Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Why only in Mandarin?, June 13, 2007
In most ways this Image edition of "Madam City Hunter" is an improvement over the one previously available from Tai Seng. The widescreen image is anamorphically enhanced and sharp. Also, the English subtitles on this edition are much more accurate and easier to read than the previous version's burnt-in chinese-english subs.
BUT, on the negative side, this new Image version is dubbed into Mandarin Chinese whereas the Tai-Seng version was in the original Cantonese. This isn't a HUGE problem because most of the film consists of insane action visuals, but it is really annoying during scenes with dialog because the re-dubbing of Mandarin over Cantonese doesn't fit the actor's lip movements any better than English dubbing would have.
Would it have killed them to find a version in the original language?
Other than that, this nutty film is a treat for HK action fans and the picture is a great improvement over the previous Tai-Seng edition. Just keep in mind that this is a VERY bare-bones edition.
|
|
|
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of Cynthia Khan's best, March 28, 2008
The story in this movie is kind of weird. It's like they are making it up as they go along, but it's surprisingly enjoyable a lot of the time. Cynthia Khan plays a cop and Anthony Wong plays a P.I., and they team up to stop a group of killers. Anthony Wong's character has a girlfriend, and she is hilarious. The main villain in this movie is the guy who played the hero in South Shaolin Master, and he had a big part in Once Upon a Time in China as the main Chinese villain. It was nice to see him in action again since he doesn't really do any fighting in Once Upon a Time in China. His fighting skills are very very good, and he has a great face for a villain. I wish he would have been in more movies.
The best fight is at the start, and it's pretty awesome. Fast choreography and some cool moves. The camera angles and editing are superb. The action is done by the Yuen Clan, so that's no surprise. There's barely any fighting until the finale comes, and it's a good long final fight. Other than the first fight and the final fight, the only other one to talk about is Anthony Wong's scene. He has a showdown with one of the killers, and performs the fight scene very well. There's a lot of stunt doubling for acrobatic type kicks, but it looks like pretty much all of the weapon stuff is done by Wong, and it's a really good fight scene.
The movie isn't that great or anything, and I should only give it a 3 star rating, but did I mention that Kara Hui is in this movie? And did I mention that she does a striptease and wears a wet t-shirt and also a maid costume? That's what bumps this up to a 4 star rating.
3.5/5
The film print is remarkably cleaned up and the picture quality looks great. If you have any of the Asian action movies that Image has released in the last year or so, then you have probably seen the trailers. The picture quality for Madam City Hunter looked horrible, so I was surprised at how clean they got the print. Bravo Image.
Now to the negative. Image NEVER includes the Cantonese language track, only the Mandarin. Cantonese is the original language on every non-Shaw Brothers Image release I have seen, so this is a pretty big problem. I guess you can just try not to look at how out of sync the actors lips are. It bugged me quite a bit when I first noticed that it was the wrong language, but after awhile I forgot about it.
|
|
|
3.0 out of 5 stars
QUITE GOOD, May 2, 2009
Not bad for its type.
Glorious print from Image in 16.9 Widescreen.
If you like Cynthia Khan,its a must have.
Recommended
|
|
|
|
DVD ~ Kara Hui
DVD ~ Yukari Oshima
DVD ~ Sword Masters: Journey of the Doomed
DVD ~ Cynthia Khan
DVD ~ Sword Masters: Heroic Ones
