Badge of Fury

"Badge of Fury" (aka "Bu er shen tan") has one of the most misleading DVD covers ever. It shows Jet Li looming over central Hong Kong engulfed in flames. First of all, the movie is nowhere near as explosive as the cover makes it out to be. Secondly, Jet Li is not even the main star in the movie.

The movie is a comedy action of sorts, which I didn't know, so I was a bit surprised when finding out. So does the comedy work? Sure, most of the time, but at times it was awfully forced and scripted. But if you do enjoy silly action comedy movies, then you will get some enjoyment out of the movie.

The characters were colorful and the dialogue was oddly quirky enough to match the characters. But the movie was somehow lacking a deeper storyline and meaning, giving the movie a somewhat irrelevant sensation to it.

It should be said that the actors were doing good jobs all round. I just wonder why Jet Li actually agreed to be in this movie, because it is really way off from his normal arena. And this is definitely not what you would expect from a Jet Li movie.

One thing that puzzled me senseless was why the movie was in Mandarin language when it was filmed and set to take place in Hong Kong. It was just so stupid. It should have been Cantonese.

All in all a mediocre movie that was nothing at all what the DVD cover presented it to be.

BADGE OF FURY is one of those films that misleads thanks to false advertising; the DVD cover makes it look like nothing more than a bombastic Jet Li cop actioner, full of explosions and shoot-outs. The reality couldn't be further from the truth: this is instead a wildly uneven, lowbrow and mildly crazy knockabout comedy in the typical Chinese style.

Western audiences are sure to have their patience tested by a narrative that's all over the place, along with CGI-enhanced action sequences which turn fist-fights into comic-book battles, and all manner of over-the-top silliness. This is a film in which the gags fly thick and fast and the characters themselves fly even thicker and faster, being thrown into buildings and through windows at regular intervals. It's corny, stupid and sometimes jaw-droppingly awful.

Despite the anything-goes nature of the script, BADGE OF FURY is mildly amusing, if you're in the right mood for it. Occasionally, watching the male characters lusting over Yan Liu brings to mind the glory days of '80s-era knockabout comedy like MY LUCKY STARS. And Jet Li is always good value for money, even if his role here is limited and there's no real martial arts action to speak of. Unfortunately, we're saddled with the incessantly mugging and intensely irritating Zhang Wen in the lead role, and he's the worst thing about the whole thing.

Elsewhere, look out for a series of cameos from hot Chinese properties: there's Wu Jing in probably the best fight scene, and there's Collin Chou up to his usual bad guy duties. Stephen Fung (HOUSE OF FURY) bags a slightly bigger supporting role but fails to make an impact, but at least there are plenty of film in-jokes for movie fans to enjoy and the occasional sequence in which the jokes work. BADGE OF FURY is a film that it's best to watch fully knowing what you're in for as I can imagine many viewers turning this one off in disgust and in some respects I can't blame them.

I bought this expecting a badass cop movie starring Jet Li. Instead, Jet Li's role is more like a cameo appearance and the film really is a bad comedy with occasional kung fu fight sequences thrown in. I did enjoy the few fight scenes contained here, but as a whole the film is awful.The story is inept, uninteresting and stupid. The humorous aspects of the film rely on crude jokes, slapstick comedy, over the top, ridiculous moments, as well as references to Jet Li's career (officer Huang Fei Huang). That said it might have been fine, except those responsible forgot to make it funny. This movie makes the most crude, lowbrow work of producer/director Wong Jing look like highly intellectual art. Jet Li has proved with his previous films he is a very capable actor that can carry all sorts of stuff. Even though he only had a cameo appearance, Badges Of Fury is a waste of Jet Li's talents and not a good project. Hopefully, Jet Li will be given more than five minutes screen time in the next Expendables installment, one would hope.

Having Jet Li headlining the cast will really set high expectations. However, in the first few scenes of this particular film, you will know that you need to tone these expectations down.

There is a series of mysterious murders in the city. The victims were all young men who strangely die with a silly grin on their faces. The policemen who get assigned to this case were unlikely partners, the young bumbling Wang Bu Er (Zhang Wen) and grizzled veteran Huang (Jet Li), under their lady boss Angela (Michelle Chen). Investigation lead them to a young actress Liu Jin Shui (Lui Shishi), who was the girlfriend of all these victims.

Zhang Wen plays the slapstick comic lead in this action/comedy. He is shameless in some really embarrassing scenes and stupid situations. He does have fight and chase scenes, but will usually end up bungling everything. Jet Li plays straight man to Zhang here, but Li of course figures in some exciting though exaggerated martial arts fight scenes. Michelle Chen is quite funny in her cute little way, though she was not entirely believable as a police chief at all.

This film is shallow and light-hearted, not to be taken seriously. There will be scenes that you cannot help but laugh out loud in their craziness. The investigation of the murders has its own nifty twists and turns which can puzzle you. It can be a fun way to spend a lazy hour and a half, if you do not expect too much.

I like Jet Lee but in this movie he acted looks like a stupid. The story is not good at all. Most of the actors and actress did not perform properly. It seems low budget movie. It should be not published because can ruin the Jet lee reputation. The director could not do anything as a result, the screenplay were playing not professional. The actors and actress seem really so childish and mostly the actors were less involved in this movie's story. Regarding the ending of the movie, it could be predicted from the beginning of the movie. That's way is not a good movie. Don't think I will recommend this movie. Once again don't watch this movie.