Xia ri fu xing

"Xia ri fu xing" was the first movie by Sammo Hung, and I loved it. The stunts and the action is great and the story isn't stupid. The decrees are fun. Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan and the rest of the actors played super. You don't see very much blood, but they hit and kick and hit and kick...

This movie shows, that you can film super stunts, without special-effects, like in "The Matrix".

The Five Lucky Stars, played by Sammo Hung, Richard Ng, Stanley Fung, Eric Tsang and Charlie Chin, return in this action-comedy sequel. Charlie Chin's character, Herb, makes a cameo appearance only and is replaced by his brother, Pagoda (Kiu Wai Miu). They get themselves involved in an illegal drug operation plot, where an informant is assassinated by the drug lord, and is instructed by Chief Insp. Barbara Woo (Sibelle Hu) to protect the informant's friend Yi-Ching (Rosamund Kwan) while she and her police team attempt to bring down the illegal operation.

The main plot is loosely tied together and the film contains various subplots that were quite silly - from the Lucky Stars' vacation in Thailand with a bunch of tour girls to Sandy's (Richard Ng) meeting with a witch doctor, and from cops Muscles (Jackie Chan) and Ricky (Yuen Biao) high intensity fight with a gang of arm dealers to the Lucky Stars' attempts to woo Yi-Ching. It gets quite annoying at times when the movie strays away from the main plot, but what made up for it is the huge all-star cast, its numerous martial arts action scenes, humorous one-liners and just class Hong Kong-style comedy.

I remember first watching some parts of this film when I was a kid and was pretty entertained by it. The appearances of the martial arts trio of Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao and Andy Lau was neat stuff and, of course, it was cool seeing the Five Lucky Stars in a sequel again.

With such a large cast of characters, it's fun seeing how each contribute to the story. The film is not as entertaining as the original "Winners and Sinners" film, but it has more fun and action than the second film. Despite the loose plot, the filmmakers really packed a lot of stuff in this flick.

Grade B-

The third Lucky Star film is both the best and the worst. First of all,it has some absolutely superb action,including Jackie Chan,Yuen Biao and Andy Lau taking on loads of villains in a warehouse,Chan chasing and battling Richard Norton down some streets and Samo Hung battling a dagger wielding Japanese villain with tennis rackets. Hung's fight choreography is at it's best here,really pushing himself and his other stars to the limits.

Unfortunately this is the least funny of the films. Most of the time it just replays gags from the previous two films,and the 'five horny guys in the same house as a woman' schtick seems even more like sexual harassment and goes on for ever. The plot,although not really that important,was obviously cobbled together in a rush and makes no sense at all. Chan has slightly more footage than in the other two films but due to an injury done on another film he was shooting at the same time doesn';t feature much in the final action.

These Lucky Stars films are really odd. When they are good,as in most of the action,they are excellent. When they are bad,as in a great deal of the comedy which simply doesn't travel well,they really drag and one is tempted to just fast forward to the next fight scene. At least this one has a great cameo from Michelle Yeoh as a fight instructor and what seems like half of the Hong Kong stars of the time coming out of a lift at the end.

Despite an outstanding cast and some brilliant fight scenes, Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars, (the third in the 'Lucky Stars' series after Winners and Sinners and My Lucky Stars) can be a struggle to sit through at times, due to its heavy dose of poor slapstick humour and a rather incomprehensible plot (which is too daft to go into at length). However, if you can make it past the puerile comedy (face pulling, 3 Stooges-style routines, and endless attempts by the 'heroes' at ogling or fondling young women) and turn a blind eye to the forgettable story (cops v bad guys), there is plenty of other stuff to enjoy about this manic 80s Hong Kong classic.

Featuring martial arts superstars Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Yuen Baio and Andy Lau, Twinkle Twinkle's action scenes are amongst the best you'll see on film. An early fight, between good guys Chan, Baio and Lau, and a warehouse full of gangsters, showcases each star's incredible moves, with Baio in particular impressing with some mighty fine acrobatic kicks. Sammo Hung also gets to shine in a fantastic showdown against both an Aussie bad-guy (the formidable Richard Norton) and a sai wielding Japanese killer.

And even when the action lulled, and the 'comedy' was in full swing, the movie kept my attention thanks to the presence of several rather lovely ladies: pretty Sibelle Hu returns as Barbara Woo; the gorgeous Rosamund Kwan stars as lady-in-peril (and object of lust for the guys) Chi-Chi Wang; and even Michelle Yeoh pops up as a sexy Karate instructor.

Although not the best Hong Kong actioner of the 80s by a long shot (Sammo Hung's Eastern Condors gets my vote for that accolade), Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars is still, on the whole, very entertaining and well worth giving a go.

6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars is one of Sammo Hung's production featuring the three dragons - Sammo, Jackie, and Biao. It's the 3rd installation of his Lucky Stars series.

Muscles (Jackie Chan) and Ricky (Biao Yuen) are under cover HK cops. They are assigned to protect their colleague Barbara Woo (Sibelle Hu) who is also assigned to protect informant Yi-Ching. Barbara has also solicited the help of her five friends. Together they fend off the assassination attempt of the gangs who are trafficking drugs between Thailand and Hong Kong.

This movie stars almost the same cast as Winners and Sinners, and My Lucky Stars that was also produced by Sammo. The atmosphere of the story is almost identical too. They are so similar that it's hard to tell which movie is which at some point. The story goes nowhere until the last where there's massive amounts of hand to hand combat. This is also same as the Winners and Sinners, and My Lucky Stars. The story is made around the talents of these five stars (Six if you count Sibelle Hu), and isn't particularly fresh approach compared to other HK movies of that time.

This movie has the best cast. It's the earliest movie I've seen Andy Lau in. Other stars includes Yasuaki Kurata, Rosamund Kuan, and Michelle Yeoh to name a few.

Out of the three almost identical movies, this one is the best made, and most recommended for viewing.