SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Nazar (MotifOne) I read some of the comments on this movie and it was described as being very funny rather than serious. So i decided to take a look, as much as i didn't want to laugh, i had to laugh because it is hilariuos. Badly acted, and badly performed that it becomes funny. What is up with the jumps? they look more like flying... And with the motorbike sequences? no comments...The dialogs are as cheesy as it gets. The only good parts are with Mark Dacascos, which is the main reason for me watching this movie, but yet another disappointment from his side...A movie with Mark Dacascos in production by Stanley Tong, should be of high quality in all directions, this one was a failing attempt.

morakanabad When Stanley Tong shot Rumble in the Bronx, I suppose the North American setting and actors made it a lot easier to secure a North American release (and presumably a bigger overall box office total) for the movie; it doesn't take much of a cynic to suggest that Japanese TV star Norika Fujiwara's presence in the cast was meant to give this one a shot at a third market. The Japanese release of the movie makes a big deal of Fujiwara's presence as a second- string character and underwear model, perhaps deservedly so. With the camera's help, she fights better than Jade Leung did in the first Black Cat movie, and she's certainly got the goods as far as the stripping and stretching scenes go. Still, you sort of have to wonder if some distributor wasn't going a bit far in releasing it here under the name "SPY_N"... it is, after all, primarily a movie about other characters. When it isn't making you wince over the English pronunciation or chuckle at the really obvious subbing of stunt doubles, though, this is a halfway decent attempt at creating a B-grade action flick with international appeal. The plot is disjointed, but piles on enough stunt pieces that you aren't endlessly looking at your watch during the eventual plot exposition scenes, and the rest of the movie is silly enough (see the motorcycle that rides up the back of a bus, or the hopefully intentional comedy resulting from Coolio's character being named "Coolio"... "Coolio killed my partner!", etc.) that you don't feel completely bad for renting it and turning your brain off for an hour and a half. Besides, just like in the commercials, Norika Fujiwara is always nice to look at, so there are definitely worse things to spend your rental dollars on.

Angus McIntyre (slam163) To go to a martial arts movie expecting intelligence, good actingand a strong plot is something like expecting the same thingsfrom a sports video. Perhaps we've been spoiled by the rareexceptions, which have led us wrongly to believe that a martial artsmovie should consist of more than a bunch of extremely fit peopleenergetically kicking the snot out of each other."China Strike Force" is well down there with the bulk of the "Nevermind the plot, let's brawl" productions. There is a token plot -young cops up against bad guys trying to smuggle drugs intoChina - and some token characters - two "best buddy" impetuousyoung cops, hot ass-kicking chick, powerful but principled'godfather', and various villains to kick and be kicked. Nothing wehaven't seen before, and the film doesn't exactly break a sweatmaking sure we understand all the ramifications of the intricateplot.The best performance is probably that of Siu-Ming Lau, whose roleas the 'godfather' figure is undemanding but which he carries offcapably enough. The worst performance is unquestionably that ofCoolio, as a badass black gangster from South Central. Granted,Coolio probably doesn't aspire to play Shakespeare (although I'dbe quite interested to see him try, because he _can_ act and has acertain presence), but as he hams his way through this cruderacial caricature, it's impossible not to imagine that he had hiseyes firmly fixed on his paycheck throughout and that it wasapparently large enough to overcome any scruples he might havehad about the role. It would be nice to think that one day the "blackman as swaggering pimp" archetype will follow Uncle Tom ontohistory's cutting room floor, but "China Strike Force" unfortunatelyconfirms that that day isn't here yet.Marc Dacascos radiates his usual gravitas, but after a while of thisyou start asking yourself _why_ he is lending his air of dignity tosuch a shallow and uninteresting film. Presumably another largepaycheck was involved. Dacascos is another actor who deservesbetter. Some day someone will cast him in a role that makesbetter use of his undeniable charisma and his understated style ofacting - the sometimes weak but still enjoyable "Brotherhood ofthe Wolf" came close - but in the meantime he's apparentlyreduced to slumming in productions of this kind.The screenplay is largely by the numbers. There are occasionalattempts at humor, but no one seems to care whether the gagscome off of not so they mostly languish and die. The funniest partof the movie is probably an outtake involving some fizzy Vitamin Ctablets, which suggests that the budget could have been reducedand the movie improved by firing Coolio and replacing him with afew bottles of soluble aspirin.Martial arts fans may enjoy the fight sequences, for their settings ifnot for their virtuosity, but there's a definite sense that everything'sbeen done before and better elsewhere. Overall, the lastingimpression is of a lazily put-together film with nothing particular tooffer and nowhere much to go except to video.

thisloke I would expect China Strike Force to be better or as good as his previous movie (AD2000) but it disappointed me. Not enough fighting scene and too many sex scenes. Well, I feel that they were trying to sell the whole movie with the sexy Japanese actress. Very hard sell. I think they can do better than that.