BEAST COPS (1998)

This movie has a drugged up Anthony Wong with a machete sticking out of his shoulder running around beating people up.  That's it.  Review's over.  Go watch the movie.

What?

You're still here?!  Damn it, I was wanting to go take a nap.  Alright, Anthony Wong (two years after his epic performance in EBOLA SYNDROME) is a crooked cop who's more gangster than cop.  He sleeps most of the day then parties, whores and gambles all night.  That is, until he's given a new boss...who moves in with him!  So now Anthony is having all kinds of trouble, especially when the main gang underlord who keeps the peace between the gangs has to go on the run, so now it's an all out turf war with Wong stuck dead in the middle.

As far as 90's HK action flicks go, BEAST COPS is one of my favorites, mostly due to Wong's balls out performance.  I don't know what it is about this guy, but you can't take your eyes off him!  Lightning quick pace, insane action scenes, gritty camerawork, BEAST COPS might look a little dated to younger viewers, but it's still a lot of fun.  Check it out!

LOOPER (2012)

2074.  The mafia can no longer go around killing people because of "Tagging techniques, whatnot." This makes it nearly impossible to dispose of a body, so instead they send the living victim back in time 30 years to a pre-specified location where a paid assassin a.k.a. "Looper" immediately shoots them.  Why they just don't "zap" the victim back in time to someplace deadly and horrible like the bottom of the ocean or the Earth's core or 10,000 feet in the air or a Will Smith movie marathon?  I have no idea.  Maybe it has something to do with the location of the machine.

Anyway, one day when the main character's future-self shows up in his "Loop" he fails to kill him(self).  This puts into motion all kinds of shenanigans including running around, shooting guns and yelling.  There's also a kid with psychic powers.  For a single watch LOOPER is mildly entertaining, but by the time it was over...I was definitely ready for it to be over.  Funky looking guns, distracting effects on Gordon-Levitt's face, lens flares, futuristic cars that don't look very futuristic, weak story, boring action scenes.

Based on the trailer, I was really excited about this movie, but I just couldn't get into it.  The movie I saw in my head (before I actually watched it) was way better than the one that showed up on my TV.

Notice how these guys are dressed like the guy on the wanted poster and the little action figure below? Kinda like in TIME BANDITS.

HIGH RISK (1981)

Early 80's actioner about four Americans who think that it would be wise idea to fly down to South America and rob a drug lord (James Coburn) of 5 million dollars cash.  That makes absolutely no sense, but whatever, I'll watch it.  Who knows? Maybe it'll be exciting...it's not.  HIGH RISK is about on par with an episode of "The A-Team", except that it's 94 minutes long and lacks the chemistry of Hannibal and crew.

Within the first 25 minutes, our four have arrived in Columbia and successfully stolen the money, but now comes the hard part: getting back to their plane.  Not only do they have the drug goons after them but they also have to fight the harsh environment and a trigger happy group of rebels lead by Anthony Quinn.

Bland action scenes, silly story, mild pace...my biggest question is how they hell did the filmmakers get such an impressive cast for what turned out to be a pretty mediocre story?  If you're into these type of films then you might like it, but it just wasn't my bag.

If you need me I'll be in my room watching COMMANDO.