Robin B Hood Reviews

• Action is awesome...when it finally comes.

  
  By A1ZTE3K3EN4TS3 on 2007-12-31
  I'm a huge Jackie Chan fan, and this movie does deliver on its promise that it has some of his best stunt work in recent years. The fight scenes bring back memories of the old Police Story films, with fast and furious fighting all around. There's definitely better fight scenes here than in the recent Rush Hour 3 movie.
  
  So what's the problem? For one thing, this movie is uneven on every level. It's not funny enough to be called a comedy, though there are some funny moments. It's too melodramatic to be taken seriously as a drama. The action scenes are amazing, but take forever to occur. The feeble attempts at romance are laughable. The plot is weird, and the ending is way too over the top (try hooking yourself up to a car battery to see if it's really possible).
  
  While I did enjoy parts of this film a lot, there were a few too many stumbling blocks to call it a perfect film. Still, if you're tired of the "safe" action Jackie's had in many of his recent films, this will feed your need for adrenaline...you just may have to fast forward quite a bit to hit the good stuff.
  
  

• Where is Jackie Chan?

  
  By A2P06VF3HBS6NM on 2008-01-03
  Where is Jackie Chan? I cannot believe the guy playing this super lousy film is J.C. Whoever he is, he is sooooo uncomfortable with his role. The whole movie is absurd, with no connection between scenes, ridiculous dialogue, impossible situations. Funny? You mean grotesque. Melodramatic? You mean ludicrous. Action? You mean kicking and screaming like children. Female acting? You mean degrading women. In short, the worst movie by J.C. I have seen in a long, long time. And I will not go into considering the other guy playing J.C. sidekick. My goodness, what a miserable acting. And the rest of the players are pitiful, to say the least. In short, do yourself a big, big favor, and forget this movie was ever made.
  
  

• It's more fun than changing a diaper at least?

  
  By A1EGZYG8PC51U5 on 2007-12-31
  For those Jackie Chan fans who have always wanted to see a movie featuring a baby mistakingly trying to breast feed off of his nipple or watch him get hit in the face with poopie diapers... well, your prayers have finally been answered! Robin B Hood is the newest and third weak release in a row by Dragon Dynasty... WHY?! Something tells me that Quentin Tarrantino isn't in charge of quality control like it was once mentioned on their web site when films like this continue to get greenlit for domestic distribution. I mean, c'mon... we already have the "hilarious" and "action packed" Chan movies The Medallion, The Tuxedo, and the entire Rush Hour trilogy(hope you can sense the sarcasm radiating off of your computer screen), so was it really necessary to bring this over from Hong Kong too? Robin B Hood is a melodramatic comedy/action film that misses it's mark on both thrills and laughs for the majority of it's painfully long 2 plus hour runtime. There are a few occasions where a chuckle may slip out(I mean poopie diapers hitting people in the face is kinda funny I guess...)or your palms may start to sweat(Jackie descending a multi story building by jumping from window air conditioner to window air conditioner is pretty intense) but these type of moments are too far and between to make up for everything else lacking here. The plot centers on Jackie Chan and Louis Koo as a pair of degenerate burglars(Chan a gambler while Koo is addicted to women) who end up taking a job that has them kidnapping a baby that they ultimately fall in love with and want to protect... hijinx ensue! I'm not knocking anyone who enjoys this kind of light action fare(my Grandma probably digs it... and she's pretty cool?) but I will say that between the brief plot description I just gave above and the title Robin B Hood(which, by the way, makes no sense whatsoever), you should know instantly if this is the type of movie you really want to sit through(and I knew I wouldn't, so please learn from my mistake). The DVD from Dragon Dynasty is actually a 2 disc special edition and features tons of bonus material that I myself didn't watch but I'm sure will be interesting enough for fans of the film. Those that watch this and feel the same way about it as I do will be left wondering just how and why these sub-par releases continue to take precedence over the Fist Of Legend special edition and Drednaught DVD's that were mentioned for availability so long ago?
  
  

• Robin B Hood?! I've been Robbed!!!

