Gun n' Rose (1992)
Reviewed by: danton on 2002-03-13
Good to see Megastar releasing older titles on DVD (and they're even anamorphic!). However, I just wish they had spent some additional effort on redoing the subtitles. This release features some of the most atrocious subs I've seen in a while. For starters, they didn't even bother giving characters proper names, and simply used the actors' first names instead! Watching this disc reminded me how much HK films have improved in that regard over the last few years.

But what about the movie itself? Well, it's a star-studded triad action movie that offers both thrilling, well-choreographed action sequences and a script that feels as if it was written during a lunchbreak on the back of a napkin! It's cobbled together, with little or no structure and really serves only 2 purposes: Give the stars (and Andy Lau in particular) as many opportunities to look cool as possible, and provide some filler between the action. There is the semblance of a story (the usual triad revenge stuff), but none of that matters much, as long as you keep track on who's meant to be a good guy, and who's a bad guy. Kind of like watching WWF wrestling: cheer for the babyface, heartily boo Simon Yam doing his usual heel routine, throw logic and motivation out the window and just enjoy all those bodies flying through the air.

Director Clarence Ford gets lucky sometimes and this formula accidentally results in a truly enjoyable movie such as Naked Killer, but most of the time what he ends up with is a mixed bag -- fun action, watered down by poor scripts and over the top acting.

Marginal recommendation.