one in the middle of course.

Cinematography 4/5

From the eyes of action, it could be slightly more pronounced but all in all, there are very good shots in this movie, from close up and even from high above. Its well done, adds a lot of value to the movie, they even use black and white shots to highlight and invoke certain emotions. Its done well, but there is room for improvements!

Music 4/5

Its not a musical, but this movie is smart in its utilization of music to bring about and highlight a theme about their friendship throughout the movie. Very smart way to incorporate this in and it is done to great effect on the audience. You will appreciate it when you see it.

Spectacle 4.5/5

In terms of action show, it does it well and even has a good storyline to boot! In terms of thrilling, it has enough twists and turns throughout the movie to really place this movie high up amongst the other movie in its two focus area. In terms of character development, this movie takes its time and highlights everyone, using all of them and showing all their strengths and vulnerabilities. It even throws in a few comic relief here and there in very intelligent manner to keep the show entertaining.

All in all its very smart way of doing a movie by focusing and doing well in as many prominent aspects as possible such as action, character development and storyline.


Overall

Storyline: 4.5 (Intriguing, well done and entertaining all the way)
Character: 4.5 (3 main characters all fleshed out, important supporting characters also fleshed out and well used)
Cinematography: 4 (Action flick could be further improved, but its already above average)
Music: 4 (Good use of musical aspect for the friendship theme of the movie)
Spectacle: 4.5 (Definitely above other movies in the same genre in terms of action, storyline and character development)

Overall : 4.3 (The only possible flaw that is clear in this movie is that it is not in english! Besides that, its an action show, that remains interesting despite its long show time, has sufficient plot twists and turns as well interesting characters all the way in the movie. There is no reason that someone will dislike this show, as it has the best of every possible aspect in the movie. If you are looking for something to do for like 2 hours of your time and you like action movies, this movie will work out fine for you.)

Should be catching another movie that just came out which is "Last Day on Mars" so sit tight and I should get a review up soon!

Cheers! and as usual leave your comments below if any!