Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by jbmcb (A) on May 07, 2005 at 21:36:29

Now *that's* how to do an action/comedy. Jackie Chan's shlock seems like bad Mel Brooks compared to this movie.

I won't get into the plot. It's not that complicated, but there are a lot of characters to keep track of. It all boils down to a few by the middle of the movie, and it really takes off.

The fight scenes are insane. Most are rip-offs of other movies, but the movie acknolweges this fact, paying homage to the Matrix (of course) The Untouchables (it *is* a gangster film, after all) a bit of West Side Story (dancing gangsters!) even cartoons (people run inhumanly fast with blurred legs like the Road Runner)

Overall it's really fun to watch. Funny in most bits, some drama, suspense, a dash of sappy love story, there's something for everyone to like. And if you don't like a particular scene that much, the plot zips along so fast you won't have to watch it for long.

I went to see it with a bunch of friends, one of whom doesn't like movies, in general, at all. He was laughing through the whole movie, and couldn't stop laughing at a great scene where a grizlled old landlady kisses her husband, still holding her cigarette in her mouth (you *never* see her without one). It's little touches like that (lots of them) that make this such fun.1

Score: 85/100 (absolute scale)

/*Music is subjective. Sound is not.*/