Dog Bite Dog

Sometimes a guy gets off a hard day's work and just wants to get home without running into every damn delay and distraction the world can throw at him. Such is the case in this film, with the guy being a Cambodian assassin raised in a feral child-fighting pit, his work the assassination of a judge's wife, and the delays and distractions are members of the Hong Kong PD. After working his way through a fair number of these obstacles, the hit man earns the ire of one distraction in particular, who then tracks him down for revenge.

Featuring gritty urban landscapes, a highly stylized knife-fight, and the sort of found-object fu that you would expect from a gladiator-turned-hired killer.

* * * R A T I N G * * *
Dog Bite Dog (IMDB)

Wince : [**___]
Flinch : [****_]
Retch : [**___]
Gape : [***__]

Beerequisite : [*____]
Pornability : [*____]
Obscurity : [**___]
Explicability : [****_]

What I would do different: Having the true bad guy appear at the closing scene would have been a nice touch.

Things you probably won't see anywhere else:
* A Datsun! A DATSUN!!!
* "You got your cop blood in my hit-man blood!" "You got your hit-man blood in my cop blood!"
* A 24-hour dentist

City of Violence

The Region 1 DVD of this came out over the weekend; in celebration, I re-watched it. The film definitely holds up to multiple viewings; the strength is in the choreography and the editing, rather than in any details of the plot. And it still earns that 5-flinch rating, even when you know what is coming.

The story itself is straightforward: big-city cop returns to his hometown for a friend's funeral, finds the circumstances of death suspicious, begins an investigation, ends up beating the hell out of a bunch of people. Fantastic action film for those who like tae-kwon-do, buddy cop films, sashimi knives, or 70s action movies.


* * * R A T I N G * * *
City of Violence (IMDB)

Wince : [*____]
Flinch : [*****]
Retch : [**___]
Gape : [***__]

Beerequisite : [*____]
Pornability : [*____]
Obscurity : [*____]
Explicability : [*****]

Scene I'd watch on endless loop: Fighting the gangs of kids. Definitely.

Natural City

Blade Runner welded to a buddy cop movie. Replicants, er cyborgs, have a 3-year lifespan. Even the pleasure models. Someone is activating the combat cyborgs, which the police seem woefully incompetent at containing. One of the cops is in love with an expiring pleasure model, and introduces some conflict when he starts looking for a black market hack to fix her.

Visually, this movie is quite appealing. Many ideas and details from the Ridley Scott film are used, and this film could easily be set in the same world (perhaps a few years later). As the encounters with the combat cyborgs get more frequent, the movie becomes more of a Korean action film, leading up to a typical big explosion at the end. Nowhere near as psychologically or philosophically interesting as Blade Runner, but an enjoyable sci-fi action film.

* * * R A T I N G * * *
Natural City (IMDB)

Wince : [*____]
Flinch : [***__]
Retch : [*____]
Gape : [**___]

Beerequisite : [**___]
Pornability : [*____]
Obscurity : [**___]
Explicability : [****_]

Reality Check: The police tactics when hunting the combat cyborgs are pretty awful.

The Specials

Inevitably to be compared to Mystery Men, though without the annoying performances of Stiller and Garofalo. The humor here is more subtle, less absurd; the dialog is not as quotable, but has more depth.

The film covers a day (specifically, a day off) in the life of a team of second-string super heroes. Being more a satire than a spoof, the film's characters often have useful powers, with their superhuman status being used to contrast with their human failings (pride, lust, greed, etc).

Pretty much a must-see for any comic book fans.

* * * R A T I N G * * *
The Specials (IMDB)

Wince : [***__]
Flinch : [*____]
Retch : [*____]
Gape : [**___]

Beerequisite : [***__]
Pornability : [*____]
Obscurity : [***__]
Explicability : [****_]