Forbidden Arsenal
12/18/00
Review
Format: VCD
Stars:Cynthia Khan, Robin Shou, Too Shu Chun, Waise Lee, Gary Chau

Khan is cracking down on an arms dealer and hires mainlanders Shu Chun and Waise Lee to help her out.

A boring plot that has been used so many times. Forbidden Arsenal isn't bad, it's just mediocre, with 3 ok fights, along with 2 others, that don't really make you jump out of your seat. But the rest is either boring storyline or gun fights. The first one is ok, with Khan fighing Shu Chun on top of a moving truck. The camera goes way out onto a helicopter while it's happening and you can't see anything, and this thing only lasts for maybe 30 seconds. Standard fare of kickboxing.



Shu Chun takes on some guys in a brawl on the street which would be good if everyone had done well, but Shu Chun seems to be the only one who gets into it. He gets thrown around, doing his own stunts, has tables thrown at him, and does a low whirlwind kick that didn't impress me. Khan does something similar in a warehouse against Chau and another guy, boring.



Shu Chun fences, but claims it's Tai Chi Sword (I wouldn't know). Normally I wouldn't care much about it, but when he's backing away he casually steps on the wall and does a backflip off it! They put it in slow motion too.



Shu Chun and Chau fight and I wasn't expecting Chau to do anything, but it's actually not that bad at all. I never realized how big of a person Chau was, he dwarfs everyone in this film except Shou. Anyways, some kicking, good punches, maybe 13 hits total and Chau's double does a huge HK spin onto some stairs.



Notice that I haven't been caring much about the action in this movie. Well, there isn't a whole lot to care about. Everything is short and the same thing you'll find in almost any other kickboxing cop movie. The end is mostly shootout, but there is about a whole minute of Robin Shou kickboxing with Cynthia Khan and Shu Chun. Khan starts it off and it gets interesting because, well, if it has Shou in a fight with a talented other, it's bound to be good, and it is, despite one part where they edited it so that Khan gets knocked down and immediately they're standing up exchanging punches again. Ok whatever it doesn't matter. Shu Chun comes and they double up on Shou which is even better. I still think Shou is one of the best looking screen fighters. He's intimidating, like when he's running up on Khan with some set up punches, and his face has this "try me" look on it. Good finale, made the rest worth watching actually. Oh and someone does a really good frontflip off a table, but I don't know if it was Khan or a double. Chau's finale, which happens in the middle of this one, consists of Shu Chun swinging around a metal bar slowly, and then Chau gets stabbed.



Well, had it not been for the last fight with Shou, this movie would get a 1. Everything except the finale is unremarkable, and even that is worth missing if you don't have a big liking for how Shou moves. I know it seems silly to compare this with Tai Chi Master, but I'm giving it the same rating because I like kickboxing more than wirework, and this one doesn't have any wirework. In Tai Chi Master, the finale is a blend of wirework and tai chi and BS, while this is just kickboxing, with Shou hitting the van using one wire (ok I lied) which slings him across the screen. So,

2.5/5

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