Fu gui bing tuan

This is a Hong Kong war movie. It is set in World War II in a Japanese POW camp. What I found interesting about this movie is that it gives us a glimpse of World War II from the Chinese point of view. What we forget is that the Chinese were under Japanese rule for a lot longer that anybody else, and even more we seem to focus on the war in Europe (or the Pacific) and forget about Asia. The most stupid thing I have heard said is that the British don't care about Australia because they didn't help us against the Japanese. The reason that they did not help us is because they had problems of their own.

This movie is about a man who escapes from the camp to get married only to discover that his fiancée is a spy and that he has been dragged into the affair. Now he must return to the camp to find an agent name Fortune who has the code to a bank account which contains 50 million dollars. The Japanese know of this and also want the money.

The Fortune Code is a simple spy movie with a very James Bond type opening, that is a casino scene. This opening has a Hong Kong flavour to it though with their kung-fu fighting that erupts in the casino. It also has the typical Hong Kong humour, such as the man holding a gang boss up with a water pistol. It is a good little movie that is quite enjoyable. There is little depth to it, but there is not meant to be. Rather it is meant for entertainment. There is also a little twist to who Fortune is, but I will not reveal this: watch the movie and find out for yourself.

This is a Hong Kong film which features an All-Star Cast - Andy Wah, Sammo Hung, Alan Tam, Anita Mui, Pak-Cheung Chan, Kent Cheng, and Gordon Liu just to name a few. Our protagonists are prisoners of war during the Japanese occupation in World War II and they aim to find a man with the pass-code to a Swiss bank account, containing a large sum of money that they could use to fight in the war. Their mission has to be met before the villains get their hands on the pass-code and before they exterminate the entire concentration camp.

They are plenty of kung-fu action adding to the excitement of the fast-paced plot, with dark humor mixed in with the intriguing story - all in a race against time, making you eager to know what takes place yet. The only downfall is that the film lacks the aftermath elements and consequences of the Japanese occupation which, I think, could have added drama in the picture. Other than that, an adventure-comedy you would have to see.

Grade A-

First of all, I must point out that this movie is not very good overall, but it does provide a few great fight scenes, and it has one of the best casts I have ever seen in a movie. I haven't seen a Hong Kong movie this star studded since Sammo Hung's Millionaire's Express. Sammo is one of the stars of this movie, but unfortunately he is not the director. Kent Cheng is the director (the fat guy from Jet Li's Once Upon a Time in China and Jackie Chan's Crime Story. Kent cheng is also one of the stars, unfortunately. Let me go over the whole cast, just to give you an idea of how many people are in this movie. Gordon Liu (who played Pai Mei in Kill Bill part 2, and also starred in part 1), Alan Tam (the co-star of Jackie chan's Armour of God), Andy Lau (House of Flying Daggers), Sammo Hung (Dragons Forever), Jason Pai Paio (Shaolin Prince) , Ben Lam (Angry Ranger), Chen Kuan Tai (Boxer from Shantung), Austin Wai Tin Chi (Incredible Kung fu Master), Jimmy Lee (Rebellious Reign), Kirk Wong (the director of The Big Hit with Mark Wahlberg), Ridley Tsui (Tiger Cage 3), Ken Lo (Drunken Master 2), Max Mok (Once Upon a Time in China parts 2, 3, 4 and 5), Eric Tsang (Infernal Affairs), Anita Mui (Drunken Master 2), Nat Chan (Last Hero in China), Shing Fui On (Code of Honor), Blacky Ko (Shaolin Ex-Monk), Chung Fa (Magnificent Butcher), Chu Tiet Wo (legendary Weapons of China), Frankie Chan (Prodigal Son)... it just goes on and on.

Alright, so now that I have gone over the cast I need to talk about how bad this movie is. The humor is pretty lame most of the time, and the movie just isn't enjoyable. Kirk Wong, Eric Tsang and some guy named Donald Duck provide some good comedy, but there is way too much bad humor.

Basically the movie takes place during the Japanese invasion and the story is about Sammo getting Andy Lau, Alan Tam and Anita Mui to help him make sure the Japanese don't get the code to a Swiss bank account wih 500 million dollars the Chinese government put away to help rebuild the country. The story is horrible. So on to the fight scenes! There are a lot of fights, and some are really good. 2 of the highlights are Andy Lau vs Chung Fa and Sammo vs Chen Kuan Tai. The final fight is good, but it only lasts about 5 minutes. It is a dang good fight with tons of big stars, but I expected a lot more. I was very disappointed with this movie. Only worth watching to see tons of old school stars doing some modern day action.

The Megastar DVD has very good picture and sound quality. Subtitles are written well enough.