as a Ringo Lam fan/apologist I can't let any love for Full Contact go unrequited. Its so magnificently 80's-Cool, but wonderfully so, and its easily the bleakest version of Point Blank, more so then the original, and way more so then Mel Gibson's Payback.
Unfortunately, the legit R1 DVD release is only okay. The video quality is fine, but the subtitles are kinda shit.
I also love how Simon Yam pretty much plays the same exact villain, only the less overtly sadistic/homophobic version of him in Ringo Lam's years later film Finding Mr. Perfect, which in of itself is a breezy romantic comedy with action scenes (its Hong Kong, it just freaking works, okay).
oh, and The Three Musketeers (2011) is utter crap. Its projects a loosey-goosey fun kind of tone, but its hard to ignore just how many bodies those musketeers leave in their wake, at films end they've got a body count that even John Woo might find kinda excessive. Also, there's a fat comic relief character who's treated cruelly by the so-called protagonists for no other reason then somebody decided the heroes weren't appalling enough already.
Its also the rare film that feels over and under budgeted, as its awash in lavish costumes, huge awesome sets and a presumably expensive cast (Til Schwiger is billed tenth or so), but the special effects are mostly shitty. And the brazenly stupid plot and everything else certainly doesn't give the impression that this was all that well planned out.
So maybe its a kids film, but its far too violent for any kid to watch who won't also be put off by the asinine plot (the foppish king wants to prove that his wife isn't stepping out on him, hilarity doesn't ensue) and characters on which far too much time is spent. Its a disaster, but at least its sort of an interesting one. And its got airships, lots of em'. There's a airship battle that would pretty much perfectly represent a Skies of Arcadia movie, but that only lasts a few minutes, at least its something.
* 1/2 out of ****
