COLD WAR 2 reviewed; debuts on Blu-ray & DVD today

Well Go USA

Entertainment

presents

Cold War 2

Directed by: Lok Man Leung and Kim-Ching Luk

Starring: Aaron Kwok, Tony Leung Ka Fai, and Chow Yun-fat

Hong Kong/China, 2016, 110 minutes

Cold War 2, which continues the original film’s saga of intra-police rivalry, debuts toady, March 7th on Blu-ray™ and DVD from Well Go USA Entertainment. (It's been available on digital since February 7th.) This review is based on my watching the Blu-ray release.

The original Cold War (2012) also was directed by Leung and Luk. I also had Kwok and Leung starring as rivals in the Hong Kong police force. It was shown at the 14th New York Asian Film Festival in 2015 as one of several films starring Aaron Kwok, who was in attendance to receive that year's Star Asia Award.

M.B. Lee (Tony Leung Ka Fai, right center) is pissed at Sen Lau (Aaron Kwok, left center)

This second installment, which includes Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-fat as eminent legislator Oswald Kan, picks up after the events of the first film. Sean Lau (Kwok), a straight-arrow bureaucrat, has risen to the position of Commissioner of Police, besting M.B. Lee (Tony Leung Ka Fai), the former Deputy Commissioner of Operations.

Lee's son, Joe Lee (Eddie Peng of Call of Heroes), is a criminal in police custody. His buddies kidnap Lau's wife and demand his release in exchange for her life. This sets things in motion, including a behind-the-scenes conspiracy to control the Hong Kong Police Force.

Chow Yun-fat as legislator Oswald Kan

The film starts out at a funeral and numerous characters are identified by subtitles, in Chinese and English, as they appear on scree. This tends to get things off to a slow start. There are a few decent action scenes, but nothing all that spectacular.

Frankly, the best thing about the film was the opening credits which feature ice figures such as those seen in the Blu-ray image above. It's truly lovely to watch, and every bit as good as the best Bond film openings credit sequences.

Disc Specs:
-- Audio
   -- Cantonese DTS 5.1 HDMA
   -- Cantonese 2.0 Stereo
   -- Mandarin DTS 5.1 HDMA
   -- Mandarin 2.0 Stereo
-- Subtitles
   -- English
   -- Chinese
   -- Off
-- Bonus
   -- Behind the Scenes
      -- A Powerful Cast
      -- The Story
      -- The Three Powers
      -- VFX and Action
   -- Teaser
   -- Trailer
-- Previews
   -- Sky on Fire
   -- Operation Mekong
   --  Three

AsianCineFest Rating: 2.5 out of 4 stars. A decent-enough policier,  but not all that great.

COLD WAR 2 coming to Blu-ray & DVD on March 7th

Well Go USA

Entertainment

presents

Cold War 2

Directed by: Lok Man Leung and Kim-Ching Luk

Starring: Aaron Kwok, Tony Leung Ka Fai, and Chow Yun-fat

Hong Kong/China, 2016, 110 minutes

Cold War 2, the sequel to the 2012 Hong Kong box-office smash, continues the original film’s saga of intra-police rivalry. This second installment will debut on Blu-ray™ and DVD March 7th from Well Go USA Entertainment. (It's been available on digital since February 7th.)

Picking up some time after the events in the first movie, Sean Lau (Aaron Kwok, The Monkey King franchise) is now the Commissioner of Police. Things turn bad when his wife and daughter are kidnapped and he must seek help from a former rival (Tony Leung, The Taking of Tiger Mountain) to save their lives. Joining Kwok and Leung from the original cast are Charlie Young (Kung Fu Killer), Eddie Peng (Call of Heroes), Aarif Rahman (Young Bruce Lee), Ma Yili (Badge of Fury) and Alex Tsui (Merry-Go-Round). They are joined by new cast members, including legendary Hong Kong star Chow Yun-fat (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Janice Man (The Midnight After) and Tony Yang (Phantom of the Theatre), in the “superbly acted” (Edmund Lee, South China Morning Post) ensemble drama.

Synopsis:
A suspected criminal mastermind escapes from police custody, throwing the city into turmoil. With the police department now divided, rival police chiefs are forced to take their fight to the streets of Hong Kong—with deadly consequences.

Bonus Materials Include:
-- A Powerhouse Cast
-- The Story
-- The Three Powers
-- VFX and Action

ACF 007: Four Items Of Interest

Asian Film Festival Dallas

From Thursday, August 3rd thru Thursday August 10th, 2006, The 5th Annual Asian Film Festival of Dallas will be rocking that city with twenty-four feature films and many, many shorts. For info, click here.

Akira Kurosawa - Still Making News!

This September 6th will mark the eight anniversary of the great one's passing, but his name's still making news for better and possibly for worse.

The questionable news is that the Weinstein Company is planning to remake Seven Samurai, or perhaps I should say re-remake it, since it already has been remade as The Magnificent Seven. The Weinsteins are in talks with Ziyi Zhang to star first in a live-action version of Mulan then in Seven Samurai. No word on which role from the original she'll be playing, or how all this is going to work with a female lead. The script is being written by John Fusco, who scribed Hidalgo and the two Young Guns movies (!!). To put it kindly, the Weinsteins' mixed record with Asian films at Miramax does not bode well for this enterprise, which seems like a wacked idea to begin with. The thought of their doing this to one of Kurosawa's masterpieces, if not his ultimate masterpiece, fills me with trepidation. [Sources: Entertainment Weekly, June 30 - July 7, 2006; IMDbpro.com; comingsoon.net]

The positive news is that, according to the New York Times of April 13, 2006, a film school bearing his name has been established by Hisao Kurosawa, his son, and by Tatsuya Nakadai, who starred in such Kurosawa fare as High and Low and Ran. (Nakadai also had a bit part as a ronin in the street montage in Seven Samurai, as the spectacular Criterion DVD points out.) The first students of the two-year school - 30 hopeful actors and 80 production students - will start taking classes in September.

Chow Yun-Fat Turns Pirate!

Hollywood has not been very kind to this great Hong Kong actor. The Replacement Killers and The Corruptor were o.k. films. I can't comment directly on Anna and the King 'cause I haven't seen it, but don't recall anything that positive ever being written about it and it's box office was anything but boffo. As for Bulletproof Monk, well let's not bother.

However, Chow seems to be poised to come to the attention of the American film-going public to a degree far beyond what he achieved with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. He's filming Pirates of the Caribbean 3, in which he'll portray Captain Sao Feng. Given PotC 2's incredible appeal to movie goers (as opposed to critics), let's hope that the third time's an even bigger charmer, and that Chow will emerge with the stature, recognition, and film offers he deserves. Chow Yun-Fat, whose infectious grin makes me think of him as an Asian Cary Grant, is an incredibly talented and versatile actor. Check out his comic chops as Ko Chun in God of Gamblers, for instance. Here's hopin' he starts really gettin' his due from Tinseltown. [Sources: Entertainment Weekly, July 14, 2006: IMDbpro.com]

Jackie Chan "Shanghai" DVDs

Wanted to let you know of great deals on Jackie Chan's Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights. They're on sale for the incredible price of $5.99 each from from J& R at jr.com. Both films are worth having in your collection, so I suggest ordering them if you don't already have 'em, or getting them as a gift for a friend. But act fast, as these prices may not last long. If you're not familiar with J&R, let me just say that I've been shopping at the J&R stores east of City Hall Park in lower Manhattan for over 25 years and give it my highest recommendation.