Siu nin a Fu

if i wasn't totally ravished by mr. wu and his charming korean counterpart, i would have never have forgiven daniel lee for this careless, unbelievable spectacle of love and action mishmash. this film had so much potential, they were lucky to get very endearing actors, but something went terribly wrong during production. either they were not reviewing the takes that the cameraman made (blairwitch project was much more steady compared to this), and the scriptwriter seemed to have written this overnight, after he has partied and drank enough alcohol. so many elements are thrown in, there is even a comatosed grandfather involved. flashbacks of his lovelife as a soldier with a nurse keep on coming, as if it is a reference to the romance Bond has made with this korean teacher...i needed to consult a psychologist to actually understand what went on with these two. the fight scenes were unbelievable and i commend wu for his outstanding performance...but i couldn't help feeling sorry for all those months that he dedicated to train and to learn the skill -- it was all captured in a rather weird type of film. the filmmakers can't decide if it was an action-drama film, an artistic film, a pop film or a docu-reality type. truly, i would love it if this film would be remade and given enough love to make it rise to its full potential. my love still goes out to wu for such an endearing performance.

There isn't a lot to be said about the movie other than some good fighting scenes and a Korean actress who, while not truly beautiful in the eye of this beholder, does possess certain charm. More interesting is the reasonably good tackling of the Wing Chun martial art style, including authentic scenes of workout at the Wing Chun wooden dummies. Ti Lung (family name, given name) who plays the Wing Chun master, however, did not learn his martial arts from Yip Man (ditto, dittto) (1893 – 1972), the grand master who founded the Hong Kong branch of Wing Chun, and was also Bruce Lee's teacher during the latter's early martial art days. (Those interested in having more details can check out the website www.cebridge.com.au/Ipman/). In founding of his Intercepting Fist style, Lee had much inspiration from his earlier Wing Chun training.

You watch the trailer, you are expecting a "bloodsport" movie. But thing is its all about the romance between the teacher and Bond, and to be honest i didn't click much with that. I don't mind the hero having a romance in a martial arts movie, but not making it stand for 40 min of the movie... even more maybe.

The competition have a small place and except the main character fights, most of the rest is fast-forwarded and you don't see much of the other competitor beside the principals...

Anyway lets just say with more action, less romance, the story would have be good enough to make a nice movie, but i can't give it more than 6 here....

This is a movie for teenagers. If they make more like it please let me know because I couldn't find anything today, I'll keep looking tomorrow. (THIS PART BECAUSE I HAD TO MAKE THIS LONGER??) (ok I started watching it several months ago and just finished it, maybe because I didn't want to read the subs or I've seen too many movies that start this way or better. The movie makes no apologies and neither does Daniel Lee. Again, if anyone knows more movies like this please let me know.) (OK I HAVE TO WRITE MORE STILL) (...maybe Siskel and Ebert made a mistake when they added the thumbs-up-thumbs-down parts to the reviews when people asked 'should i see it or not??' I think it was a really bad idea because reading more about the movie that you don't know you wanna see or not is a good exercise in academia and all people who watch movies should read really long reviews before...hand)

If you can slush through the first 40 minutes of STAR RUNNER, which features one of the most contrived and inexplicable romance in movie history, then the film is worthwhile. The fights range from decent to good, and the final brawl is impressive. The female lead is very beautiful, but her character is also the weakest element of the film. Whenever the character is onscreen, the cliches come hard and fast, and you'll be hard-pressed to survive it all.

Summation: Nothing original, but decent if you can survive the silly and unbelievable romance angle that incredibly takes up the film's entire first half.

5 out of 10