keala

This was a pretty involving movie to me. Of course, until I saw it all I knew about the Soong sisters was that they had the same last name as me, so I don't know how accurate or entertaining it would be to people more familiar with the subject. Regardless, it does have great-looking scenes and fine performances, especially from Maggie Cheung.

There is a terrific fight between Kaneshiro and Yuen early in the picture, one of the best I've ever seen, and nothing that follows it can quite match up to it (not even that hilarious anachronistic snippet near the end); it also eventually overdoses on violence for no good reason, in my opinion, but the whole film still makes for an involving experience. The audience I saw it with just loved it.

There is something about this film that really made me want to like it. Maybe it's James Woods, who is surprisingly compelling in a role that he's probably too old for, or the sleaziness of the whole thing. The problem is, the sleaziness feels forced, the story isn't original enough, and apart from Woods and one of the Catholics, I can't remember any interesting performances. The stunts could have been more imaginative too, but there are some good ones; my favorite is in the beginning when the vampires are hooked and reeled out into the sunshine.