  
  By ANHQTZVOLR3HX on 2008-01-12
  When I first heard of Jackie Chan was on a documentary titled, "Bruce Lee, The Legend." Jackie had been projected as the next Bruce Lee, but the difference was Lee's martial art was based on real fighting techniques, as Jackie's was based from Cantonese Opera. Hardly a replacement. With that put aside, Jackie has become the #1 box office martial arts champ. Starting in Hong Kong with "The Drunken Master" to the international hit "Rush Hour." At some point, I felt he could do no wrong. But, the last two to three years have been dismal. With the Chris Tucker annoying "Rush Hour 3" (would someone please shut him up?) Here comes "Robin B Hood." First, the action is typical Chan in a good way. Not up to standards with the "Police Story" series, but much better that the last two "Rush Hour" movies. After that, it's a total waste. The problem with most movies from Hong Kong, is there are less focus on the flow in storytelling. Everything is set up completely for the action scenes, and not on believability. It was explained that the Hong Kong audience only likes action, and not story. Jackie Chan's words, not mine. But, when you are also marketing a Western audience, certainly plausibilities have to be answered. Commercial Western movies, "Transformers", "Spiderman 3" "Alien vs. Predator" have not done better, but at least they give some faithfulness to it's genre. "Robin B Hood" doesn't. It doesn't know if it's a comedy or an action flick. It's just another showcase for Jackie's stunts. Also, there is no subtleties in this movie. With completely stupid scenes of wife that is pregnant and Jackie's partner wanting a divorce to the gross out of Baby messes. Completely disgusting. I own every Chan movie, except this one. And it's a shame. I can handle most of the implausibility, but just the stupid story that made no sense to the gross out, I'd avoid this at all risk. Now, if Chris Tucker was in this movie, and had a dirty diaper stuck in his face, then I'd purchase it in a heartbeat. But, no such luck. Even if the DVD had some special features, I'd might give it some thought. ***YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!***
  
  Note: There was only one bright spot in the movie. It's featuring of actor Ku Feng as Jackie's father. Shaw Brother veteran actor, whose been in the most Kung Fu movies. Looks pretty good at his age. Should have been used in more of the movie.
  
  

• A contrarian review

  
  By ASFTYWTX1WWFE on 2008-01-22
  I did not enjoy the previous effort of a Benny Chan directed Jackie Chan film in "New Police Story" that I was definitely worried about a "Three Men and a Baby" inspired effort. The result was mixed, but going in with low expectations I was pleasantly surprised. "Rob-B-Hood" (US release name is a bizarre name change to "Robin-B-Hood" though in this movie there is no stealing from the rich to give to the poor; neither title is very good) is the third film in the collaboration between Benny Chan and Jackie Chan and Benny's first attempt at a comedic action film. While this film was successful in Asia it was not theatrically released in North America and most of Europe.
  
  Jackie Chan and Louis Koo Tin-Lok star as mediocre bad guys Thongs and Octopus. Jackie Chan tired of stereotypical nice guy roles wanted to play a criminal, though his character Thongs is a burglar and compulsive gambler, the "good guy" nature of his character comes through quite clearly and his performance does not veer far from most of Jackie's previous personae. This role is a good step in broadening his experience as an actor. Octopus is a married womanizer who works with Thongs. He married very young to Pak Yin (the terminally cute Charlene Choi) and is doing his best to woo wealthy young women while avoiding his wife. Thongs and Octopus both work under the guidance of the Landlord (Michael Hui) a conservative criminal who hoards his theft while the other two spend their "earnings".
  
  The Landlord has had his loot stolen by another criminal (he suspects everyone after this) so he allows himself to get contracted to a nefarious case to kidnap a baby for seven million dollars and give the infant to the possible grandfather to test if the baby is his sons (the son is dead and currently frozen in a very expensive decorated freezer). Thongs and Octopus both need the money so they acquiesce and help the Landlord with the felony. Of course, Thongs and Octopus, through a partially botched kidnapping attempt, are forced to take care of the cute defecating infant until they can reestablish getting the kid to who hired them. And, of course, they get attached to the baby (I cannot believe the baby got nominated for Hong Kong Film Award's Best New Performer category).
  
