Roy Szeto Movies
- 2002
Soi Cheang's horror film Hunbo Yitsin Chi Dai Tau Gwai Ying (Horror Hotline...Big Head Monster) stars Francis Ng as the producer of a radio program that involves people sharing ghost stories. Ben (Ng) airs a call about a mutant killer baby. Intrigued by the story, he teams up with a reporter (Josie Ho) to investigate. He finds a person involved in the story on the verge of death, while Ben's nurse girlfriend, Helen (Niki Chow), is treating a man who has been attacked by the monster. Helen has a secret she has been keeping from Ben. This secret may have something to do with the monster. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francis Ng, Josie Ho, (more)
When ultra-patriotic Chinese anti-terrorist operative Yan Dong (Zhao Wenzhuo, the martial artist/actor hailed by many as the next Jet Li) disobeys a direct order and continues with plans to stop a dangerous hijacking operation, he is promptly demoted. Despite his good intentions, Yan gets reassigned to the Chinese embassy in Lavernia (a fictional country said to have been part of the former Soviet Union) with his former partner Hong Weiguo (Ken Wong) to stop an outbreak of corruption and criminal activity by arresting and returning to China the troublemaking Keizo Mishima (Andrew Lin), the Japanese leader of the cult of the Red Sun. Mishima's group has dedicated themselves to promoting worldwide anarchy and, unbeknownst to Yan and Hung, have close ties with corrupt officials in Lavernia. Soon after Mishima's arrest, the villains retaliate by blowing up parts of the city. In the midst of the chaos, Yan reunites with his former lover Chen Pan (Shu Qi), who fled China following the Tienanmen Square massacre. When the terrorists kidnap Chen Pan, Yan becomes a veritable fighting machine in his efforts to save her. Filmed on location in Budapest, this Hong Kong actioner brims with well-choreographed and exciting fight scenes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zhao Wenzhuo, Shu Qi, (more)
Patrick Leung directed this bloody Hong Kong thriller about a nameless hitwoman (Jacqueline Wu) who, for reasons not entirely clear and never fully developed, has a lower than average body temperature. She is cold-blooded in other ways as well, assassinating her targets with steely detachment and having only two real acquaintances: the Cambodian woman who gives her killing assignments and money, and the street vendor Long Shek (Lau Ching-wan), at whose stand she habitually relaxes after successful hits with a bowl of noodles. Long Shek dubs her Pretty Ghost, and the two gradually become something like friends. Pretty Ghost ends up traveling to South Korea to assassinate a local gangland kingpin, a job she decides will be her last. Unfortunately, the dead man's bodyguard, Yichin (Han Sang-woo), is out for revenge and comes after Pretty Ghost, and she is quickly betrayed by her Cambodian boss. Violent as it may be, the film also spends a good deal of time exploring Pretty Ghost's character, and her slow change from icy killing machine to humanized woman is well handled by Wu and screenwriter Szeto Wai-cheuk. Shirley Wong and Cheung Sung-kei co-star. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lau Ching-Wan, Wu Chien-lien, (more)
- 1996
Hong Kong filmmaker Ching Siu-tung directed this lavish epic adventure set simultaneously in the present and in 1930s China, with the entire cast playing dual roles. International action star Jet Li plays Chow Si-kit, a bookish novelist whose writing is adversely affected by his problematic relationship with his wife Monica (Rosamund Kwan). Chow is best known for a series of books under the "King of Adventurers" banner in which his courageous alter-ego, an adventurer patterned on Indiana Jones from Raiders of the Lost Ark, uses his impressive martial-arts skills and prodigious cunning to fight the Japanese. Chow's personal life is threatening his deadline, however, so his assistants Shing (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Yvonne (Charlie Yeung) decide to help him out by setting up a story line, which is then played out for the viewer. Hero Chow (Li again) is asked to purloin a letter from the Japanese embassy by the Chinese government. Writer Chow is upset that the story's heroine, Cammy (Kwan again) reminds him of Monica, so he makes her a villain. Chow and Shing's 1930s alter-egos, meanwhile, are looking for a magical box (not unlike the Lost Ark of the Covenant in the film's model) which can be used to divine the future or -- if the necessary safeguards are not followed -- bring evil onto whoever opens it. The box is also being sought by the Japanese military and a group of criminals called the Salt Gang, whose leader (Ngai Sing) makes the mistake of opening it without taking steps to protect himself. Monica then takes over the writing and sends the characters to the magical scripture which can help them use the box's power to defeat their enemies. Another version of the film cuts all of the modern-day material and adds new 1930s footage to explain the abrupt shifts in story line caused by the intervention of the multiple authors. Law Kar-ying co-stars with Billy Chow. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
The third filmization of the Chinese version of Phantom of the Opera, this Hong Kong operatic melodrama is set in the fatastical burned-out husk of a once glorious opera house located near 1937 Beijing. The tale begins as a homeless theater troupe arrives there and listens to the caretaker describe the theater's demise. It happened a decade ago when the enemies of former famous actor Song Danping, who built the place, torched it for revenge after his affair with the already betrothed Yunyan was discovered. Unfortunately, Song was in the theater at the time and his body was never found. The troupe makes the theater their new home and as they rehearse, actress Wei Quing makes the acquaintance of a ghostly figure who turns out to be Song. He shares with her his plan for vengeance. Those plans involve a brilliant restaging of Romeo and Juliet designed to help him bring back his beloved Yunyan and restore the sanity she lost after he was murdered. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The third installment in the Hong Kong Swordsman trilogy is intended to recapture the success of the second film, including its gender-bending performance by Brigitte Lin. Lin reprises her role as Asia the Invincible, a swordsman whose use of a supernatural scroll caused him to turn into a woman. The scroll is once again the object of contention. Resurrected from the dead, she finds that everyone from Japanese ninjas to the Spanish navy are after the scroll. She is confronted by further gender complications when a woman named Snow Joey Wong, a former lover of Asia, assumes Asia's male identity. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Lin
