ChanFamous
I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
InformationRap
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Stephan Hammond
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Haven Kaycee
It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
BA_Harrison
Chow Si Kit (Jet Li) is a writer of serial adventures who imagines himself as the hero of his stories, brave archaeologist King of Adventurers. Recently, Chow Si Kit has been suffering from writer's block as a result of his marriage problems with wife Monica (played by the lovely Rosamund Kwan), but receives help from his friends when his back is turned, making the King of Adventurer's latest exploits a little more outlandish than usual.I'm a massive fan of martial arts star Jet Li, and director Siu-Tung Ching's A Chinese Ghost Story is one of my all-time favourite HK movies, but with Dr. Wai, the pair have managed to deliver one hell of a dreadful film, a shoddy mess of ill-conceived comedy and action scenes that seem to have been edited together completely at random. I defy anyone to make sense of this movie, particularly if, like me, they're watching with English subtitles, the film boasting some of the worst subs I have ever tried to read.Cutting between Chow Si Kit's real life and that of his imaginary character, Dr. Wai pays little attention to logic or narrative flow. The visuals are stylish, as one might expect from Siu-Tung Ching—a lot of time and money has clearly been spent on creating a spectacle—but it's all so incredibly slapdash that none of it works. On the contrary, the film proves extremely tiresome, despite such lavish nonsense as a giant runaway metal bull, a steam locomotive crashing through a town, a mid-air encounter with a man-monster on a crashing plane, and a set-to with flaming whip-swords. Despite such adversaries as a team of ninjas, a pair of sumo wrestlers, and Billy Chow, the showy kung fu fight scenes also fail to impress thanks to an over reliance on ridiculous wire-work.I've seen Dr. Wai described as a Chinese Indiana Jones, but to be honest, the best bits of Dr. Wai aren't even as good as The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull at it's worst, which says a lot.
Batkid1
I don't expect much from Action/Adventure films, but this is just plain out ridiculous. First off, you don't really care about the characters because most of them are too self-centered and given "next-to-none" development so the viewer could honestly care less. Granted, it's not the "Worst Movie Ever," but here the film just drags to the point where you just want to turn it off even if you're a patient person like me. Fan of Jet Li who are here just to see his performance and showing off his Martial-Arts skills will be heavily disappointed because there are few scenes where he is creatively beating up someone or drawing in the viewer. The film is just a silly Chinese version of Indiana Jones and, sadly, it was better off not being parodied and/or being rehashed. Watch it if you absolutely need to see anything with Jet Li in it, but don't come complaining to this IMDb board exclaiming on how disappointed you were !
lonnieturner
Jet Li stars as a writer of a series based on the character King of Adventures. When an accident puts him in the hospital, friends try to continue his current storyline for him. Great fun ensues as new twists and turns spring from the different characters adding to the story; including a pair of flying sumo wrestlers (!) and some well done CGI. A change of pace for the usually intense Li that's one of the most enjoyable HK movies of '96.
YTSL
This movie has an interesting premise (the depiction of and flip-flopping between a writer's fictional life as The King of Adventurers and his "real", problem-ridden -- he is in the middle of a huge writer's block precipitated by marital problems -- life). Although there may appear to be echoes of and borrowings from such American movies as "Romancing the Stone" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark", it turns out to have characteristically Hong Kong elements ("wire fu" fights, cross-dressing, etc. -- all featuring the hero, as played by Jet Li; action -- in one case, whip-wielding -- women) as well as its own attractions (I particularly like the idea of the pen as a real as well as metaphorical weapon). All this having been said, it still seems to lack the extremes of and thus seem surprisingly tame compared to many another Hong Kong movie...which may explain why it is not a particular favorite of many Hong Kong movie fans. On the other hand, for those (relatively) unused to the pace, gore and quick mood changes of so many movies from that part of the world, this would be recommended as a movie which showcases the imagination of Hong Kong movie makers and the ability -- in terms of quality but also range of possibility -- of its actors and actresses.