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(2016) My Beloved Bodyguard (In Chinese with English subtitles) DRAMA ACTION

"The Bodyguard" as the movie is referring to is Sammo Hung Kam Bo, as he plays a retired Central Security Bureau, as he bonds with a young girl often neglected by her father, Li Zheng Jiu played by Andy Lau. He becomes her bodyguard as her father gets himself involved in both Chinese and Russian gangsters, regarding a debt and a stolen bag of jewels and money. Upon watching it on rental was able to cut through some of the sappy parts as opposed to watching it on theater. Tsui Hark director of "Time and Tide", Dean Shek of "A Better Tomorrow II" to Karl Maka of "Aces Go Places" series make small cameos.

It's nice to see some of known Hong Kong favorites still finding work, and although those were small parts, it is still nice to see them alive and still acting. As the Hong Kong industry is not what it used to be.

My Beloved Bodyguard is the first film Sammo Hung has directed in almost 20 years. Although not one of Hung's classics, this is still streets ahead of what the critical reviews have said.

Originally My Beloved Bodyguard was to star both Hung and Jackie Chan, in the Andy Lau role. The film has obviously went through some rewrites since then, as I can't see Chan playing the type of role that Lau plays here.

The plot of the film steals somewhat from movies like " Man on Fire" and the "Man from Nowhere", with Hung as a retired Civil Servant protecting a young girl. In this case it is local triads, who Lau, the child's father, owes money too.

Some reviews have complained about the lack of action in the movie. Must having been watching something else, as there are a number of good action/fight scenes in the movie. There's an excellent chase sequence with Lau and a number of gangsters, that is only let down by being a bit short, then a fight between Sammo and some thugs who come to his house. Then there is the extended finale, with Hung taking on a group of gangsters. Unlike the comedic fights Hung used to take part in, this is just brutal, with multiple limbs being broken.

The film has been harmed somewhat by its advertising campaign which shows the actors, some of which are legends like Yuen Biao & Yuen Wah, that appear in the movie in action poses. Unfortunately most of the actors on the posters only appear in the film in limited cameos, which is a shame. This isn't a fault of the film, as i'm sure Sammo had nothing to do with the advertising.

On the performance side, Sammo is his usual self. His fans won't be disappointed. Lau is also good, in the only other lead role of the film. Only Lau could turn a somewhat waste of space, into a likable character. Lau also acts as the films producer.

On the directing side, Sammo shows his skill behind the camera, and although his action scenes are more edited that in the past, his choreography still shines through. Only drawback is his overuse of a blurry slow-mo effect which can be somewhat distracting.

If you are a fan of Hong Kong cinema and/or Sammo Hung, I would definitely recommend "My Beloved Bodyguard".

This film has shameless copied, borrowed, stole many other foreign films from Korea, The Man from Nowhere (2010), from Belgium, The Memory of A Killer (2003), and Nicholas Cage's 2014 film, Dying of The Light, as well as a rumor in November, 2014 that Al Pacino and Brian De Palma, director of Scarface (1983) would adapt "The Memory of A Killer" into an American version. This Chinese copycatting film is as close as the Nicholas Cage's role in "Dying of The Light", about a CIA agent with dementia, his body functions were staying mostly fine but his brain got Alzheimer's disease. Then heavily borrowed the story from The Man from Nowhere.

Sammo Hung played the guy who was once the palace guard of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing, he got such disease and deteriorated rapidly after his retirement. The storyline only added some awkward, unrealistic and highly unlikely romance, and the appendix-like sub-plot of Andy Lau's character, father to a young girl, a hopeless compulsory gambler.

The close combat fighting scenes are also heavily borrowed and copied from most of Steven Seagal's action movies, by breaking knuckles, elbows, knees, ankles, neck of all of his opponents, fighting daggers, long or short knives with bare hands and did the most severe body damages to those who unknowingly fighting an unimaginable fighting machine. But the thing is that Sammo Hung is too fat, too old and too bloated to the extreme, making the fighting scenes just looked more like choreographically awkward rehearsals.

The story, the scenario and the plot were just too contrived and stereotyped in rigid Chinese way. It's neither like "The Man from Nowhere" that connected us to the young girl and the mysterious killing machine guy, nor gave us any empathy connection of how sad the guy in "The Memory of A Killer", trying to not being useless and helpless. The Bodyguard only gave me some awkward and impatient numb feelings, completely disconnected. The awkward senior romance in this film only made me feel pathetic and nauseating.

Hiring those once famous Kung-Fu has-beens as supporting roles were also totally unnecessary, only made the whole film more loose and flat.

This is a pathetic patch-up work with a very poor script.

Actually quite the forgettable character here. But it's an illness he has - which does not make him a good witness. To anything - much less a crime he saw. Having said all that, since it is Sammo Hung you can bet there is a lot of fighting going on - emphasized with some CGI (the impact of the things Hungs character is doing).

And while there are some fights throughout, the ending felt or reminded me a little bit of the movie Unforgiven ... the old man who has to deal with a lot of bad guys. Hung having dementia ... he does not use the tools we've seen in something like Memento - just in case you though that. Add to that a side story with Andy Lau ... also quite action packed when he has the chance and certainly one of the best stunt set pieces set in a staircase ... and you have quite the entertaining movie, that also is giving you a story to have fun with (though fun may be the wrong choice of word ... since it's more a drama)

I am really at a loss as to why this movie gets such bad critical reviews. I found it to be a very enjoyable movie.

Sammo Hung is a long-time mainstay of Hong Kong cinema and it is good to see him directing again after two decades.

The leads in the movie all do an excellent job. The relationship between Sammo Hung's old man, suffering dementia, and Jacqueline Chan's mischievous young girl is beautifully played. Andy Lau manages to make his character almost likable, even though he is a wife-beating ogre.

The supporting cast are also very good. The three old guys who make fun of Sammo's character are hilarious. Tsui Hark makes a welcome cameo as one of the three old guys.

The action scenes are very well filmed, with Sammo in typically good form, despite his advancing age.

All in all, I can thoroughly recommend this movie to all fans of the genre. You'll have an enjoyable 98 minutes of viewing!