Naked Soldier (2011)

[ShaOW!linDude]

Yeah, I'm down for this, especially after watching those 2 clips. They give a great mid-80's to early 90's feel to the choreography. I'm already starting to jones for this. When I saw Sammo wielding that mop, I was wishing he had a pair of tennis rackets handy.

[Lionclaw]

Ive seen Naked Weapon a long time ago and didn't think much of it but these clips look really good. I don't like the title though

[blue_skies]

This movie looks pretty good, I see there going back to the 90's style of fighting when the 2 Women are fighting above the knives.

I never seen NAKED KILLER (1992) and Maggie Q in NAKED WEAPON (2002),

how are there?

I'm not sure if I have seen Naked Killer but the sequel Naked Killer 2 was pretty woeful. It's been a number of years since I saw Naked Weapon but back then I really enjoyed the movie, finding it a good action film as a whole, but from a martial arts point of view it wasn't great. HKL had a nice dvd package of NW!

[One Armed Boxer]

I'm actually holding off watcing those clips that are receiving all the praise...I miss the days of sticking a movie in my DVD player with next to no knowledge about it, so hopefully this will turn out to be a nice surprise.

I'm not sure if I have seen Naked Killer but the sequel Naked Killer 2 was pretty woeful.

Actually there is no 'Naked Killer 2', it was just the title that got slapped onto the international release of the movie 'Raped by an Angel', to cash in on the popularity of the original. The same thing happened with 'The Last Blood' getting labelled 'Hard Boiled 2', even though it was made before!

Definitely watch 'Naked Killer' though, it's a classic.

It's been a number of years since I saw Naked Weapon but back then I really enjoyed the movie, finding it a good action film as a whole, but from a martial arts point of view it wasn't great.

Likewise, but I think if I watched it now I'd probably have a different opinion. Worth it to see Daniel Wu actually using his wu-shu training though during his brief fight scene, oh....and the scene at the beach with Maggie Q.

[BaronK]

Good but late candidate for MST3000. They would have had fun with this one. Best thing about it is Jiang Lu Xia. I really like her.

Campy, not good.

[M.H. Boroson]

Definitely campy, definitely not a "good movie" by any stretch, but I really loved some of the fights. They had creative settings, and used them cleverly. There's such a distinct feel between the different characters' styles of combat, both in terms of the visuals and the choreography. I had a lot of fun watching the fight scenes.

Also it doesn't take murder as lightly as its predecessor, so I didn't have that queasy feeling throughout.

Jiang Lu Xia's performance was good but... odd. It seemed almost like she was doing a Jeeja Yanin imitation, both with the flying knee-strikes and the facial expressions.

[One Armed Boxer]

Jiang Lu Xia's performance was good but... odd. It seemed almost like she was doing a Jeeja Yanin imitation, both with the flying knee-strikes and the facial expressions.

She might have to now that Yanin is heavily pregnant and essentially off the action movie scene for what will probably be at the minimum a year.....goodbye 'Chocolate 2'.

The movie got the thumbs up from lovehkfilm as well, looks like the fights are what this'll be worth watching for - http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/naked_soldier.html

[Drunken Monk]

I tried so hard to watch this over the weekend. I really did. I put it in, got comfy and looked forward to what was about to unfold.

I just couldn't do it. While I love the 90's cheese and silliness of some films, this was just camp beyond measure. The action was pretty solid but everything else I found tedious and unwatchable. A shame really, as I was genuinely looking forward to this one.

It felt more like "Dead or Alive" than, say, "The Heroic Trio."

[One Armed Boxer]

This movie finally hit DVD out of nowhere....don't even remember it being up for pre-order! -

http://www.yesasia.com/global/naked-soldier-2012-dvd-hong-kong-version/1032348315-0-0-0-en/info.html

[tenebre]

i was going to order this and realized it actually came out as DVD only.. no blu... odd for a new movie

[One Armed Boxer]

I got through watching this one last night, and found it to be pretty enjoyable. There's a lot of martial arts talent involved, the only problem being that lead actress Jennifer Tse isn't one of them.

