Sat sau ji wong

This is a good movie that may have never made it to the American market if not for the success of Jet Li in the U.S. Eric Tsang is a very successful actor in the Hong Kong market, but has virtually no following here -- which is too bad. He may have even been listed as the star of the movie in the original Chinese version.

Eric is a Chinese blend of Danny DeVito and Joe Pesci. He can portray the wormy character of DeVito in the Romancing the Stone/Jewel of the Nile movies. And he also does a great blending of the Home Alone/Lethal Weapon Joe Pesci character. People should rent this movie to see him render his role.

As for the movie, itself, this is a little different than most Jet Li fare -- maybe because he is not the clear star. There is a little less of the martial artist and a little more of the actor. It is a pleasant change.

Wei Tung directs an entertaining film. 'Sat Sau Ji Wong' successfully mixes action, thriller and comedy. Jet Li seems to be more at comfort in most Chinese movies as I found him very wooden in his American movies. Here he gets to display a flair for comedy and he does not let his martial arts gift to overshadow his acting either. The brilliantly choreographed fights are a pleasure to watch. Gifted comedian Eric Tsang adds comic relief with great timing. Simon Yam doesn't get much scope. A charming Gigi Leung offers eye candy. The story is quite solid but at times the film does run the risk of derailing (though it quickly manages to come back on track). Overall, 'Sat Sau Ji Wong' impressed me and I'm glad to see a more humorous side of Jet Li. The actor shows potential in this genre and I wish he'd attempt more comedy. Perhaps Wei Tang can offer him more such projects in the future.

This film is unique among the Jet Li collection because, first, Jet's voice is not dubbed (i.e., viewers actually hear him speak accented Cantonese), and, second, Jet's character, Ah Fu, is rather inept, lacking the characteristic coolness common to most of Jet's other roles. Jet Li has certainly done better films than this, but Hitman is worth a watch simply because it is quite different from all the rest.

Hitman is a good solid action comedy which calls upon Jet Li to do a little more acting than usual. The cast is good, with Eric Tsang standing out particularly, and Heiji Sato making a decent debut as the nasty Japanese guy (there seem to be a lot of these in Hong Kong movies). Action scenes are relatively thin on the ground but what's there is of a good standard - although you might expect better from "Hong Kong's greatest action export".

What's most refreshing about this film is its understatement. The plot isn't anything special but it's pretty water-tight, and the action is all pretty believable if unspectacular.

One thing I particularly liked about Hitman was the way that different languages were used throughout the film (without using dubbing as in The Black Sheep Affair). This contributes to the overall realistic feel of the film and is something I would like to see more on screen. This aside, there is nothing particularly innovative here, but nothing worth criticising either - a film I could recommend to people who don't usually enjoy foreign martial arts movies.

Fast action and lots of laughs too!

In The Contract Killer, Jet Li supplies the charisma and quick kicks as a lowly trainee hitman going for the big score in tracking down the King of All Hitmen.

Li's character is in tandem with a sly, but bumbling conman, played by the great Hong Kong character actor Eric Tsang (Men Suddenly in Black, Accidental Spy), who excels at menace and comic relief. Tsang gives one of his typical 3D performance a la Bob Hoskins or Sydney Greenstreet.

A rare directorial effort from actor/stuntman Wei Tung, who also directed Magic Cop.