Charlie Young Movies
Glamorous actress Charlie Young (her name anglicized from Charlie Yeung, by which she is occasionally credited) checked in as one of Hong Kong's most bankable and iconic female stars during the 1990s and 2000s, which led to a string of leads in Asian productions; as such, she demonstrated great versatility, deftly handling both action-oriented material and more sensitive, often romantically tinged dramas with equal aplomb. Yeung received one of her earliest roles in 1994, when cast as a young girl in Wong Kar-wai's hypnotic martial arts epic Ashes of Time. Given Wong's reputation, it marked a prestigious beginning; Yeung re-teamed with the great director, and ascended to higher billing, with her supporting role as an ex-convict's emotionally troubled girlfriend in the 1995 Fallen Angels. A portrayal of a WWII-era lesbian in Jacob C.L. Cheung's 1997 Chi So evinced Yeung's courage and challenged those who dared to typecast her, but following a lead in the 1998 action comedy/crime thriller Task Force, Yeung temporarily withdrew from the spotlight, retiring from the screen for several years to pursue a career in image consulting along with her then-boyfriend.She stepped back in front of the camera in 2004, as the female lead of Jackie Chan in the action thriller New Police Story, then signed for additional leads in Seven Swords (2005), After This Our Exile (2006), and Bangkok Dangerous (2008). The latter, which enlisted her as the romantic lead of Nicolas Cage, represented Yeung's premier Hollywood bow. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Original Bangkok Dangerous directors Danny and Oxide Pang return to familiar territory with this remake of their own popular 1999 thriller about a ruthless hitman (Nicolas Cage) who travels to Bangkok in order to carry out four crucial jobs. During the course of his missions, the triggerman falls in love with a pretty local girl while also forming a friendly bond with his young errand boy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Charlie Young, (more)
Tsui Hark (The Blade) adapted his massive martial arts epic Seven Swords (AKA Qi Jian) from Liang yu-Sheng's ravenously popular novel Seven Swordsmen from Mount Tian. The story opens in the 1660s, following the implementation of China's (Manchu) Qing dynasty. To quell possible nationalist uprisings, the emperor issues a decree forbidding the use of martial arts, and guarantees decapitation for anyone who violates that order. A class of bounty hunters quickly formed to enforce the law and collect 600 pieces of silver for each violator; the most massive and domineering of the warriors is the bald, muscular Fire-Wind (Sun Honglei), a bellicose and volatile creature who lives in an elephantine tentlike dwelling on a hill. This walking terror selects Martial Village, a hamlet in northwestern China, as his next assignment. Meanwhile, in Martial, two young adults, Wu Yuanyin (Charlie Young) and her ex-beau, Han Zhibang) rescue an old executioner, Fu Qingzhu (Lau Kar-leung) who foresees the coming wrath and acknowledges the necessity of pulling in the mythical 'Warriors of Mt. Tian' to fight Fire-Wind and his cronies. The four warriors summoned by Fu include Chu Zhaonan (Donnie Yen), and Yang Yunchong (Leon Lai), who dramatically increase the tension and bloodshed when the former develops a crush on one of Fire-wind's hostages, Green Pearl (Kim So-yeon) and decides to kidnap her - sending Fire-wind through the roof. The critically-worshipped Hark reportedly cut two versions of this film (including a 2 1/2 hour cut and a 3-hour cut) and demonstrated incredible confidence in Qi Jian by planning it as the initial installment in a massive series of multimedia sequels, including a 74-part television series, an online video game, comics, and five additional films. The picture itself testifies to this, with the setup for a sophomore installment in its conclusion. Qi Jian, however, did lackluster box office when it opened in the Far East in July 2005, making the follow-ups less than certain. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donnie Yen, Leon Lai, (more)
- 2005
A former doctor believes he may have found a connection to the woman he loved and lost in this romantic melodrama. Ko (Andy Lau) is a young doctor married to Zi-qing (Charlene Choi), but while he has a beautiful and caring wife, Ko’s career is time consuming and he doesn’t get to spend as much time with his spouse as he’d like. After Ko breaks a dinner date with Zi-qing, she’s driving home when her car is struck by another driver; she dies shortly afterward. Shattered by the news, Ko leaves behind his career as a doctor and takes a job driving an ambulance. When Ko answers an emergency call at a car crash, he finds himself looking after Tse Yuen-sam (Charlie Young), a school teacher who recently received a heart transplant. Zi-qing donated her internal organs for transplant, and Ko senses that Yuen-sam now carries the heart of his late wife. Eager to know more about Yuen-sam, Ko finds her home and reads her diary, learning that her love life has not been happy – she was married to a dress designer who was having an affair with a model, and Yuen-sam confronted him with the news, he opted to divorce her and take up with Amber Xu. Having saved Yuen-sam’s life, he now takes it upon himself to help her find the kind of happiness he lost when Zi-qing died. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andy Lau, Charlie Young, (more)