Thankfully that doesn't stop there from being some quality action throughout - a brief few seconds of Andy On & Sammo Hung sparring is fast and tight, classic stuff and the best on show, Lena Lam also gets some cool action first of all in the hot tub, and then later against two gay assailants which contains some hard hitting blows and falls, Sammo does a great job wielding a mop against two of the killers, and even throws in a vintage 'Hitman in the Hand of Buddha' style chopstick duel with his daughter at the dinner table, no doubt thanks to Corey Yuen.

Between the action it's classic HK nonsense, with Sammo delivering some particularly funny lines out of nowhere (when he's captured by Madame Rose, he tells her she must have had lots of plastic surgery because she looks like his mother!), and everything in the movie has an old school 90s vibe.

Sadly things fall apart in the final 20 minute showdown on Madame Rose's island. Jennifer Tse suddenly has to be front and center action wise, and her fight scenes are a mix of being too slow, too wire assisted, and interwoven with too much slow motion, and to top it all off they seem to go on for an age.

The similar complaint applies to the length of Sammo & his daughters fight against the goons. While 30 years ago a lengthy Sammo fight would be great, here the exact problem is that he seems to have been choreographed as if he's still the Sammo of 30 years ago. So unfortunately we're subjected to multiple edits to cover his double throwing in the kicks he can no longer do, as well as some cringe worthy copy and paste movies from Jija Yanin & Patrick Kazu Tang's team-up fight in 'Raging Phoenix'.

I was holding out for Andy On to come in and bust some tight choreography as he did at the beginning and so ably displayed in movies like 'Bad Blood', but in the finale it turns out he has nothing to do whatsoever, which is the biggest waste of all.

All in all 'Naked Soldier' is a decent way to pass 90 minutes if there's nothing else to watch, it was just let down by an ending which couldn't seem to equal the sum of it's parts.

[ShaOW!linDude]

I got through watching this one last night, and found it to be pretty enjoyable. There's a lot of martial arts talent involved, the only problem being that lead actress Jennifer Tse isn't one of them.

Thankfully that doesn't stop there from being some quality action throughout - a brief few seconds of Andy On & Sammo Hung sparring is fast and tight, classic stuff and the best on show, Lena Lam also gets some cool action first of all in the hot tub, and then later against two gay assailants which contains some hard hitting blows and falls, Sammo does a great job wielding a mop against two of the killers, and even throws in a vintage 'Hitman in the Hand of Buddha' style chopstick duel with his daughter at the dinner table, no doubt thanks to Corey Yuen.

Between the action it's classic HK nonsense, with Sammo delivering some particularly funny lines out of nowhere (when he's captured by Madame Rose, he tells her she must have had lots of plastic surgery because she looks like his mother!), and everything in the movie has an old school 90s vibe.

Sadly things fall apart in the final 20 minute showdown on Madame Rose's island. Jennifer Tse suddenly has to be front and center action wise, and her fight scenes are a mix of being too slow, too wire assisted, and interwoven with too much slow motion, and to top it all off they seem to go on for an age.

The similar complaint applies to the length of Sammo & his daughters fight against the goons. While 30 years ago a lengthy Sammo fight would be great, here the exact problem is that he seems to have been choreographed as if he's still the Sammo of 30 years ago. So unfortunately we're subjected to multiple edits to cover his double throwing in the kicks he can no longer do, as well as some cringe worthy copy and paste movies from Jija Yanin & Patrick Kazu Tang's team-up fight in 'Raging Phoenix'.

I was holding out for Andy On to come in and bust some tight choreography as he did at the beginning and so ably displayed in movies like 'Bad Blood', but in the finale it turns out he has nothing to do whatsoever, which is the biggest waste of all.

All in all 'Naked Soldier' is a decent way to pass 90 minutes if there's nothing else to watch, it was just let down by an ending which couldn't seem to equal the sum of it's parts.

First I'd just like to say......PUN!!!!! PUNPUNPUNPUNPUNPUN!!!!!! Ahem....sorry. Didn't mean to get all juvenile there.

I appreciate you posting this. See, the clips made me want to see this, even the bits of the end fight which were not all that great. But if the end is lamer than the action leading up to it.....that irks me, so why bother.

