TROY'S REVIEW: 'You're a pain in the arrrrssse!' - So berates over acting Grand Master Mike Abbott in his self overdubbed, wonderfully broad Cornish accent, in this enjoyable silly but wonderfully entertaining ninja outing from those purveyors of fine cinematic taste at IFD (yes, the last part is indeed purely sarcastic). In this twisted tale, Abbott is searching for a special manual which by some undisclosed means will apparently make him, and I quote, 'The Ultimate Ninja'. Regretfully, Abbott is not exactly pure of heart so another 'good' ninja is determined to prevent him from obtaining the aforementioned text however. Meanwhile, in a completely different film into which the ninja tale is edited into, we have the story of a man who goes on the run after seemingly beating his wife's lover to death, before hiding out in the home of a lone female who he then holds captive. In a decidedly unlikely twist of events though, the woman actually ends up falling in love with her captor and all is beginning to look like turning out for the best. Until that is, a group of ninjas turn up in this film too, in order to ransack her house in search of jewelry. Yes indeed, times must be bad when ninjas are forced to turn to petty theft! But wait - it gets even more convoluted, for the captor himself also turns out to be a ninja and is now honourably bound to defend his woman and her property. Phew! - Yes, this is indeed every bit as daft as it sounds but in all honesty, if you're a fan of cut & paste ninja movies, then you surely wouldn't want it any other way.

Ricky Lau (Mr. Vampire) shows no sign of re-gaining any past momentum in this standard actioner. Dealing with the murders, betrayal, money theft and framing that takes place within the Yung Tai Financial Group, left to fight against evil Roy Cheung are the widowed characters played by Carrie Ng and Jade Leung. Occasionally the action and stunts show sparks (but not when playing out entire scenes in slow-motion) and for a while the film is quite amusingly busy as it has time to be a prison exploitation movie as well. But otherwise, there is nothing going on and a fair quality cast (that also includes Eddy Ko, Vincent Wan and Karel Wong) merely punch in. They're not good enough to the point where that IS good enough.

Using familiar tactics, Tsui Hark portrays a page out of history (but more in a comic book style) as revolutionaries try to bring down the forces standing behind puppet emperor Pu Yi, including Commander Masa (Tony Leung Ka-Fai) and Kawashima Yoshiko (Joyce Godenzi). An assembly of old and young characters fighting, including Dr Choy (Dean Shek), small time hoodlum Bobo Bear (Jacky Cheung) and Lieutenant Mang (Paul Chu) occupy our time in this matinee style Hong Kong cinema experience. Doing scene transitions via animation or illustration, this very late Cinema City production (if not THE last one that caused the company to fold. The box office wasn't particularly great for the film) scores technically and size-wise but overall only fair. Getting over the fact that Dean Shek is restrained and our old timey, stuntdoubled action hero isn't that hard and the mix of comical situations where misunderstandings rule, bloody gunplay and other assorted nasty bits connecting to the poisonous gas-plot is familiar stuff for seasoned viewers of Hong Kong cinema. But all of the above has simply been done better by the duo of directors in Peking Opera Blues and The Raid rarely becomes its own thing despite energy level being maintained throughout.

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Maybe there was a genuine reason to, at least for Western eyes, hide the fact that behind the title Raid On Royal Casino Marine was the third installment of The Inspector Wears Skirts-series. If so, no blame on my behalf as even for a genuinely half-assed "series", this entry woefully disappoints. Wellson Chin reveals his lack of intention and distinction, choosing only to enhance the film via a slightly different structure with at least a minimal plot this time around. He also chooses to rely on Amy Yip's breasts as the subject of 30 jokes (especially in scenes with Billy Lau), poor movie and pop culture references, body odor gags...all meaning that the film feels and is way too long. The minor saving grace of the first two was the Jackie Chan stunt team. In Raid On Royal Casino Marine, little work is done by action director Ka Lee and when it's briefly flashed, it's nowhere near a saving grace. We're only relieved to see kicks and punches as it's a getaway from the grating comedy.

It's easy to single the little there is to root for in Chin's frame though, mostly having to do with Sibelle Hu as the gun-toting, martial arts housewife of Stanley Fung's character and a scenario at the end is surprisingly dark for this shoddily made hamburger of a product. Also starring Sandra Ng, Kara Hui, Shing Fui-On, Michael Chow and Woo Fung.

