Le 5ème Commandement

It does actually say quite a lot about the movie that they think the fifth commandment is "thou shalt not kill" It isn't. Gives you some idea of the lack of attention involved in producing the movie. As a kick-fest, with guns and explosions thrown-in, it stands with some merit, though the production values are not of the best. The plot is fairly simple, yet made confusing in an attempt to give it depth. The acting is pretty good given the limited script. The sound track is pointlessly noisy in all the wrong places. In all, it gives the feeling of an early eighties effort: a pleasant enough diversion for a rainy day, but don't expect to be blown away.

I really like Rick Yune and it really isn't easy rating the movie that low. But I just can't rate the movie higher. As another reviewer wrote, you could give Rick Yune an "A" for his efforts. But it might have been better, if someone else would have written the story, someone (many?) would have helped him with the producing part and maybe if the movie had stronger leads.

The acting is way below average, but then again, the script doesn't seem to have anything that anyone could hold onto. The female lead might be beautiful, but is totally misplaced. While I'm writing about all this, some of you might wonder, why I haven't lost a word about the action sequences. After all this is an action movie and the really important part is the choreography of these scenes. I'd say that they save the movie from a "1" rating, but as the time and the stunts have progressed the last year, coming up with stunts like these, won't really cut it. There's Ong Bak, Tom Yum Goong and also Donnie Yen's and Jet Li's latest efforts. Even for a fan of the genre, this won't appeal to you. I hope for Rick Yune, that he finds better projects in the future.

For the people above who don't think it should be the 6th commandment, you're obviously not Catholic or Lutheran - for them it is. For the people above who don't think it should be the 6th commandment, you're obviously not Catholic or Lutheran - for them it is. For the people above who don't think it should be the 6th commandment, you're obviously not Catholic or Lutheran - for them it is. For the people above who don't think it should be the 6th commandment, you're obviously not Catholic or Lutheran - for them it is. For the people above who don't think it should be the 6th commandment, you're obviously not Catholic or Lutheran - for them it is.

Sorry for the repeat, but you need 10 lines.

The Fifth Commandment (TFC) is the real deal. The action is fierce. The tension is explosive. The camera work is dazzling. This highly stylized exploration of ass whoop reminds us of A Better Tomorrow, one of the earliest John Woo films. That one wasn't perfect either, but it is in that imperfection, in that grit, that the beauty of it lies, and through that movie both John Woo and Chow Yun Fat were recognized internationally. The characters in TFC are hilarious in a comic book sort of way. This slam bam thank you ma'am action smack down is a fitting tribute to the great low budget martial arts films of the seventies and eighties. The litmus test for this movie is: did you enjoy Ong Bak? If you did, this isn't quite as good but you do not want to miss this bad ass whack fest. The Fifth Commandment is not quite The Killer or Hard Boiled, but, come one, what movie is. In its own right, this is a heavy duty no holds barred celebration of violence as a choreographed art form. Of course the plot is thin! It's not supposed to be Scent of A Woman, for crying out loud. An assassin hired to kill a Jennifer Lopez look alike doesn't take the job because it would involve killing his own brother so the people who hired him are now out to get him. Duh. Transporter 3, which has a similar plot, is a joke compared to this one. Kill Bill was only making fun of movies like TFC. Too bad it doesn't have a better ending. The last half hour drags on and ruins the entire experience.

If for no other reason one should view this movie as a perfect example one two things. First being why you should not let an actor of questionable talent write, produce, and star in his own film. Second would be how not to make a movie...period. I suppose I'll give Rick Yune an "A" for effort seeing as how he wrote the story, produced the film, and starred in it. That's got to take a lot of work. That does not, however, excuse his lackluster performance and the stinted dialogue of the lead and pretty much all characters. Even Keith David, a talented character actor who almost always seems to pick lousy roles, couldn't do much even with the rather limited time he's on screen. In the time Yune spent putting his name all over this thing he could've done things like...oh, I don't know...learned how work with a fight choreographer. The young Chance, played by the ridiculously-named-but-very-talented young martial artist Boo Boo Stewart, wastes his time impressing with his skills early. Then Yune pitches all of that out the window by displaying the martial arts skills of a bag of hammers. What action sequences there are do not come off as anything special and some almost yawn-inducing. Sadly this movie could have been a showcase for the potential of more than just Yune, but it trips out of the gate and just continues falling farther and farther back until you don't even care how it ends. Well, at least I didn't.