Gong fu guan lan

I can't believe I watched this movie. It was bad... really really bad. Bad story, bad acting, bad characters, bad SFX, bad action, bad chemistry, just a really bad day after watching this junk.

Anything good? The part where Eric Tsang was trying to throw the can in the bin but kept missing maybe?

Everything else just didn't work. I'm really glad this isn't a complete work of the classic Anime Slam Dunk, it really would have tainted the series.

Steer clear, whether you are Jay fans or not, you will be embarrassed...

Tagline: A much lesser attempt at recapturing the spirit of Shaolin Soccer… Review by Neo: Kung Fu Dunk follows the same route as one of HK's biggest movie in Shaolin Soccer, but the results is totally another story. While the aforementioned flick starred the arguable the biggest Hong Kong superstar, Kung Fu Dunk have Taiwan's own favourite son in singer turned actor, Jay Chow. Combining kung fu with sports is no longer something new and the result providing the audience with an average mindless entertainment. While Shaolin Soccer is a classic three act underdog story, Kung Fu Dunk goes like a roller-coaster rides but without the thrills in between. Sure, some fun can be had and the duo chemistry in Eric Tsang and Jay Chow is even at times touching, but this is by no means a great movie at all.

Jay Chow is a stoic actor and in other words he is like a piece of wood. His face is expressionless and while he once claimed that he wanted to be become the next Jet Li, it is fast becoming more of a dream than reality. Li is a stoic actor, but not one without emotions, one classic example is Li performance in Hero. On the outlook his performance is that of wooden, but looking closely his eyes contained deeper motivations as he confronted the King. Needless to say, Li is now a Best Actor in his acclaimed role in Warlords, and if Chow wants to become anywhere near his ambition, he will need to learn and reflect upon his method of acting. Despite sharing the same surname as Stephen Chow, Jay is no comedian and while he is easily likable, he does not oozes the same level of charisma as say Li or the much more famous Chow counterpart.

Perhaps the film unlikely saving grace comes in the form of veteran Eric Tsang, in what is most likely his best role since Infernal Affairs. Tsang is a flawed character, yet he is sympathetic and probably the only person in the whole movie that seemed human and real. He is greedy, selfish, but deep down he is sentimental and his belief in Jay till the very end allows the audience to relate to his human character, rather than special effects. Tsang lifts up this film from bad to average and for that Mr. Tsang take a bow. While the cover of the atrocious Dangerous Games claimed that his performance there was better than Comrades: A Love Story, maybe the cover designer was referring to this movie.

Charlene Choi also appears in the flick, but in the end, she really has nothing to do other than look cute, promote that style of glasses, act cute and be cute. With her counterpart Gillian now in seclusion, it is now up to Charlene to stand up by herself. It is disappointing to witness Choi in such an insignificant role, especially after her Hong Kong Film Critics award winning performance in Simply Actors.

At the end of the day, the real reason why Kung Fu Dunk did not work is really pointing at the producers and director. The overuse of crappy special effects is one huge downfall and adding to the mix is the unrealistic script based on a manga. Without forgetting, it is ultimately the director's (Kevin Chu) fault in filming such crappy basketball sequences. As a basketball player for almost 14 years (despite the fact that Neo is not a good player still), the film lack any sort of tactical awareness or the "never give up" spirit that is required in competitive basketball. Without being a big head, this movie did reminded Neo of a little over 7 years ago that he was once in the school basketball team which reached the State Grand Final. In the final, Neo lifted up his game and played the best basketball he has ever played. Despite losing in the final, Neo holds no regrets, as we played our best as a team and as an individual. Even though 7 years on, he may never have another chance to reach those heights again, that feeling and emotion of playing in a grand final is priceless.