Esquire Wen (Sun Yuet) brings with his concubine (Hsu Feng) to Shaolin Temple to oversee the inauguration of the new abbott. Also present is General Wang (Tien Feng) and his Lieutenant Chang Chang (Chan Wai-Lau). There resides a different goal within this quartet of people however and that is to steal a very valuable scroll from the scripture hall. In fact, the concubine is White Fox, a thief for hire. Matters get confusing, turned turned around and mind games are possibly being played as the new abbott chosen is newly arrived ex-prisoner Chiu Ming (Tung Lam, who was also the assistant director on the film)...

When you criticize a King Hu film, you have to remember it's due to it not being up to the elite standard on the likes of Dragon Inn, The Fate Of Lee Khan and A Touch Of Zen. Raining In The Mountain is a muddled disappointment therefore but far from a bad film. Never losing sights of creating widescreen beauty, featuring Chinese classical instruments for the score and again utilizing mainly one location, Hu certainly preaches the lessons of Buddha. All well and good but the movie lacks the nail biting intensity that is being attempted and the twists that occur has us longing for full on exposition. It's a ride worth taking but you have to approach with less of, for instance, The Fate Of Lee Khan in mind. Also with King Hu regular Shih Jun and Paul Chun.

KENNETH'S REVIEW: Wandering endlessly between pure incoherence and a tragedy rife with dramatic possibilities, Lau Kwok-Hung sets up the murder mystery of a, low and behold, killer who strikes during rainy nights. A womanizing male victim, the women around him, a defiant seemingly free-sprit called Lessie with an abnormal streak, there's fragments given structurally but when director Lau doesn't get viewer-investment in that, Raining Night's Killer becomes a plane that crashes. Style is amusingly aggressive, be it in the choice of music, angles and editing and when the truth is revealed at the end, Lau's intentions somehow manages to grow and you realize this is a template someone needs to try again. This one became pure crud however.

God knows this pessimistic drama has opportunities and confidence but it's also largely wasted dedication thanks to director Lee Wing-Cheung's (The Cheeky Chap) muddled direction. Kudos goes to Rape And Die for going against audience expectations by not focusing primarily on the duffle bag mix up at the beginning of the film but dark literally becomes the verdict of the storytelling as there's no way to make out any distinction, character- or storywise. It becomes clearer by the half way point that we're dealing with ill-fated characters unwillingly mixed up with the baddest of the bad but even this consciously downbeat filmmaking resonates very little. Director Lee speaks of a cycle by the time he reaches the end but symbolic gestures such as this rings more true of pretentiousness instead. Ray Lui and in one of his most evil roles, Ng Man-Tat among others appear.

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In an odd move, producer Wong Jing waited 4 years before continuing the series that first surfaced during the heyday of Cat III filmmaking. By now, the original director Andrew Lau had moved on to not so much better, but other things and Wong Jing protégé, and not acclaimed director whatsoever, Aman Cheung was brought in to helm this sequel in name only.

If there's a throughline between the two films, it is that the bad guy at least now knows that it'd be best to use a condom but other than that "clever" touch, Wong Jing and crew go a standard exploitation route. Overly stylized to the point of silliness, director Cheung (a former cinematographer himself) does provide a fair amount of unsettling atmosphere, even when working with the lower Cat IIb rating. Anything noteworthy of his work stops right there but from this Cat III fans point of view, and bearing in mind that movies like this isn't a huge strain on ones economy, there's enough here to merit an unashamed viewing. Four words: Athena Chu, girlscout uniform...

In a way, Cheung's subplot, outside of the exploits of evil dentist, rapist, serial killer and uniform fan Phillip (Joe Ma Tak-Chung - Triumph In The Skies), about ex-con Bulky Kong (Francis Ng) attempting to woo Athena Chu's character feels like another movie. In fact, as a romantic comedy, it's almost semi-decent thanks to Ng's comic chops. Obviously, coming from Wong Jing, we find juvenile and macabre humour but placing the Francis amidst all this generates more laughs than most Wong Jing productions are able to muster. Chung Chun and Ha Ping co-stars.

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