Gorgeous
Directed by Vincent Kuk (1999)
Starring - Jackie Chan, Hsu Chi, Emil Chau, Tony Leung Chiu Wah, Ken Lo, Brad Allen.
Above pic courtesy of Juan Fei Hung.
The words "thank god" spring to mind. At last Chan returns to making a real Hong Kong film, set in HK, with HK actors and Cantonese dialogue. In my opinion, his films of late have been real disapointments, not so much regarding the action, but the whole vehicles themselves. One major qualm would be the choice of co-stars (Chris Tucker being an obvious exception.) Who Am I? was a step in the right direction in terms of cinematic quality, but still didn't really do anything for me. I was very pleased when I heard of this 1999 Lunar New Year production - even more so at the cast.
Bu (Hsu Chi), a young a girl living in a small fishing village in Taiwan, one day discovers a message in a bottle from a man in Hong Kong called Albert. She decides to make the mission to Hong kong in search of love, but when she arrives and eventually locates Albert (Tony Leung Chiu Wah), but he turns out to be gay. After a shaky start, he allows her to crash at his place for a while. During her stay, she meets and aides a local playboy, CN Chan (Jackie). Bu persuades Albert to help her woo CN, which leads to an amusing fight with Albert's camp friends who are pretending to be heavies (one of them being Sam Lee) and then goes on to a more serious fight with a couple of real hoods and Jackie Chan showing us how you fight with 4 baseball bats. Also part of the picure is Mr. Lo (Emil Chau), an old business rival of CN's, who is after him for pulling some sly moves on the stock market, meaning his company's share value plummets. As CN attempts to win the heart of this girl he cares for and avoid conflict with Lo, all types of mayhem occurs when Bu's fiancee arrives from Taiwan in search of his woman, and a top fighter (Brad Allen) is flown in to teach Chan a lesson.
This was billed as a RAC (Romantic Action Comedy) and it was pulled off really nicely, with perfect doses of all. Vincent "the true god of cookery" Kuk has a pleasing directing style and he seemed to get the best out of his cast. Tony Leung shone throughout and if he had had more scenes, he would have walked away with the film. Hsu Chi was her usual, delicious, cutesy self (hey I'm male, I'm biased - sorry girls, but she has talent), but Jackie seemed a bit wooden, like he wasn't putting his all into it. He certainly put his all into the action, each scene just blew me away. The first fight scene was set on a boat and was vs. Ken Lo and a few others. This served as a little warm up. The second fight blew me away in terms of choreography. We've all seen him fight with various props, etc., so you'd think you've seen it all, but the man just has so many ideas. Just look at what he does with those bats and you'll see what I mean. The last 2 fights were one-on-one's vs. Australian Stuntman Brad Allen. For the first time in years, Jackie goes all out kickbox style, without the use of any props whatsoever and it really is refreshing. He incorporates wires into the choreography with an awesome effect of Matrix proportions. The last fight is the better of their 2, but both boys really bust some moves.
The love story was well handled and there was some chemistry between the two leads, but not in a strong sense. Don't expect a real tear-jerker like City of Glass or C'est la Vie Mon Cheri, it's just a pleasant, straight forward love story. The background cast provided most of the laughs, with Emil Chau, a welcome addition to the cast, playing as near to a bad guy as you're going to get in Gorgeous. Throw in a bald Ken Lo and some eye opening cameos (Sam Lee, Chiau Sing Chi) and you have the perfect recipie for a sound Jackie Chan Lunar New Year release - Kung hei fat choi - 8.5/10