First of all, this H.K. movie is clearly aimed at a more international market. Nothing immediately wrong with that - in fact, I was excited when I saw Mark Dacascos in the cast. I've enjoyed his work in other movies in the past, since not only does he know his craft well, he has screen presence and even has some acting ability.
But perhaps because Dacascos is unfortunately still not that well known in North America, the producers also picked someone with more "name" value to pair up with him. While I can sort of understand this, they really made a bad choice with choosing Coolio(!) I guess I can't really blame Coolio, because in the past he has shown some screen ability. However, the screenplay and the direction make him EXTREMELY annoying, with his non-stop slang talking and insulting. What's even worse is that Coolio's character is given much more focus than Dacascos' character, right down to the climatic action sequence. To say that Dacascos is greatly wasted is putting it mildly.
The climatic action sequence IS entertaining, and so are the previous ones in the movie... what little there are. The remaining running time is talk, talk, talk, blah, blah, etc. Most of the focus is in fact on a plot so weak and so cliched that it gives dumb action movies a bad name. (I suspect this is the main reason why the movie has yet to receive an official release in North America, 3 years after it was made!) Stanley Tong really needs to return to his roots, to realize what made his past movies work.
But perhaps because Dacascos is unfortunately still not that well known in North America, the producers also picked someone with more "name" value to pair up with him. While I can sort of understand this, they really made a bad choice with choosing Coolio(!) I guess I can't really blame Coolio, because in the past he has shown some screen ability. However, the screenplay and the direction make him EXTREMELY annoying, with his non-stop slang talking and insulting. What's even worse is that Coolio's character is given much more focus than Dacascos' character, right down to the climatic action sequence. To say that Dacascos is greatly wasted is putting it mildly.
The climatic action sequence IS entertaining, and so are the previous ones in the movie... what little there are. The remaining running time is talk, talk, talk, blah, blah, etc. Most of the focus is in fact on a plot so weak and so cliched that it gives dumb action movies a bad name. (I suspect this is the main reason why the movie has yet to receive an official release in North America, 3 years after it was made!) Stanley Tong really needs to return to his roots, to realize what made his past movies work.