Weird tangential HK film review conclusions

[Mike Thomason]

One of the more interesting things, as a long-time fan of HK cinema, that I've seen over the years is the odd way in which some (predominantly western -- as I pretty much only read English language reviews) reviewers will take to task a film over the most obscure of things. Like this whole silly internet-led "took me right out of the movie" idiom, HK reviews seem to have peculiarities all of their own -- be it how an actor looked, their hairstyle, a previous film they'd been in ad infinitum.

So what are some of the bizarre things you've seen a film "marked down" over in online reviews? Leave the guilty parties anonymous, but I'd like to know if anyone else shares my curiosity over the bizarre anomalies of western-led HK film reviews?

Three of my faves in recent years were:

1. Karena Lam has fat legs and shouldn't wear short skirts (cited as a distraction point to where the reviewer couldn't remain focussed on the film) (KOMA)
2. Angelica Lee sports a dreadful hairstyle and her stylist should have been shot (once again, cited as a major distraction) (KOMA)
3. Deltamac (HK DVD distributor) have a tacky logo and need to update it pronto -- it detracts from an otherwise excellent presentation (online review of Tsui Hark's SEVEN SWORDS; this was somehow major and affected the film under review?)

I'll think of more (and am waiting for Brian's fave about Nic Tse) but would like to hear from everyone else.

Cheers,
Michael

[Brian Thibodeau]

Boy, this could be a fun topic. Nothing comes to mind at the moment, but I know things have in the past, so when I remember them, I'll certainly bring them up.

I've generally found little in the way of internet reviews that really appeal to me, though I do read them for films I've recently seen as there's few books I can turn to anymore. I get so tired of slogging through plot synopses that run on for, like, ten paragraphs, then are punctuated with maybe one paragraph of actual commentary about the film. One of the more recent books on Asian cinema, Videohound's Asian Dragon, is plagued with this kind of lengthy synopsizing with thin critical commentary, although as a whole, it's imminently preferred to some of the earlier resources out there.

But then, I'm prone to brevity in my own reviews (some of which can be seen in the DB), which can have the effect of not providing enough information to interested parties, I suppose.

Like you Mike, I'm always leery of people who get "taken right out of the picture" due to a bad performance or, worse, a bad hairstyle. I can understand the feeling if a screenplay writer or a director make an unwise choice that affects continuity or forces them into corners they can't logically excape, but I've yet to see an actor look bad enough to literally take me out of the picture.