Sammo Hung's first film as a director in twenty years is THE BODYGUARD, aka MY BELOVED BODYGUARD, a Hong Kong/Chinese co-production that also features Hung in the leading role. It's definitely a mixed bag of a movie, a mixture of only semi-successful character and human drama with some crime genre tropes, cliches, and martial arts scenes. As with many films these days, the trailer is an example of false advertising, making this look like an action-packed movie wheras in reality it's quite slow and sedate, only kicking into gear in the last thirty minutes.
I love Hung as an actor but he gives a thoroughly subdued turn here; I found him more sympathetic (and his acting finer) in HEART OF THE DRAGON. Andy Lau gives an energetic performance in support and I was delighted to see various cameos from old Hung buddies like Yuens Wah and Biao as well as Tsui Hark and Karl Maka; it's just a pity they're all so brief. The film's story is quite predictable and has some slow spots, although the action scenes are fun and seem in part to have been inspired by the likes of WARRIOR KING and THE RAID 2. I could have done without the animated bone-breaking all the time, but generally the choreography works so there's little to complain about. A lot of us were hoping that THE BODYGUARD would be a new classic to rank alongside Hung's old hits, and it's disappointing that it's not. But you could do worse, and superficially it's not too bad.
I love Hung as an actor but he gives a thoroughly subdued turn here; I found him more sympathetic (and his acting finer) in HEART OF THE DRAGON. Andy Lau gives an energetic performance in support and I was delighted to see various cameos from old Hung buddies like Yuens Wah and Biao as well as Tsui Hark and Karl Maka; it's just a pity they're all so brief. The film's story is quite predictable and has some slow spots, although the action scenes are fun and seem in part to have been inspired by the likes of WARRIOR KING and THE RAID 2. I could have done without the animated bone-breaking all the time, but generally the choreography works so there's little to complain about. A lot of us were hoping that THE BODYGUARD would be a new classic to rank alongside Hung's old hits, and it's disappointing that it's not. But you could do worse, and superficially it's not too bad.