by Brian Thibodeau » Mon Sep 13, 2004 6:11 pm
I have this one, too. I read the director as Lin Wan-zhang, but perhaps I'm wrong based on Albert's information. Here's my mini-review:
CITY OF DARKNESS (199?) D: Lin Wan-zhang. Chen Zi-cheung, Lee Luo, Zhuo Hsiao-hu, Ngai Sing, Billy Chow Bei-lei, Kim Maree Penn, Donnie Yen Ji-dan, Cheung Yi-teng.
Nutty little action-adventure is low on budget and even lower on brains, but offers up no less than eleven above-grade fight sequences and on those alone, I give it a modest recommendation. Three siblings are reunited by a villain (Ngai Sing) who needs pieces of a magical amulet they each possess to discover the location of buried treasure. And, uh, that’s about it, really, as a series of well-choreographed scraps quickly substitutes for plot. As such, it’s well worth watching, although the screenplay, production values and acting are beyond cheap. Top-billed Donnie Yen looks like he has far better things to do in every one of his scenes, but Kim Maree Penn makes the most of her sizable role as a lethal hitbitch brought in to kill everybody. 5.