  Some of the negatives of this film include the ill-defined female characters (it seems they would have been better characterization in the original three-hour workprint, but that meant a whole lot more exposition); especially Gao Yuan-Yuan's Melody character who I had trouble figuring out what her relationship with Thongs was the first time I watched this. Some of the baby poop jokes were overdone as well as some of the infant's scenes in general (reportedly the child was an enfant terrible on the set; delaying shooting and helping push the film over budget). There is only so much you can do with a babbling, spitting, crying child with flatulence. Yuen Biao's Inspector Steve Mok character is definitely underused (as well as Michael Hui), though at least he gets more than a cameo in this film. And then there is the horrible overuse of Pepsi advertising including one scene where Jackie slides down a pole revealing the largest Pepsi graffiti I have ever seen.
  
  I did end up liking this film though. There is a certain congenial innocence with the lead characters that works well in this comedic action hybrid. In most Jackie Chan movies there are little stunts that sometimes seem as throwaways but are quite dangerous and are done with Keatonesque ease. In this movie Jackie slides down a staircase column and props himself up with ease at the end. If he fell on the wrong side he could have been seriously injured, but since it is so effortlessly it seems so simple. Jackie Chan has used more wires in his stunts and it definitely shows in this film, but I do not fault him for it, since his body cannot handle the punishment like it used to. The stunt where he jumps from air conditioner to air conditioner to the bottom of the street is impressive (even if a wire was used) and his and Louis Koo's stunts in the amusement park owned by the grandfather (location was Ocean Park) were quite good. In fact Jackie was said to be impressed of Koo who was willing to do many of his own stunts in the movie.
  
  There could have been more fighting in this movie but there is a good scene in the apartment of Jackie between Jackie, Yuen Biao, Ken Lo and more. It is inspired by a similar scene in Project A (this is also mentioned in the Benny Chan commentary), but still pleasant. While there are many faults in this film and I think that many action purists will not like this film, I found much that was enjoyable from the comedy to the action and stunts. Now please Jackie no more movies with babies.
  
  ***½/*****
  
  The extras on the Dragon Dynasty DVD are quite good though they have stupendously stupid names. The best is a 39 minute interview with Jackie Chan named "Crashing the Hood." In this he talks about how he wanted to be more serious as an actor and how he wanted to play more of a bad guy (this would be repeated on most of the extras) and how he had trouble passing the script through China. He talks about how he wants to work with more of his Peking school brothers (Sammo Hung and Yuen Wah) and some of his experiences with Michael Hui on "Cannonball Run." He even talks about his changing belief in CGI, how he channeled his Mom's stroke into this character and his non-use of storyboarding. He does make a mistake stating that this is his first main bad guy role (that would be "Killer Meteors" (1977) plus he did a couple of "thug" roles even earlier in his career). The most telling quote is when he states "I control the whole movie" dispelling any notion of the director as auteur for this film especially since this movie is produced by Jackie's company JCE Movies Limited.
  
  "The Hand That Mocks The Cradle" is a 16 minute interview with Benny Chan that repeats much of what is in the commentary except that he does state that Jackie Chan micromanages much less now then he did when he first directed him in "Who Am I." "Baby Boomer: A featurette with costar Conroy Chan" (14m) is interesting because of so much of what Conroy actually does. He is an X-Games promoter, was an electrical engineer in college, is a rap group member and has an Australian accent. However, he has a small role in the film. "Playtime for Adults: On the Site of Robin B. Hood" (22m) and "Robin-B-Hood: An Original Making Of" (22m) are typical "making of" fare that were originally (along with the director's commentary) put out on the R3 release. Luckily those two features have scenes of Yuen Biao being interviewed.
  
  Now where are the deleted scenes?
  
  The audio commentary by Benny Chan (with two interviewers who do not state their names), which was ported over from the R3 disc, is informative if not a bit dry. The Dragon Dynasty cover has a mistake in advertising stating that Bey Logan is on the commentary. He is not -- to the condemnation of some and to the happiness of others. Benny Chan talks much about how many scenes were cut (the work print of the film was three hours long; though he states he prefers the shorter version; thank goodness) and that most of the cut scenes were non-action. He also talks about some of the influence of Project A and Winners and Sinners. It was the first comedy for Benny Chan and Benny talked about how the baby was very difficult - this was echoed in much of the extras. Most of the commentary was scene-by-scene discussing where the missing scenes were, who some of the cameo actors are and his personal feelings on several scenes such as his struggling with the rationale of the "shocking" scene toward the end.
  
  
  

• Jackie Chan - The Myth (2007)
• The Legend of the Black Scorpion
• Crime Story
• The Royal Tramp Collection
• Fatal Contact