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Chung hang sei hoi (1991)
Trite, boring, un-funny, embarrassing, and most of all -- Overrated.
I find it ironic the tagline for this movie is "They Only Stop to Reload" since they never actually stop to reload. In the long drawn-out and ridiculous gun fight scenes the bad guys, who have terrible aim, can fire their automatic sub-machine guns for a full minute and never have to reload.
In reality they would only be able to shoot those guns at full-auto for about two seconds. Of course they rarely get the chance to discharge their weapons for more than a few seconds before our good guys knock them off with perfect shots from their pistols. Who are they bad guys? We never really know for sure, and we never really know how they manage to find the bad guys. For instance in one chase scene set in the French Riviera, the chase starts when the bad guys find the good guys camped out on the top of one of the hills towering over the town. The bad guys chase them all the way through town to the waters edge where they are more bad guys waiting for them in boats. Why are the bad guys waiting for them in boats?? who knows?
Who cares?
The whole movie defies any attempt at logic. In fact the whole movie throws logic by the way-side in an attempt to be funny, but most of the jokes fall flat and the whole movie comes off as being lame. One of the few movies I've watched where I was impatiently waiting for the end to come just so I could quit watching it.
2/10
Rear Window (1954)
Like so many of Hitchcock's films, has many strong points and many weaknesses and is ultimately over-rated.
Contains spoiler!! Like so many of Hitchcock's films "Rear Window" has many strong points and many weaknesses and is ultimately over-rated. Many of the weak points are specific plot points, so I must warn you, this review contains some spoilers. Perhaps because Hitchcock is almost single-handedly credited with creating the thriller genre, we must tip our hat to him and label the bulk of his work as not only "classics", but they are supposedly recognized as some of the best movies ever made. Well, I for one think we give our classic film-makers far too much credit, for the thriller genre has definitely been improved upon in the fifty years since "Rear Window" was first released. Many contemporary films contain real genuine 'twists'. "Rear Window" delivers only a plodding plot which in the end only confirms the original hypothesis, that the neighbor across the way *did* in fact kill his wife. Perhaps the twist Mr. Hitchcock was trying to pull on us was that *yes* the movie was in fact *that* unimaginative. The twist is: There is no twist! Boy, weren't you surprised!
The obvious twists Mr. Hitchcock could have delivered upon us are never used. Perhaps we would have found out that in fact the neighbor's wife *was* alive, but that the neighbor *was* in fact involved in a crime. What was buried in the garden? The stolen jewel perhaps? (The neighbor was a jeweler in fact.) No, We never really find out, they just elude to the mysterious booty and we are left to assume it is just another cut up bit of wife. This kind of unimaginative plot might have played fifty years ago, but movie-goers expect a little bit more than that now-a-days. But even then I suspect it was considered week back then, for having a good plot has always been a plus, even back to the days of Shakespeare, who churned out more suspenseful stories than Hitchcock ever dreamed of doing.
Now, I did mention that the movie did have quite a few strong points. The movie was quite innovative, even by today's standards. It would be hard to pull off filming a movie from just one point-of-view, out the window of an apartment building. The sound and cinematography were quite well done. And over-all the story wasn't all that bad, it does pull you along, and it keeps you watching. But, admittedly a large part of that is because the viewer is left expecting one of those supposedly famous "Hitchcock Twists", but with a rushed and unimaginative ending, the twist never comes. On the subject of a rushed ending, the movie is also supposedly a character study, with a not so subtle sub-plot between the leading man, James Stewart, and his lovely leading-lady Grace Kelly. Of course no one seems to mind that this sub-plot is completely devoid of any resolution. Do they or do they not get together? Does it really matter to anyone? Apparently not because this movie is for some reason stuck in the imdb.com top 20. Apparently I *am* the only one. 6 out of 10 stars.