I enjoyed this movie, but my problem with Tokyo Raiders is with the director and cinematographer of the film, Jingle Ma. Mr. Ma has worked as cinematographer movies like Fong Sai Yuk (1993), Last Hero in China (1993), Fire Dragon (1994), Viva Erotica (1996), and City of Glass (1998).

As you can see from this partial list of films, Mr. Ma has done some great work. He earned his chance to direct and did quite well with his 2 previous films, Hot War (1998), which I saw in the now closed Music Palace in New York City, and Fly Me to Polaris (1999). On these two projects, he had the good sense to hire a cinematographer. On Tokyo Raiders, he decided to handle both jobs. I found the cinematography very annoying at times. Some of the visuals were just out of place while others were beautifully done. This guy did shoot City of Glass, after all!

I liked the 'chemistry' between Ekin Cheng Yee-Kin and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai. They seemed to work well together. For once I didn't find myself thinking "Oh come on, Chan Ho-Nam is no kung fu master" while watching Ekin in something outside of Young & Dangerous films. Some of Mr. Leung's segments had a very 'Jackie Chan' quality to them, showing the influence of Mr. Ma's having worked on Rumble in the Bronx (1995) and First Strike (1996), especially the sequence on the car carrier. Tokyo Raiders also has some nice 'Chow Sing Chi' flavor mixed in, as well.

I thought the final jet-ski/speedboat chase sequence was a terrible way to end the film. It was just so believable. I did like the kooky, infectious soundtrack, though. Cha-cha-cha!

Copyright 2000 J. Crawford.