All in all, Kung Fu Dunk is at best, a mindless entertainment, but even so, it is just an average one. It is a shame that it cannot be what it intended to be (namely Shaolin Soccer), and with technology 7 years on since that little Stephen Chow movie, it is just not good enough. Jay Chow has done extremely well as a debutant director in Secret, but here his acting has become all too familiar. There is no doubt that he did not deserve the Best New Artist Award for Initial D, where Anthony Wong commented so strongly. Still, it is really just yet another average Hong Kong movie, but once again, it is really the case of what could have been. So what's next on the menu? Kung Fu Tennis sounds utterly original… (Neo 2008)

I rate it 5.5/10

• www.thehkneo.com

A mess of genres but it's mainly based on Stephen Chow's genre mash-ups for it's inspiration. There's magic kung-fu, college romance, sports, gangster action and some weepy melodrama for a topping. The production is excellent and the pacing is fast so it's easy to get past the many flaws in this film.

A baby is abandoned next to a basketball court. A homeless man brings him to a Shaolin monastery that's in the middle of a city along with a special kung fu manual that the homeless man somehow has but can't read. The old monk teaches the boy but expires when he tries to master the special technique in the manual. The school is taken over by a phony kung fu master who is assisted by four wacky monks. The new master gets mad at the now 20+ year old boy for not pretending to be hurt by the master's weak punches and throws him out for the night. The boy is found throwing garbage into a basket from an incredible distance by a man who bring him to a gangster's club to play darts. This leads to a big fight, the boy's expulsion from the monastery and the man's decision to turn the boy into a college basketball sensation.

Al this happens in the first 20 minutes with most of it happening in the first 10 minutes. Aside from the extreme shorthand storytelling the first problem is how little we get to know the main character until way into the movie. The man who uses the boy is more sharply defined by the time the first third is over. The plot follows no new ground except for the insane action climax of the film. I'm sure you can easily imagine how the wacky monks will show up towards the end. The effects, photography and stunt work are all top- notch and make up for the uninspired plot.

Stephen Chow has a much better command of plot and comedy writing and this film will live in his shadow but that's not a good reason to ignore it. It's quite entertaining even with a scatter-shot ending. Recommended.

If you go looking on Netflix or Hulu you can watch this sports movie Kung Fu Dunk. It stars Jay Chou. You might remember Jay Chou from the movie The Green Hornet. Jay Chou plays a orphaned boy that grew up at a kung fu school and eventually becomes a talented basketball player. This movie is mixture of basketball, kung fu and a love story.

Many people have compared this movie to Shaolin Soccer and may have thought it wasn't as good. I actually like this movie. There are parts of this movie that were really funny. In the beginning the kids master dies trying to alter the universe. He ends up being frozen. I don't know if I should be laughing or crying. There are elements that you won't find in most sports movies. This movie doesn't follow the usual formula for most sports movies.

Parts of this movie did feel disjointed. There is the kung fu, the basketball, a love story and the kid trying to reunite with his parents. I feel like there is something that could have made it better. If you can get around the flaws this is a good movie.

The movie is absolutely silly.

But were you expecting a high-brow intellectual film based on a comic called Slam Dunk? Really? Jay Chou's acting isn't exactly the most moving thing I've ever seen, but I certainly enjoyed the movie. Was it somewhere near the level of awesome that someone like Jet Li or Stephen Chow can produce? No, not really. Was it thoroughly entertaining if you're just taking it at surface value? Absolutely. It's a movie about some Chinese eye-candy idols and musicians who can play basketball at an unreal level of expertise. There's an evil Triad-style dude and a wacky scheming guy who gets Jay Chou involved in all of this. A love interest. It's formulaic but really, suspend disbelief for a while. Come on. It's called Kung Fu Dunk. What do you really think you signed on for? Do yourself a favor if you watch it - I found myself a copy with some Engrish subtitles that made the movie nigh unintelligible conversation wise, but we got a great laugh out of it. They would appear to be extremely fixated on Jerusalem and the numbers 1, 10.

I laughed, I cried, I hurled. I'd watch it again.

Especially for that fight scene in the bar. Well choreographed and well shot. I especially enjoy the plexiglass lit pool table - I'd LOVE to play on one of those.

Slick enough for me, but I dig on trash cinema.