[One Armed Boxer]

First I'd just like to say......PUN!!!!! PUNPUNPUNPUNPUNPUN!!!!!! Ahem....sorry. Didn't mean to get all juvenile there.

Damn...how did I not notice writing that!?

[TheGrimReaper]

Here is what I think of this movie

http://www.kungfucinema.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19186

It was a bit simple and boring, wasted opportunity for all of the players in it...

[xianzai]

I found it enjoyable enough; kind of a live-action anime. My only real complaint is the wirework was often bad. Sure, the ladies weren't all great martial artists, but that didn't detract too much from the film. Anthony Wong really nailed his ridiculous character.

I find it kind of odd that Jennifer Tse started acting in her very late 20's; is there a reason she didn't start earlier?

[AlbertV]

I found it enjoyable enough; kind of a live-action anime. My only real complaint is the wirework was often bad. Sure, the ladies weren't all great martial artists, but that didn't detract too much from the film. Anthony Wong really nailed his ridiculous character.

I find it kind of odd that Jennifer Tse started acting in her very late 20's; is there a reason she didn't start earlier?

Jennifer, like many of the latest female stars today in HK, started out as a model. She made her debut in BRUCE LEE, MY BROTHER. I'd like to know what her big brother Nicholas thought of her doing this film LOL

[xianzai]

Jennifer, like many of the latest female stars today in HK, started out as a model.

Thanks for that.

I'd like to know what her big brother Nicholas thought of her doing this film LOL

She acquitted herself well enough, so I doubt he'd have anything bad to say.

[One Armed Boxer]

I'd like to know what her big brother Nicholas thought of her doing this film LOL

I presume you haven't seen the movie yet, as there's no nudity in it at all, so I doubt Nicholas Tse would have any issue. Besides even if there was, I'm sure it would still pale in comparison to a certain set of photos that were released of his ex-wife Celine Cheung.

[kami]

And still no western release of this surprisingly entertaining movie that has the best Yuen Kwai-choreographed action of the last years.

[ShaOW!linDude]

Naked Soldier (2012) Stars: Sammo Hung, Jennifer Tse, Andy On, Kang Jia Qi, Ellen Chan, Phillip Ng, Ankie Beilke, Lena Lam, Timmy Hung, Jiang Lu Xia, Ian Powers, Anthony Wong with action direction by Corey Yuen & Yuen Tak

The story is a familiar plot devise: good guy Sammo, an Interpol agent here, has his family wiped out by Madame Rose's crime organization. Only he and his 10 yr old daughter survive, and she's taken and trained to become an international assassin. Now 15 yrs later, Andy On is a high profile Interpol agent and brings Sammo out of retirement to help run down Madame Rose and her collection of killers. The movie's a fairly decent way to pass an hour and a half. The action is pretty consistent and constant. There is a lot of wire-assisted moves and stunts, but nothing like some crazy wuxia film. And there's quite a bit of grounded choreography. 

Regarding performances: Phillip Ng's is really a throwaway role. He gets some screen fight time, though it's short, and really nothing special. Still that's more that On gets, who only has one fight scene at the beginning of the film in a short sparring match against Sammo. Why he wasn't used more fully boggles my mind. No, instead about half the action features Ankie, Lena, & Jennifer, and they're decent enough, though it is the latter's which suffers the most. She just doesn't sell her fights. Shame, too, because she has this younger Michelle Yeoh charisma on camera. Lu Xia & Powers play a pair of flamboyant kung fu skilled assassins, and any fight scene they're in holds your attention. Now where the film shines is whenever Sammo is onscreen. He has quite a few fights here. A particularly good one is facing off against 2 sword-wielding females using only a dust mop. That's a fun fight. And the finale has him using a pair of sais and teaming up with Kang, using a pair of collapsible batons, to take on Lu Xia & Powers, and then Anthony Wong, who really only appears at the end.

As a whole, the film is fairly solid to me, though it is equally faulty on many fronts. Rather than a bunch of pretty girls trained on the fly for the film, this would have been tons better if some girls with actual skill sets had been cast in those roles. It would have helped the action immensely. That and having On cut loose in a few fights, too.