From Beijing with Love (1994)

I am amazed about the fairly high ratings this rather boring picture got. As far as James Bond spoofs go this one is forgettable. It suffers partly from being a JB parody - JB is in itself a parody - and more from an uneven script which can't decide if the main hero is a kind of Uber James Bond (with knives) OR kind of stumbling wannabee (Get Smart, Austin Powers).The suits remember more (bad taste) gangsters of the 70s than Secret Agent "dressed to kill"-code. For better spoofs from Hong Kong try "Magnificent Warriors" (Indy Jones "coveress").Rating 3.5/10

To Western eyes, Stephen Chow's comedies are uneven. "Kung Fu Hustle" is clearly a masterpiece, but why is "Shaolin Soccer" considered so funny? "From Beijing with Love" is an early Chow effort that does work for both East and West, perhaps because the Bond and Star Wars scenes and pretensions that he parodies are so immediately recognizable.Westerners love violent films with massive body counts, but have a strong and somewhat contradictory aversion to the gore that would ensue in real life, so like most Asian action films, this one would require some heavy editing for Western release. The juxtaposition of death and mutilation with absurd comedy is not Hollywood's style. From Beijing with Love is definitely not for children. But there are some good laughs here for adult Bond fans with strong stomachs, especially those who remember the lamentable Roger Moore effort, "The Man with the Golden Gun." Worth watching, and the soundtrack is surprisingly good too.

In the grand tradition of Get Smart, we have here a wonderfully wacky send-up of 007 action films. For the first roughly 2/3 of the movie, I was literally rolling out of my seat laughing with this film's ontarget, brilliant skewerings of spy film cliches. As much as I hate to say it, though, at the 2/3 point the film begins to lose its focus. It starts to concentrate too heavily on creating the Bond mood, and consequently ends up being far too serious. Up until that point, though, it was really something special. The only other qualm I have is that it is far, far too violent. You have fingers getting sliced off, a man getting glass shoved into his face, necks being slashed, etc. Heck, just as the movie is building its comedic potential, a minor character gets brutally stabbed in the head. Had this been done in an over-the-top manner, it could have been very funny, like the Black Knight scene in Holy Grail. But they instead opted for a hyper-realistic look, that, when introduced into a heavily comedic environment, presents an uncomfortable clash of styles and makes the often startling violence uniquely disturbing and grotesque. Still, if you can overlook its flaws, this is definitely a movie worth seeing.

When I first saw this film I didn't know what to make of it - is it a Chinese James Bond or is it a Chinese Austin Powers. Well its neither and both at the same time if you get the drift.Nevertheless it is totally insanely funny with its very silly plot and characters that had no credibility and I really enjoyed watching it. Fairly violent - but what else would you expect from a Hong Kong action film.