Member mpm74 Posted January 5, 2016 Member Share Posted January 5, 2016 Ringo Lam is definitely back! The legendary Hong Kong action director is currently shooting Battle of Life, his follow up to his 2015 “comeback” film, Wild City. Plot details are under wraps, but Daniel Wu (That Demon Within), the film’s leading star, is describing Battle of Life as City on Fire 2. “I said yes without even reading the script because John Woo, Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark are the guys who have initiated this new wave of classic Hong Kong and I always wanted to work with them. The movie is called Battle of Life, but it could just as well be described as City on Fire 2,” said Wu, in reference to Lam’s seminal 1987 classic, City on Fire. (via CA). http://www.cityonfire.com/daniel-wu-callls-ringo-lams-battle-of-life-city-on-fire-2/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted December 11, 2016 Moderator Share Posted December 11, 2016 An absolute unmitigated disaster of a movie if ever there was one. I gave it the full review treatment here - http://cityonfire.com/sky-on-fire-2016-review-ringo-lam/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member mark187 Posted April 28, 2017 Member Share Posted April 28, 2017 http://www.dddhouse.com/v3/index.php finally the HK bd/dvds are coming out next week with Cantonese audio from Panorama. US version will be in June from Well Go but only with Mandarin audio apparently Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member laagi Posted February 6, 2018 Member Share Posted February 6, 2018 Anybody who watched this actually enjoyed it? There's so many negative reviews... But I'm willing to give it a chance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member laagi Posted February 7, 2018 Member Share Posted February 7, 2018 Short update for those who care. I just watched it and to be honest it isn't all that bad. There's some nice car chases and hand to hand combat. The plot is a bit all over. But long story short... It's basically about a scientist who had a breakthrough in cancer treatment. And without giving too much away (although you can see the twists and turns a mile away) some betrayal, greed, love, friendship, revenge and so and so on. Same ol' same ol'. The real downer here are the piss-poor CGI effects at times. I miss good old explosions with real fire and smoke! What happened Hong Kong!? Also the very poor and lackluster ending. Good for a one time watch or the Ringo Lam purist. It's just OK... nothing more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted February 8, 2018 Moderator Share Posted February 8, 2018 14 hours ago, laagi said: Short update for those who care. I just watched it and to be honest it isn't all that bad. There's some nice car chases and hand to hand combat. The plot is a bit all over. But long story short... It's basically about a scientist who had a breakthrough in cancer treatment. And without giving too much away (although you can see the twists and turns a mile away) some betrayal, greed, love, friendship, revenge and so and so on. Same ol' same ol'. The real downer here are the piss-poor CGI effects at times. I miss good old explosions with real fire and smoke! What happened Hong Kong!? Also the very poor and lackluster ending. Good for a one time watch or the Ringo Lam purist. It's just OK... nothing more. I care! Glad you managed to get some enjoyment out of it. For me I stand by my original review (linked in an earlier post) that 'Sky on Fire' is an embarrassment to all involved. Movies like this make Lam's lesser considered work from earlier in his career, like 'The Adventurers' and 'Undeclared War', seems like masterpieces. He needs to have a long chat with Tsui Hark about how to use visual effects in todays era, as whenever they appeared here (which was frequently), I wanted to look away from the screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted February 11, 2018 Member Share Posted February 11, 2018 Ringo Lam did good with Wild City so I was really looking forward to this until the reviews hit the net. But that wasn't what kept me from watching it. After reading his recent interview where he expressed his displeasure and unpleasant experience (I recall it was his coercion of using CGI) working on it, that was pretty much it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted February 11, 2018 Moderator Share Posted February 11, 2018 10 hours ago, DiP said: After reading his recent interview where he expressed his displeasure and unpleasant experience (I recall it was his coercion of using CGI) working on it, that was pretty much it. Interesting! Could you post a link to the interview @DiP? I'd like to read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted February 11, 2018 Member Share Posted February 11, 2018 Here it is: http://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2048285/audience-hong-kong-action-film-master-ringo-lam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member laagi Posted February 11, 2018 Member Share Posted February 11, 2018 Quote “It’s very tiring dealing with special effects, but you don’t have a choice. You can’t make a film without it [today].” Why? Honestly, this is exactly what's destroying the once hailed and famed Hong Kong Action productions. Is it a matter of safety, money or what gives? I don't get it. Or is it management and insurance threaten to sue the producers (in case something happens)? I wished they would at least master this "new" technology before using it. I mean just looking at some of the stuff in this movie is amateurish at best. If used properly CGI can generate some amazing results no doubt. But in action scenes such as car chases, explosions, gunplay, hand to hand etc.; I don't know. It looks like sometimes they're just throwing it in there. I wished they would just focus again on a more grounded action and decent story, rather than on creating "spectacular" CGI images. Because believe it or not I'm definitely not watching a HK action movie for some great CGI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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