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Directed by: Sammo Hung Starring: Sammo Hung, Cherie Chung, Jackie Chan 1983's Wu fu xing is the humourous tale of five hapless crooks, all sent to the same prison where they become firm friends. Released on the same day, they shack up with their patsy Teapot’s (Sammo Hung) sister and decide to form their own cleaning business, soon uncovering a shady client’s counterfeiting operation with the help of a determined traffic cop (Jackie Chan). Winners and Sinners, also known as 5 Lucky Stars, was the first Hong Kong film I ever watched, subsequently kicking off a long investment in loving that country's action cinema. It is a fairly entertaining ensemble comedy that for most part feels like (and is) a bunch of humorous situations and fight scenes strung together with only a thin strand of plot connecting the whole movie. But despite this, the kung fu fights are fun and well directed, and while lowbrow and slapstick in nature (ten minutes is devoted to a gag where a guy walks around naked because his friends tricked him into thinking he's invisible), the comedy still serves up some gutbustingly hilarious scenes, or at least for me it did. And let's not forget the obvious highlight of the film: Jackie Chan’s pursuit of two suspects down a crowded freeway on rollerskates, a breathtaking sequence where he hangs onto speeding cars and even skates under a moving truck, culminating in a glorious thirty car plus pileup that rivals the ones in The Blues Brothers. But while admittedly this sequence has lost some of its impact for me several years on, for first time viewers it will probably be a marvel to watch. So if you are a fan of Sammo or Jackie and in the mood for a fun, non-involving action comedy, Winners and Sinners might be worth a look. 3.5/5 PROS: Good fights and laughs, the freeway chase. CONS: The plot is thin, the humour is pretty lowbrow. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086605/ mrkillboy fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Jun 24, 2004 |
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Jun 24, 2004 14:40
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