Rating: ****
Release Date: 7/10/98
Director: Richard Donner
Fight Choreography: Corey Yuen Kwai
Cast: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Chris Rock,
Jet Li, cameos by Eddy Ko, Conan Lee, Jeff Imada, and a handful of other familiar HK faces
A pleasant surprise. This is a full blown hardcore "action for action's sake" film, strung together with some humorous, but quickly tiresome, sitcom banter. Big budget, and it shows. The action pieces are gorgeous and top notch. The incidental plot is about Hong Kong triads smuggling Asian slaves into America, and our heroes get messed up in it and because of it. Chris Rock not nearly as annoying as he could have been - I actually kind of liked him (gasp!). Not surprisingly, Jet Li owned every scene that he was in and his charisma burned up the screen. Very strange to see him in a villainous role, but he was great. Sloppy editing obscured a lot of the fighting action, but you could tell that some really cool stuff was going on, thanks to Jet Li and HK action master Corey Yuen. Exciting and a lot of fun, with the obligatory humorous and touching scenes to keep the chicks happy (I can't believe I just wrote that).