Seoul Raiders (2005)

"Seoul Raiders" is a great sequel to the "Tokyo Raiders" movie. Why? Well because it has what you need in a Hong Kong movie; action, comedy, martial arts, and of course a good story.The story starts out in Hong Kong where Lam (played by Tony Leung) meets JJ (played by Shu Qi) during a robbery for some plates to make money. US government agent Owen (played by Richie Ren) is to take the plates into custody, but someone gets tricked. The trail leads to Seoul, Korea, and the chase is on. But who tricks who, and who can you trust?The action scenes in "Seoul Raiders" were nicely choreographed and with just enough comedy to make it great - and by that I mean it is not Jackie Chan action comedy (eventhough that is awesome, by the way). But "Seoul Raiders" manages to mix in comedy in the action, and it works out well enough. And the dialogue is full of funny remarks as well, which helps it along. However, it is sort of odd that there are very little use of guns in this movie. You would assume that Korean mobsters or criminals would be carrying and using guns. But no, it was all handled by hand and foot here, in displays of good martial arts. Don't expect the martial arts scenes to be in the scales of Jackie Chan or Donnie Yen, then you will just be disappointed. But still, the martial arts was great and nicely choreographed.However, the movie was carried by two of the bigger stars of Hong Kong cinema, that being Tony Leung and Shu Qi. It should be said that Richie Ren did a great job as well, but to know who he is, you must really be into Hong Kong cinema, as he is not as established outside Asia as Tony Leung and Shu Qi are. The Korean recruited cast also did great jobs with their roles."Seoul Raiders" is good entertainment both story-wise, action-wise and comedy-wise, as it merges all three genres quite well.

One thing I can say about this film is it's not entertaining except for watching the landscape around Seoul which is one of the cleanest city I've ever seen. Action is one of the worst I've seen, with characters I get to hate watching, and pretty bad music.Director just wasn't into putting in details that makes movie compelling. Movie is often a reflection of director's personality, and this guy either is a very boring guy, or wasn't into it when he made this.Owen character was pretty annoying to me. Yeah I would want to punch him in the face. That bad. With the main antagonist being of this caliber, there's no hope of movie getting off the ground.Rating this movie is a no win situation. The plot is totally boring which was seen many times before on other movies of counterfeit money plate being the plot ploy to keep the story going. I watched this movie till the end because I wanted to see more of Seoul's city scape.

Yeah, the comment above is very well worded and deep. This movie, while contains some fun dialogue, is certainly not deep. Perhaps in the English or Japanese version things come across differently but I watched it in Chinese, and Seoul Raiders is a run of the mill Hong Kong style action/comedy. That is not to say it was not enjoyable! Leung is superbly funny, and all of the gags that are pulled are hilarious. It definitely has a Stephen Chow feel. Also, i'm not sure if they translate well into English, but the jokes are nuanced and witty. I'd highly recommend this movie for a fun, up beat evening. But if you are looking for a dark character study, this is not the place to start.

"Tokyo Raiders", made in 2000, was a fun, lightweight action film that didn't exactly cry out for a sequel. But after five whole years one was made anyway, and it is another fun, lightweight action film that manages to equal, if not top, its predecessor. There are some creative fight / chase scenes (in the subway, on the wings of a bi-plane, etc.), and most of them have a comic element as well. It's always nice to see a Hong Kong film with real martial arts and limited wire-work and CGI, though the editing can be confusing at times. Tony Leung is a cool and suave lead, like an Asian version of James Bond. Shu Qi is charming, if perhaps underused action-wise. And Richie Ren does a good job of replacing Ekin Cheng (not in the same role) from the first film. Overall, "Seoul Raiders" is a film that doesn't pretend to be anything more than it is - pure entertainment - and I enjoyed it on that level both times I saw it. (**1/2)