That, however, was only true for the first half when he was playing the ruthless overlord. Once the story switched gears, most of that edge was lost as he started to smile. And after what his character's been through, there wasn't any hint of forlornness in his nonchalance. This could be due to the director not having the foresight to have seen the progression played out in the movie's entirety, or it could be the story's fault for jumping too fast. And because of that, the character's sadness seemed too shortlived.
But the overall action was good as director Benny Chan has never disappoint yet in that department. Even though there weren't any flashy choreography, the action scenes were still satisfactorily exciting.
Jackie Chan was credited for a special appearance but he had so much screen time that a "special appearance" was an understatement. (C'mon, he even has a character poster of his own.) It was good to see Chan doing what he does best - slapstick action, but that only lasted for about two seconds. After that, it looked more like a half-baked afterthought to put that whole segment in. It almost got uncomfortable to watch.
I still don't see the appeal of Nicholas Tse as an actor. He's just OK at best as an actor and especially with the bad guy role, he still looked the same as whatever he's done before. Somehow though he's getting more and more movies.
There were a lot of illogical scenes, like the one where the Shaolins never bothered to clean their their school's name plaque after Lau wrote on it, just so that they could have another cheesy scene with it. Actually, the movie finished with a big chunk of cheese which I couldn't care for at all but then again I should have totally expected to see something like that.
Nevertheless, the movie required Lau to carry this movie entirely and he did. It was quite refreshing for me to watch.
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