Gwok chaan Ling Ling Chat (1994)'s comments

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nymets138

Watch it with English subtitles here: https://ok.ru/video/4094664247816

1 year 5 months ago

An early Stephen Chow comedy (in fact, the first he co-directed), From Beijing with Love starts with a card telling us any resemblance to James Bond is purely coincidental, then proceeds to spoof the Roger Moore era at every turn. There's a lot of Naked Gun-type silliness, and I think the humor works best when it's absurd or subtle, less so when it goes broad, but to me, its best feature is that it still works as a super-spy story. It's not just gags, there's a story, some fun action, and a cute romance between Chow and his would-be assassin played by Anita Yuen. The problem is tonal. While it's overtly a light parody, the level of violence is at times egregious and sadistic, something not unique to this film in the Hong Kong canon by any means. The bloodshed is mostly played for laughs and works on that level, but there's at least one instance where an innocent gets it in the worst way. Manage expectations, but From Beijing is still more coherent than Naked Gun, more effective than Moonraker, and way ahead of Johnny English in the realm of 007 parody. (Yes, I know what I did there.)

5 years 10 months ago