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Tokyo Raiders

Tokyo Raiders

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $26.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Campy Fun, But It's Missing Something
Review: All in all, Tokyo Raiders isn't terrible, but it certainly isn't all that good, either.

The plot moves the movie along at a steady clip: a private investigator, a stood-up bride, and an interior decorator who happens to be a martial arts expert (!) all join forces in Tokyo, and fighting commences. Along the way, the plot twists and turns around several fight scenes, and by the end of the movie, we realize nothing is as it seemed. The movie is fairly well acted, although I'd recommend against the dubbed version (duh).

The problem is that Tokyo Raiders wasn't very well edited. The fight scenes are great, including a particularly memorable one with a vaccuum cleaner, but all the clips seem to be missing just a little bit of the action; the cuts sometimes don't make sense, and you begin to feel like you're missing something. Unfortunately, the movie seems to move that way itself, and you sometimes think that maybe a scene got cut here and there, because what's happening on screen doesn't necessarily make sense all the time.

It's fun, it's campy, but there are better HK films out there. Rent it before you buy it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: mindless spy flick loaded w/ silly fun
Review: Depart from the popular Jackie Chan fare and take a look into popular Hong Kong kung fu cinema. It's a silly tale of spies, lies, and lovers but not obnoxiously stupid as has been the trend for HK flicks of late. Kelly Chen is Macy whose Japanese boyfriend is a no-show at their Vegas wedding. She jets back to HK to find him but instead bumps heads with Yung, played by a perfectly coiffed Ekin Cheng, a smooth interior designer who has yet to be paid for fixing up their pad. The two knock out some baddies, who just happen to show up at the house, and they end up in Japan, whereupon Lam, Tony Leung's shady private detective, proceeds to get all up into their business. The rest of the plot is, how shall we say, confusing, and secondary; basically everyone's after Macy and the girl just wants to find her fiancée. Let's all admit that we're not really watching this movie for profound insight and agree that the narrative stays on track in it's own disjointed way, which means it doesn't always make sense. The important thing is that every character is hiding something so no one really knows what's going on.

Despite big names and beautiful faces in this Lunar New Year production, the acting doesn't really stand out, except for Tony Leung Chiu-Wai's performance. He continues to demonstrate why he's one of the best actors, ever. Though he won't be grabbing anything at Cannes for this one, he ups the charm factor a few notches and plays the spy who I wished loved me. Since the key word here is "cool," the bland script matters less than sleek sets, suave spy fashion, and fluid fight sequences. All this movie asks of you is a handful of brain cells and the willingness to indulge in a nonsensical spy caper.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: mindless spy flick loaded w/ silly fun
Review: Depart from the popular Jackie Chan fare and take a look into popular Hong Kong kung fu cinema. It's a silly tale of spies, lies, and lovers but not obnoxiously stupid as has been the trend for HK flicks of late. Kelly Chen is Macy whose Japanese boyfriend is a no-show at their Vegas wedding. She jets back to HK to find him but instead bumps heads with Yung, played by a perfectly coiffed Ekin Cheng, a smooth interior designer who has yet to be paid for fixing up their pad. The two knock out some baddies, who just happen to show up at the house, and they end up in Japan, whereupon Lam, Tony Leung's shady private detective, proceeds to get all up into their business. The rest of the plot is, how shall we say, confusing, and secondary; basically everyone's after Macy and the girl just wants to find her fiancée. Let's all admit that we're not really watching this movie for profound insight and agree that the narrative stays on track in it's own disjointed way, which means it doesn't always make sense. The important thing is that every character is hiding something so no one really knows what's going on.

Despite big names and beautiful faces in this Lunar New Year production, the acting doesn't really stand out, except for Tony Leung Chiu-Wai's performance. He continues to demonstrate why he's one of the best actors, ever. Though he won't be grabbing anything at Cannes for this one, he ups the charm factor a few notches and plays the spy who I wished loved me. Since the key word here is "cool," the bland script matters less than sleek sets, suave spy fashion, and fluid fight sequences. All this movie asks of you is a handful of brain cells and the willingness to indulge in a nonsensical spy caper.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I loved it!
Review: I am a big fan of Ekin Cheng, and this was an excellent movie, with a well developed plot and memorable characters.

Tony Leung stars as a Tokyo private investigator, trying to track down a gangland boss. Tagging along are Macy, (Kelly Chen) and John, (Ekin Cheng)a Kung Fu master, (who also happens to be an interior decorator, LOL).

Together, the trio tries to solve the mystery of Macy's missing fiancée, but run into trouble from the CIA, rival gang lords and local police. A romance develops between Macy and John, and is exacerbated by distrust on both sides.

There are several great fight scenes. My favorite involved Ekin Chen and the vacuum cleaner, and the fight upon the car transport truck! This had a lot of really original material, and just enough romance to also appeal to female fans.

Great movie!! Where's the sequal?

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Re: Pretty entertaining
Review: I first saw this movie while on the airplane to Taiwan. It captured my interest so much that I decided to buy it once I came back to the US. Overall, the movie is entertaining. It's certainly not the best film I've ever seen, however, it's a great comedy with some interesting plot turns. It should definitely hold your interest and give u a couple laughs too.

