A corrupt businessman commits a murder and the only witness is the girlfriend of another businessman with close connections to the Chinese government, so a bodyguard from Beijing is dispatched to help two Hong Kong cops protect the witness. Complications arise when the bodyguard and the witness must confront their deep feelings for one another. A pretty good movie all together, with only two real problems-1) The annoying, whiny girl. This seems to be a problem with a great many of the Hong Kong movies that I've seen. Jackie Chan had a series of brainless, whining, silly girlfriends, women who made you wish for an overpass to shove them off of. And several chow yun fat movies that i've seen also contained truly lame girlfriends who just made you grind your teeth. Why is this? Is that what's considered attractive over in China? The girl in the Bodyguard goes from whining constantly about Li's attempts to save her life to turning horribly kittenish(and still useless) after he shoots up a mall killing over a dozen assassins, making her see his value. The same could not be said of her, as she has no value. The second problem was the ending. Not that I wanted Li's character to end up with bubblehead-far from it. It made me particularly happy to see that he didn't. What i don't understand is the long shot of him standing in his uniform in front of the Chinese flag while music plays soulfully. What kind of ending is that? Was this movie bankrolled by the Chinese government as a propaganda film? I kept expecting Li to thrust out a forefinger at the audience and say "Uncle Mao wants you!" Otherwise, this was a fairly good film, with some excellent fight scenes and a truly interesting bad guy. Worth a watch or two. BODYGUARD FROM BEIJING is, surprise, surprise, a Chinese remake of the Kevin Costner-starring Hollywood hit THE BODYGUARD. I had the misfortune to watch the Americanised version of this, entitled THE DEFENDER, which substitutes the original dialogue with some really bad dubbing, but nevertheless I enjoyed the film as an efficient action thriller of the kind popular during the 1990s in Hong Kong. This one mixes the kind of gunplay familiar from John Woo and Chow Yun-Fat movies with more traditional martial arts mayhem courtesy of Jet Li. The plot is lightweight and slim and the romantic scenes are more annoying than touching, but nevertheless this is a film that delivers in the action stakes, providing solid, reliable fare.<br/><br/>Director Corey Yuen is a dab hand at crafting beautiful action sequences and the choreography is top-notch here as usual. There's a massive shoot-out in a shopping mall at around the halfway mark which doesn't disappoint and an excellent climax using all kinds of props in a gas-filled house that does well to avoid the usual clichés. Some dodgy looking wirework pops up here and there but doesn't spoil the otherwise engaging action. I also liked the hard edge in the fights; Li disposes of his enemies in a violent way and yet that violence is never gratuitous or dwelt upon too much.<br/><br/>In the titular role, Li is as fine as ever, still looking as young as he did in THE MASTER and playing the kind of ruthless, incorruptible figure that crops up time and again in his career. He's a tour de force in the fight scenes and good in the acting stakes too. Unfortunately, Christy Chung is intensely irritating as his ungrateful charge, but support from the likes of Kent Cheng (CRIME STORY) and Collin Chou (FLASH POINT) help to soften her presence and to be fair she does get less annoying as the film progresses. I wouldn't call BODYGUARD FROM BEIJING a masterpiece, but it is a dependable thriller that ably does what it sets out to do: entertain.
Elecephem replied
344 weeks ago