One More Shot

Even though I had never heard about this 2021 Chinese action movie titled "One More Shot" (aka "VR Fighter"), then of course I opted to sit down and watch it here in 2022, as I happened to stumble upon it by sheer random luck. Given my fascination with the Asian cinema, of course I needed no persuasion to watch what director Tang Qiaojia had to offer with "One More Shot".

Well, this 2021 Chinese action movie was a little bit all over the place. It felt like director Tang Qiaojia was trying to go in multiple directions with the storyline all at once. But the end result was somewhat of a fractured storyline that was somehow lacking a proper red thread to guide the audience from A to B. That made the movie very random and erratic, and it felt like it was a mash-up of multiple randomly shot segments that were filmed independently of one another and then made into a movie.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble that performed in "One More Shot", but I will say that they managed to put on adequate enough performances, given the subpar storyline and script they had to work with.

If for nothing else, then "One More Shot" can be watched for the action and fighting alone. Forget about the scrambled heap that was supposed to resemble a storyline and just lean back in the seat and enjoy the action sequences.

"One More Shot" was by no means a milestone in Asian action cinema, and the movie came and went without leaving much of any lasting impression.

My rating of "One More Shot" lands on a very generous four out of ten stars.

It's like watching three uncompleted short stories. With the same characters attached.

First short film is a MISSION-IMPOSSIBLE-esque thrilling rescue, very well-done, clean action-packed, affair. Edge of your seat stuff. Our hero succeeds, the bad guys come after him, he survives and we wait for his retaliation. The showdown...

Nope

Second part is like an indie cinema type. Maybe he is recuperating. Biding his time. We wait for his retaliation. The showdown.

Nope

Third is the charm? We wish!!! Still no bad guys with tattoos on their necks. You know, those from the first part of the movie. What happened to the CEO? Did he launch his clean energy product after the attempted assassination? Are the oil industry tycoons...Don't bother.

Now the movie has become a DIE-HARDesque shinding. People are held hostage in one room while the hero roams the hallways taking out the bad guys, one by one. Not those tattooed bad guys. A brand new batch of bad guys.

And then the twist comes. (I think M. Night Shimalayan was brought in for this part)

The three stars I gave are for the first short story. You know, the CEO one...

Straight out of the bat, I would not recommend you watch this film.. even if interested.

Let me make my case : 1. The movie, 30+ minutes in (of around 1h20), is still trying to get started.. Laying out the ground-work for what the movie will be about. Once it "gets going", there is no more plot.. just arbitrary action scenes. In the end there are no character to care about or anything that pays off. Just a predictable and boring outcome.

2. The CGI is simply atrocious! The type that looks digitally perfect, and completely unrealistic (lighting, movement, you name it). Just 1 minute in and you can get an idea of the talent/budget employed on this movie.

3. There's a lot of poorly delivered English dialogue.

4. The brief showing of the "Power" Suit made me want to watch Iron Man (2008). But unlike that film, this meanders in the character introduction, and none of the fun. There's just no reason to watch it.

If you can get over the cheap visuals, it has good camera work and choreographies, and a short 3rd-person-perspective action scene (think Hardcore Henry). I'm sad for Siu-Wong Fan (lead), because he deserved a better script! He is one of the few to properly deliver his lines, and his physicality is good.

...from ever watching this ridiculousness. It is patently absurd, with headache-inducing, over-the-top armies of machine gunners in repetitively choreographed long takes of senseless overkill. The two tasty chicks don't redeem the overall tedium of the drawn out melodrama where the bad guys keep the upper hand throughout the entire meaningless story line, which is insultingly nonsensical. More insult is heaped upon the viewer as the ultra slimy bad guy kicks the living dung out of the pathetic protagonist. The acting was horrendous and when it finally comes to an eye-rolling end there's nothing to think about other than the shame of having watched the whole thing.

Right off the bat it opens with a visceral action scene that is more creative and energetic than most of the major productions from Hollywood in the last 2 years. Sadly after that we get to the generic cliched part where we follow our protagonist coping with the loss of his wife and taking care of his sick girl. These obligatory 20 minutes of miserable melodrama are easily the worst part of the film that and everytime some character speaks in English but thank goodness they did not drag this part because for the rest of the movie it's pretty much non stop brutal action with some nice shootouts and a very impressive one on one fight inside of an elevator culminating in yet another one vs one with the main baddie that is less memorable compared to the previous one but still makes up for that with how brutal it gets.

There is a plot twist at the very end that you may or may not like. That and the completely unnecessary Sci-Fi element of the story are the film's major flaws. I don't mind thin storyline and underdevelopped characters as well as the occasional dodgy CGI.

One More Shot delivers on its promise as a dumb DTV balls to the wall actioner with crappy Sci-Fi elements that should satisfy most action movie fans.