Overall, without giving away too many of the plot twists, the plot revolves around Macy, played by Kelly Chen (the popular Cantonese singer), who becomes jilted at the altar. Over time, she discovers that she didn't know as much about the husband she was going to marry as she though. While making this discovery, she meets a variety of characters including Tony Leung, (In the Mood for Love)a private investigator. Love triangles etc. form along with some great and funny fighting scenes by Leung.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Tokyo Raiders
Review: I found that this was a very entertaining movie. Filled with a lot of actions sequences and great actors, this film is a must for anyone. Here is the storyline: On the marriage day of Macy (Kelly Chan), her bridegroom Takahashi does not show up. Macy goes to Tokyo to search for him. She meets Tommy (Ekin Cheng), an interior designer who wants to collect debt from Takashashi, and Lenny (Tony Leung), a private eye who is hired by a ganster boss to spy on Takashashi. During the investigation, these three persons soon find that they are in conflict with the Japanese underworld Gang....

This film also has a cameo by the very attractive, Cecilia Cheung (King of Comedy, 12 Nights)

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Enough is Enough!
Review: Remember when you met that "special" guy or girl who had the cutest, most adorable laugh? But the more you heard it, the more annoying it got? Well, the director of this movie ought to get a clue about things getting old fast. He seems obsessed with trying to dazzle the viewer with switching between regular and slow-motion shots with no rhyme or reason, and making us seasick with weird camera angles. Some great martial arts scenes are totally ruined because of his idiotic use of slow motion - it is insulting to the actors/actresses and the viewer.

On the positive(?) side, it is a hoot listening to the English dubbed dialog and comparing it to the English subtitles - the two almost never agree, and the differences are often quite funny - unintentional, I'm sure. My wife was in the other room when I was watching this and she came in to see where all the bad dialog was coming from.

I feel sorry for the actors in this movie because their talents were kept hidden by a director who must have thought he was being artsy.

As for the plot, it seemed rather jumbled up to me. I was so mad thinking about how the director ruined the movie that I had trouble paying attention to what was going on. What could have been a movie with a passable plot but great martial arts work turned out a disaster. I give it two stars only because the actors at least tried to do something despite being misdirected.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Enough is Enough!
Review: Remember when you met that "special" guy or girl who had the cutest, most adorable laugh? But the more you heard it, the more annoying it got? Well, the director of this movie ought to get a clue about things getting old fast. He seems obsessed with trying to dazzle the viewer with switching between regular and slow-motion shots with no rhyme or reason, and making us seasick with weird camera angles. Some great martial arts scenes are totally ruined because of his idiotic use of slow motion - it is insulting to the actors/actresses and the viewer.

On the positive(?) side, it is a hoot listening to the English dubbed dialog and comparing it to the English subtitles - the two almost never agree, and the differences are often quite funny - unintentional, I'm sure. My wife was in the other room when I was watching this and she came in to see where all the bad dialog was coming from.

I feel sorry for the actors in this movie because their talents were kept hidden by a director who must have thought he was being artsy.

As for the plot, it seemed rather jumbled up to me. I was so mad thinking about how the director ruined the movie that I had trouble paying attention to what was going on. What could have been a movie with a passable plot but great martial arts work turned out a disaster. I give it two stars only because the actors at least tried to do something despite being misdirected.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: funnyand laughable but afterward you forget about movie
Review: starring Tony Leung, Ekin Cheng, Kelly Chan , Cecilia Cheung Toru Nakamura, Hiroshi Abe, Kumiko Endo, Maiju Ozawa, Minami Sirakawa, Yuko Moriyama, Pauline Yam and directed by Jingle Ma

Tony Leung stars as Lam, the toughest private eye in Tokyo. Despite his small stature and broken Japanese, he owns the Tokyo streets with his suave charisma and fighting skills. He falls in with Macy (Kelly Chan), who arrives in Tokyo chasing her groom Takahashi. Follwing her is interior designer Yung (Ekin Cheng), who's after Takashi to settle a debt. Soon their paths cross and becomes a chaos.

comedy is allright, action is over the top, and characters are silly to the max.Tony Leung showed off his skills by doing most of his stunt. Too bad i cant say the same about HoNam...Kelly Chan looked great as usual, and Cecilia Cheung was just cute.

This movie is enjoyable, but if you are looking for Godfather quality, watch Blow, or The Goodfellas

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A clever story, with great action
Review: The beginning to this movie is quite bizzare. You are introduced to the three main characters of the movie, and you are misled or make the wrong assumptions, about the relationship between these three characters. It is actually quite cunning. I'll let you find out for yourself.

The story is basicially a Chinese girl gets jilted by a Japanese boy. Girl travels to Japan and tries to find boy, with a bit of *unwanted* help along the way. It very quickly shows that there is more to the jilting than meets the eye, and that is not the only convolution in the story.

The story is comical, slightly dramatic and is full of novel action. The shooting of the action itself is not only spectacular, but I find quite artistic. Something I find strange is the music, which has a Latin flavour. I liked it, it was cute, but considering the story has absolutly nothing to do with that part of the world, it seemed a bit out of place.

Ther wasn't much I didn't like about the movie, except perhaps the introduction of several character which really were not needed for the story at all (but add to the eye candy, so I am not complaining too much).

The DVD has pretty much the standard DVD features, language options, subtitle, scene selection, but was a bit scant on the extra features.

The English voice acting on the DVD was done well. Although the story (obviously) remains the same, the translation and the context in the English audio version for most of the part is different to the English subtitles and the Cantonese audio option.

This movie will appeal to most people, it's cheeky, action packed and keeps you thinking.


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