Gorgeous

Thanks Jackie!

This is somewhat different from the other Jackie Chan movies that I have seen. For starters it's basically a romantic comedy with martial arts added. The humor is pretty foreign to us westerners, but is pretty funny nonetheless (the boy who buys Bu an "engagement oyster" for example, and the scene with Bu in the fridge was pretty funny too). But additionally its more than that. It's also about the nature of rivalry, emnity, and eventual friendship between Chan and one of his business competitors. The film manages to capture a certain depth of human nature which is unusual in the genre.The fight scenes fall into two categories. The first are the classic Jackie Chan type fight scenes. These include the boat scene, him taking on the four goons with baseball bats, and so forth. The second are the scenes with the American street fighter which are of an altogether different variety and something I am not used to seeing in his movies. Here we see some cross-over between western boxing and kung fu, beautifully choreographed, with plenty of surprises. These scenes emphasize fair play, respect, and sportsmanship.The film is well worth watching, and is suitable for family viewing.Both Jackie Chan and Shu Qi play their roles very well. Highly recommended.

A few laughs and lots of action.

This family Chan film is a delightful, yet surprisingly romantic serving. Like Mr. Cruise in "Collateral," (who handed the film to Jamie Foxx) Jackie Chan actually highlights the charms of Shu Qi showcasing her in a martial arts veneer. For admirers of Shu Qi this is a good thing. Little girl in the big city has been a staple Hollywood plot vehicle, but moving back and forth in sub-plots ends up weakening the romantic fable that anchors this movie. The stunts and fight sequences add comical rather than romantic weight to the main plot. However, I found it refreshing for Jackie (playing a self-absorbed tycoon) to be serious about his business and martial arts, especially seeing him train. And no one looked lovelier in white than Shu Qi. (the tennis world should pay attention) I would have welcomed more village girl-out-of-water scenes to further anchor the romantic pull of the leads, but perhaps they would have been mobbed too much in Hong Kong. Except for a couple too-brief close-ups to hint of a change of heart, the transition to angry lovers was too abrupt and not quite satisfying. As the mature businessman, Chan could have attempted to interest Bu (Shu Qi) in a younger suitor, but the only ones available were busy fighting Chan, which doesn't make sense to those of us who know there are places between a luxury condo and a small village. For me, the childhood fable does not develop fully because of the limited locales and perhaps deleted scenes of the two leads enjoying the sights (a la "Roman Holiday") that would more naturally make the characters warm to one another. Ten more minutes of running time could have made this a top-rate romantic film like "Pretty Woman" but some producer considered the thought over budget. Although Shu Qi got equal cover space, she deserved more face time in the film to flesh out the fable. The director/writer of this film said nobody wanted to make this picture. I think he's wrong. When you have a goddess, and she's playing a fabled princess, you better get it right. Next time.

I wasn't sure I'd care for this film, but I'm so glad I gave it a chance! The characters and story are adorable, and though I knew Jackie Chan was trained in kickboxing, I'd never seen him do it before. The fight scenes in this film are some of his best: I've never seen better kickboxing fights in my life, and his opponent in these matches is one of the very, very few people who can keep up with Jackie's explosive speed. This means that Jackie didn't have to slow himself down for these fights, and as a result, they're just... incredible. Just... words fail. Wow. Just WOW.

Great Highly Recommended!

In May 2014 I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the places where this movie is set: Taiwan and Hong Kong. I've been a big fan of Jackie Chan movies for a long time, and I loved this one mostly for the musically choreographed kickboxing scenes. In this story, Jackie plays a rich Hong Kong industrialist who is admired by a brave and vivacious young Taiwanese girl, who flies to HK after finding a message in a bottle.

One of Jackie Chan's gentler movies, more of a comedy - romance, but it still has his usual funny fights and one of the better fight scenes in any Jackie Chan movie.