i agree with a lot of the previous reviews for this film although there are a number of points that i find myself forced to disagree with. but first off this is a fantastic visual film with primary colours leaping off the screen with a few nice touches of black and white in the background to add contrast.
the acting is, well it depends on how you look at acting. all of the actors played their parts well although they were all cartoon cutout characters. special mention must be made of the oh so evil hitman with his pencil thin mustache (which had a distressing tendency to not always be in quite the same place) and the leading lady who was rarely stretched from the demands of looking lovely whilst looking into the middle distance with a slight frown on her face. she does however, deserve some credit for always being able to find her co-actors as in seemingly every close up she tended to disappear in a fog the likes of which has rarely been seen outside of an episode of the original 'Star Trek' (you can almost hear the director imploring his cinematographer to 'add more vaseline to the lens!').
but where the film fails for me is that it wishes to both have its cake and eat it. it is very happy and indeed very good at playing fast and loose with many different styles of cinema (sergio leone western with rocket launchers?!??! or a plot that is strictly 50's US b-movie fodder with sam peckinpah gouts of blood and copious slow-mo's) but it wishes to be both funny and touching and sad at the same time. this was a film that was crying out for an ending that was in keeping with the rest of the film but instead we got a (very) bad copy of 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon'. now CTHD has been mentioned in an earlier review here and while i can (just) see that you can link the two, if nothing else it has opened up more main-stream audiences to subtitles, to compare them is really very, very pointless. this is a good joking film that never takes itself seriously except at the worst time, the end. CTHD was simply excellent.
but if you want some pure entertainment then this film really does deliver. if you are a movie snob like me, then sure you can look down on it. but there would be little point in that as you would only be missing the point of the sheer silliness and entertainment that this film delivers (i really did love the bit with the teeth though!)
the acting is, well it depends on how you look at acting. all of the actors played their parts well although they were all cartoon cutout characters. special mention must be made of the oh so evil hitman with his pencil thin mustache (which had a distressing tendency to not always be in quite the same place) and the leading lady who was rarely stretched from the demands of looking lovely whilst looking into the middle distance with a slight frown on her face. she does however, deserve some credit for always being able to find her co-actors as in seemingly every close up she tended to disappear in a fog the likes of which has rarely been seen outside of an episode of the original 'Star Trek' (you can almost hear the director imploring his cinematographer to 'add more vaseline to the lens!').
but where the film fails for me is that it wishes to both have its cake and eat it. it is very happy and indeed very good at playing fast and loose with many different styles of cinema (sergio leone western with rocket launchers?!??! or a plot that is strictly 50's US b-movie fodder with sam peckinpah gouts of blood and copious slow-mo's) but it wishes to be both funny and touching and sad at the same time. this was a film that was crying out for an ending that was in keeping with the rest of the film but instead we got a (very) bad copy of 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon'. now CTHD has been mentioned in an earlier review here and while i can (just) see that you can link the two, if nothing else it has opened up more main-stream audiences to subtitles, to compare them is really very, very pointless. this is a good joking film that never takes itself seriously except at the worst time, the end. CTHD was simply excellent.
but if you want some pure entertainment then this film really does deliver. if you are a movie snob like me, then sure you can look down on it. but there would be little point in that as you would only be missing the point of the sheer silliness and entertainment that this film delivers (i really did love the bit with the teeth though!)