Wo de te gong ye ye

I am really at a loss as to why this movie gets such bad critical reviews. I found it to be a very enjoyable movie.

Sammo Hung is a long-time mainstay of Hong Kong cinema and it is good to see him directing again after two decades.

The leads in the movie all do an excellent job. The relationship between Sammo Hung's old man, suffering dementia, and Jacqueline Chan's mischievous young girl is beautifully played. Andy Lau manages to make his character almost likable, even though he is a wife-beating ogre.

The supporting cast are also very good. The three old guys who make fun of Sammo's character are hilarious. Tsui Hark makes a welcome cameo as one of the three old guys.

The action scenes are very well filmed, with Sammo in typically good form, despite his advancing age.

All in all, I can thoroughly recommend this movie to all fans of the genre. You'll have an enjoyable 98 minutes of viewing!

Let me start this review with a translated quote used in the film: The old man is like Kung Fu Panda I have no clue if they truly said that originally. Despite, this quote does sum up the abilities of Sammo Hung's character Ding. Ding is a retired Central Security Bureau officer from Beijing who is in the early stages of dementia. He is a man full of regret and remorse but chooses to seclude himself rather than confront the issues that are plaguing him. One big strain on him is the fact that his granddaughter got missing while he was watching over her. But then at one point in time Cherry Li , a little girl from next door sneaks into his apartment to hide there after fighting with her father. Which is the start of an unique friendship.

One thing you will have to understand that this Sammo Hung vehicle isn't the typical martial arts film he used to make. Sammo has gotten old and apparently he wanted to address this. So most of the focus is on Ding being an old man. He receives some backup from old friends to make this statement. People like Yuen Baio, Dean Shek, Yuen Wah, and Tsui Hark to name but a few. These are nothing but glorified cameo's. But since I had not read anything about the film in advance I was pleasantly surprised to see them. For me it wasn't a disappointment like some reviewers have stated. More so because they had been given the impression to come into action as well. Now that would have been something I must admit so I do understand the criticism. Although it did not hurt what they were going for in the film. At it's core this film is about Ding coming to terms with old age, dementia and guilt. The action is just in service of this.

This explains the fact that there is not that much action. And while I also was expecting more I understand that somehow this would not be fitting regarding the theme. Or even would destroy the message that Sammo Hung wants to make clear to the audience. But don't despair the little action that is present is more than satisfying. Especially in the finale where Sammo goes Steven Seagal on the bad guys. Mainly using his arms and where he is using his opponents power against them. It makes sense to me that on old man would be limited in his move set so that was a nice touch.

Andy Lau also is involved in this film as an actor and producer. He plays the low life father of Cherry and basically is the reason why trouble starts in the first place. His role while significant is small and just right as he manages to evoke enough emotions. Another thing you have to understand is that this film doesn't go that deep into issues like dementia or bad parenting. Instead it tries to appeal to your emotions about these issues. And this is something that Sammo Hung does real well.

So for me this film was well worth the watch and while I was expecting a more action packed adventure I got something just as good in return. We all become old one day and then we can't do the things we used to do. You have to be prepared for that.

Vastly underrated, this is a gem. Sammo Hung in great form both as an actor (playing dementia so well) and in the brutal fight scenes. Great supporting actors, especially Andy Lau and the child. Loved the scenes of Chinese life (slightly idealised of course) and the gangsters. Nothing I didn't like really and kept my attention. The understated romance sub plot was sweet and T Hark ina bit part was just funny. Well worth watching .

(2016) My Beloved Bodyguard (In Chinese with English subtitles) DRAMA ACTION

"The Bodyguard" as the movie is referring to is Sammo Hung Kam Bo, as he plays a retired Central Security Bureau, as he bonds with a young girl often neglected by her father, Li Zheng Jiu played by Andy Lau. He becomes her bodyguard as her father gets himself involved in both Chinese and Russian gangsters, regarding a debt and a stolen bag of jewels and money. Upon watching it on rental was able to cut through some of the sappy parts as opposed to watching it on theater. Tsui Hark director of "Time and Tide", Dean Shek of "A Better Tomorrow II" to Karl Maka of "Aces Go Places" series make small cameos.

It's nice to see some of known Hong Kong favorites still finding work, and although those were small parts, it is still nice to see them alive and still acting. As the Hong Kong industry is not what it used to be.

