Reviews

This is an uneven but entertaining wuxia pian film from the great director Chu Yuan ("Killer Clans," "The Magic Blade"). The title refers to the film's villain, a legendary and seemingly super-powered bandit/rapist who can swoop through the air and slay an entire group of swordsmen in less time than it takes to recount this movie's incredibly twisty plot. The so-called "Bat Without Wings," whose face is covered in makeup that would make Gene Simmons envious, was supposedly slain five years ago, but now a new killer has suddenly appeared claiming to be the infamous "Bat" himself.

A benevolent swordsman (played by Derek Yee Tung-sing) teams up with the father and the fiancé of a woman who was abducted and brutally slain by the "Bat" (Ku Feng). Together they track down the mysterious killer, but, as in most films of this type, they soon discover that things are far from how they initially appeared.

The movie has elements of melodrama, comedy, action, horror, mystery, and just about anything else you can think of. In fact, the movie's biggest problem is that there's so much plot to wade through and so many characters to keep track of (it seems like a new character is introduced almost every five minutes) that it's difficult to get emotionally involved in the proceedings because the players are mostly rendered in shorthand and come across as mere puppets to the convoluted plot mechanics. Yee is earnest in the lead, but there's not much substance to his character beyond his good will and his expert sword-fighting skills.

For those familiar with Chu Yuan's movies, there's little here storywise that feels particularly fresh or original, save for the outlandish title character and some gruesome horror elements (a headless woman), but the film moves at a fairly quick pace and there are some decent action sequences. As usual, Chu's direction is stylish and makes fine use of the colorful studio sets. Some story elements are a bit cheesy and suggest that this movie is not to be taken as seriously as some of Chu's more dramatically compelling ventures.

This is a well crafted mystery/suspense film based on Robert Thomas' play TRAP FOR A LONELY MAN. The cast is rock solid and the clever script will keep you guessing until the very end (unless you already know the final twist ahead of time).

Viewers who enjoyed this telemovie (or its inferior 1986 remake VANISHING ACT) should also track down the 1958 Michael Anderson movie CHASE A CROOKED SHADOW (starring Anne Baxter), which boasts a similar concept but with a slightly different premise (a woman is forcibly reunited with a man who claims to be her deceased brother, but only she seems to know that it's not really him).

This is director/martial arts star Frankie Chan's unofficial remake of the Kinji Fukasaku film SHOGUN'S SAMURAI (1978). Instead of Japanese samurai in a period setting, we get modern day Chinese gangsters battling each other for the position left vacant after the mysterious death of their head honcho.

There's lots of well-choreographed kungfu and gunplay in this frenetically-paced flick, and Frankie Chan himself makes for a decent hero. On the downside, spectacular fighting femme Yukari Oshima has a rather minor role, and the story turns a bit ludicrous at times. Still, this is a solid piece of action film-making and probably Chan's best film next to the rollicking THE OUTLAW BROTHERS.

Ughh. This is a really annoying "comedy" (and I use that term very generously) about three rich highschool girls and how they constantly bitch and complain about their idiot boyfriends and about not climaxing during sex -- until one of them finally finds true love with the only male character who's not a complete jackass (we know he's cool because he likes to express himself by rolling in mud). The filmmakers apparently rounded up a bunch of their Hollywood pals (Peter Bogdanovich, Ryan O'Neal, Mia Farrow and Yasmine Bleeth make perfunctory appearances), but not even the talents of a Steven Spielberg or David Fincher could've saved this movie's wretched script.

The film wears its hip attitude on its sleeve as it tries to be as edgy and darkly humorous as "Heathers" (which it so obviously wants to be) and as frank about teen sex as "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." Unfortunately, the writers forgot to put even one remotely interesting character in their film, instead populating it with a bunch of boring, rich snobs, whom the writers constantly make fun of for being vain, shallow and stupid. Talk about the kettle calling the pot black. Avoid like the plague.

This is one of the low points of Clint Eastwood's directorial career: A by-the-numbers action movie that is partly tongue-in-cheek, but only genuinely funny when Charlie Sheen tries to play the tough guy role and fails miserably. The utterly ridiculous plot is stock cop/buddy/action movie formula with Eastwood as the gruff take-no-prisoners veteran paired with a rookie (Sheen) who has a tragic past. The movie is way too long (2 hours) for such a predictable storyline and pads itself out with a ridiculous scene in which the villainess (played by Sonia Braga) tries to seduce the tied-up Eastwood. How lame is this movie? In one scene Sheen is shot repeatedly in the back and presumed dead, until he (predictably) comes out of a doorway minutes later, dazed and holding his jacket in his hand with his bullet proof vest exposed to show how they absorbed the bullets. Now, why on earth would he have removed his jacket? There's no reason at all, except for him to show the movie audience that he was wearing a bulletproof vest!

Probably in response to the then-success of such macho action heroes as Stallone and Schwarzenneger, Eastwood pumps up the violence and testosterone to ridiculous levels, none moreso than when Sheen takes on a bar full of rowdy customers and ends up demolishing the place in an unintentionally hilarious sequence that depicts his transformation from uptight rich kid to macho supercop. Eastwood does a reasonably amusing spoof of his Dirty Harry character, but the late Raul Julia is saddled with a one-dimensional villain that does him little justice.