the leading man is my tpye

Wonderful character development!

From my favorite movies..

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

I watched the Mad Missions in order 1, 2, 3 (4 will be next). The first confused me so much that I stopped the viewing and restarted the next day. The second stunned me so much that I re-watched it the same evening. And now this one..It is different, with another director, and a much higher budget, it appears. It is still silly, but seems to have grown up and dropped most of the boys' toys the first two featured.But I also noticed how with experience one sees a film differently. Had I watched it without context, I might have thought, "that hairy-beardy police chief is very unconvincing". But what I thought was, "Hey, there's Tsui Hark again, the FBI loonie from #2". And soon to find out he's also the director of this piece. With experience, one starts to feel as part of the family of Sam Hul, Carl Maka, Sylvia Chang (why, I even was at their wedding) ...Again there were cute details that made me laugh out loud. Consider a high security access system that plays Tic-Tac-Toe (and can be cheated with extra hardware). There's a glimpse of that old boy's humor again.The German CinePlus DVD has the English soundtrack for which I'm very grateful (the German dub added excess silliness). And, if you care to spend another half-hour, a very rich set of cut scenes (some adding new content to the plot, some just out-takes). Silent (just with the title music), but ample proof how much hard work goes into making such a film - innumerable retries of the fight at the Seine, or just the scene in Bond Street which starts at street level and then pans up to a window.I must say I have now acquired the Zuijia Paidang taste, and look forward for #4 now :)

The third entry in the "Mad Mission" / "Aces Go Places" series sets its sights on being a James Bond - flavored spy comedy, by including a British secret agent that looks like an 80's version of Sean Connery ("I think you know the number"), an Oddjob-like henchman complete with killer hat, and a Jaws-like henchman (minus the steel teeth) played by Richard Kiel himself! There are also international locations (Paris), submarines, daring heists, wild chases, multiple gadgets....and there, I think, lies the problem with this film: it relies too much on the gadgets and the gimmicks and not enough on the characters. Along with those people I mentioned above, Peter Graves from the "Mission: Impossible" series also appears, but all these names ultimately add little to the film beyond....well, name value. Much like in the second part of the series, a lot of things happen here not because they make sense or hang together, but because the people who made the film thought they would look cool (the chase scene with the "Mad Max 2" outcasts, for example). The second film somehow worked; this one falls curiously flat. (**)PS: The actress who plays the bad-girl-turned-good is g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s.

Our Man From Bond Street, the third in the Mad Mission series, sees Tsui Hark taking over directorial duties from Eric Tsang, but fans of the films needn't worry, 'cos pretty much everything else stays the same: Sam Hui, Karl Maka and Sylvia Chang all return for more daft comedy/action and spy-spoofery; there are tons of crazy stunts and silly gadgets; and the whole effort has a chaotic, shambolic feel to it that makes one suspect that they made everything up as they went along.Part 3 sees Sam Hui's affable thief duped (by a faux British secret agent, his beautiful partner and a Queen Elizabeth II lookalike) into stealing the Crown Jewels. When he is made aware of his mistake, he is convinced by a real British agent (played by Peter Graves, star of 60s TV series Mission Impossible) to team up with his Hong Kong police buddies and get the valuables back.As much as I like daft films with shonky effects (there are dodgy models, bad mattes and visible wires from start to finish), I do find the Mad Mission movies leaving me distinctly unimpressed thus far. There's only so much awful slapstick comedy that I can take (and that theme tune is also starting to grate).However, with totally whacked-out action featuring such jaw-dropping sights as a gang of jet-pack wearing Santas staging a heist, a huge shark-shaped submarine (complete with teeth!), and a crazy fight atop an Eiffel tower elevator (between Sam Hui, and genuine Bond villains Richard 'Jaws' Kiel and Harold 'Oddjob' Sakata), those who have enjoyed the previous installments will no doubt also find this one enjoyable.

and i'm not just speaking about technical surroundings like cinematography or editing. It is a more ambitious movie that tries to be as silly and enjoyable as his predecessors. It's especially a credit to Tsui Hark for his fast pace because there'll happen so many things in so little time that it makes you sweat, here's a way more rich story and better portrayal of its characters, simply the best even though Hark reportedly lost any creative freedom over this film, but still managed to make it much more hilarious and balanced movie than any other in this fun series.It's especially a credit to Tsui Hark for his fast pace because there'll happen so many things in so little time that it makes you sweat, here's a way more rich story and better portrayal of its characters, simply the best even though Hark reportedly lost any creative freedom over this film, but still managed to make it much more hilarious and balanced movie than any other in the fun series.