For someone who has dedicated more than half his life reinventing the martial arts genre of modern-day Hong Kong cinema, Sammo Hung certainly has not been resting on his laurels. Not only did he recently direct Aaron Kwok and Gong Li in the many extravagant action set-pieces of 'The Monkey King 2', he has also been busy assuming similar duties on Benny Chan's upcoming period action blockbuster 'The Deadly Reclaim'. Compared to these two elaborate big-budget epics, 'The Bodyguard', which sees Sammo assume multi- hyphenate duties as director, action director and lead actor, feels like a walk in the park for the 64-year-old actor/ martial artist.

And it probably is, judging from the friends who have turned up to see Sammo return to the director's chair after a hiatus of close of two decades – including Yuen Wah as the postman of the sleepy town at the border of China and Russia where the movie is set, Yuen Qiu as a social worker, Yuen Biao as the town's police commander and Karl Maka, Tsui Hark and Dean Shek as a bunch of town elders who always have a quick barb to trade with each other. Besides these notable alums from Hong Kong cinema past, contemporaries like Hu Jun, Feng Shaofeng and Eddie Peng have also turned up for the all- stars reunion – though we're leaving out special guest star Andy Lau, since he is after all producer of the movie through his Focus Films company.

Though it is unlikely to expect each one of these guest stars to have a meaningful place in the film, those expecting any of them to have anything more than a glorified cameo will be sorely disappointed. Except for Lau, who plays father to the young girl whom Sammo's titular bodyguard befriends and eventually protects, not a single one of the other actors contributes any more than a 'blink-and-miss' appearance, so there's no point wondering if any will spar with Sammo at all. Oh yes, you would do well to know that these 'guest appearances' are completely extraneous to the story, which tells of a retired Central Security Bureau (CSB) officer named Mr Ding who calls upon his very particular set of skills to protect an innocent life.

As much as that premise lends itself to a martial arts showcase for Sammo, 'The Bodyguard' is anything but. Indeed, those looking for a straight-out action flick will very likely be disappointed, for Sammo approaches the 'Taken-like' high-concept movie in a conspicuously low-key manner, so much so that it ends up being an hour of set-up, exposition and character build-up for a single extended close- quarter showdown that conveniently pits Sammo against two warring gangster factions at the same time and in the same place. To call it an action thriller would in fact be a misnomer, for it is at best a simple character drama with some bits of action thrown in to lure unsuspecting viewers from Sammo's considerable fan-base.

That drama largely consists of Sammo either looking lost due to the early onset of dementia that his character is suffering from or acting shy due to the advances of his landlord Madam Park (Li Qinqin). Crucially, Sammo plays his character so aloof that we cannot quite identify with the grief he has supposedly been carrying in his heart after losing his granddaughter while out with her many years ago, which is also why he is currently estranged from his daughter now in America. In the same way, we can also hardly feel the connection between his character and the young girl he now feels responsible for, or for that matter why he suddenly snaps out of his usual passivity to defend her in the third act.

It's no secret that Sammo is a better fighter than an actor, and the fact that he does plenty of the latter and too little of the former in the first two acts makes the movie a drag. Only in the last half hour does Sammo abandon his dementia-induced stupor for a one- against- many showdown against Choi's henchmen and the Russians, which gives him the chance to engage in the sort of lethal bone- breaking we suspect most would be waiting for. Yet it is hardly breathtaking stuff – especially for those well-acquainted with Sammo's previous movies – and too many close-ups as well as a slower-than-ideal frame-rate for Sammo's lightning-quick moves ultimately make this too-little too-late finale slightly underwhelming.

That expectations are high for 'The Bodyguard' is inevitable; like we said, this is the first time that Sammo is in the director's chair after helming both 'Mr Nice Guy' and 'Once Upon A Time in China and America' back in 1997. Yet even without the weight of such expectations, this languid drama with just one modest fight sequence at the end is unlikely to satisfy action fans or the rare audience member looking for a serious-minded story on redemption. At this age, there is really little that Sammo need do to cement his legacy as legend, but it should also be said that anyone looking for him to revive his past glories on the big screen will go away empty. We adore Sammo just as much as his most ardent fan, but even that love and respect is not enough for us to find anything redeeming about 'The Bodyguard'. Sorry, 'dai gor'.