Fatal Move (2008)

Fatal Move: Directed by Dennis Law. With Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Simon Yam, Tien Niu, Danny Lee. In the mist of a violent gang war, a series of unfortunate events threatens the fate of a powerful triad leader and his empire.

“Sigh.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI have to admit that Simon Yam is my favourite actor in Hong Kong cinema. Iu0026#39;ll now also confess that Jacky Wu (or u0026quot;Wu Jingu0026quot; as heu0026#39;s known in Asia) is simply fantastic to watch; and then we have Sammo Hung who is a legend…u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWith this main cast and a violent, dramatic, martial arts setting then, one would naturally expect something great. Alas, this was not the case.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s difficult to say just went wrong with Fatal Move but the disjointed storytelling is definitely the main factor. Simon Yamu0026#39;s character starts out as having the potential to be compelling and Jacky Wu certainly looks to be the man with whom not to ***k (as his talent deserves), but things quickly fall apart as too many characters are chucked at us too quickly, for no real reason and after an hour or so of action scenes occasionally having been slotted in to keep our interest in an otherwise dull, difficult to follow film, I soon found myself scratching my head, wondering how the mess on screen before me escaped some serious script re-writes.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAside from men carrying out hits with ninja weapons in a ludicrous excuse for more M.A. choreography when a machine gun could have done all the work in half the time, thereu0026#39;s also some truly awful CGI blood and gore effects which made me wonder why the art of film is de-evolving (compare Lord of the Rings to Ghandi; Lone Wolf and Cub to this), and to make matters worse, the dramatic element which had been so sorely lacking throughout, only graces us right at the very end when Sammou0026#39;s wife, Soso, turns in a deft performance, too little, too late..u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNo Simon Yam lines to justify wasting his talent; no unarmed Jacky Wu.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFair enough, Sammo still surprises us with a cool scene to show heu0026#39;s still got the moves despite his age, but nothing could save this wreck once it had been green-lit without undergoing serious surgery at a local script doctoru0026#39;s.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s unfair to say that thereu0026#39;s no story, for as jumbled as it is, itu0026#39;s there, but the action just seemed to be tossed in for the sake of it for the most part, was unrewarding, and the total of this flick came up incredibly short given its concept, cast, budget and just about any other pro it had.”