China Strike Force (2000)

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Coolio—he of the Gangsta's Paradise and the craaaazy hair—has a major role in Hong Kong action flick China Strike Force, which is enough to make any sane martial arts movie fan hesitate about watching; but even though the rapper's performance is as diabolical as one might expect, the film is simply too much fun to ignore. China Strike Force is also totally preposterous much of the time and requires a huge amount of suspension of disbelief, but it is precisely this bonkers 'screw logic' approach that makes matters so entertaining.The opening scene gives a pretty good indication of what we're in for: cop buddies Alex (Leehom Wang) and Darren (Aaron Kwok) are on a mission to save a hostage, and use their martial arts skills to pummel the enemy into submission. After much hard-hitting violence it is revealed that the whole thing is actually a police training exercise—one in which the pretend enemy are willing to take an awful lot of damage for the sake of realism (and in which Alex and Darren seem more than happy to risk blindness, the other cops content to shoot the good guys in the head with paint-balls!).After this daft intro, we get into the story proper: Coolio plays a drug dealer (also named Coolio—what are the chances?) trying to break into the Chinese market. Mark Dacascos is Tony Lau, Coolio's Shanghai contact, who goes against his uncle Ma's wishes by importing narcotics. Wang and Kwok are the policemen out to stop the drug smugglers, helped by beautiful Japanese Interpol agent Norika (played by the drop-dead gorgeous Norika Fujiwara). And that's really all you need to know about the plot, 'cos all the fun is in the fast, furious and far-fetched action…Marvel as one of the cops rides a motorbike onto the roof of a car, and then defies physics by leaping onto the top level of an open top bus. Watch in amazement as a racing car is driven underneath a moving lorry at high speed. Drool in excitement as Noriko does stretching exercises in a prison cell. Thrill to the sight of Kwok and Dacascos fighting on top of a pimped up, purple and yellow Rolls Royce suspended from the bottom of a helicopter. And stare in disbelief as Coolio, Noriko and Kwok battle it out on a plate glass window teetering like a see-saw hundreds of feet above ground level.Thanks to its death-defying stunt-work (check out the end credits to see some of the not so successful attempts) and director Stanley Tong's excellent handling of the action, China Strike Force manages to be a hugely enjoyable no-brainer—even with Coolio in it!

I sought the movie for my Mark Dacascos collection, and because of him I watched it all the way through. The scenes he's in are solid, and (of course) his fists and footwork are the icing on this otherwise dry cake. The movie begins very slowly and seems disjointed. You have to piece together plot elements which is unfortunate because a little bit more effort to include the viewer would have improved the flow. The places where you get a break from that feel opportunistic and thin. There is a feeling that the characters are just trying to get to the next action sequence, and those aren't well-timed or particularly powerful. Everyone in the film is visually interesting, but the backdrops seem opportunistic and static, and the stunts often look like the evening news, shot too wide and far away, never sharp or startling enough to rouse. Kwok looks like he's really trying to find a character in there somewhere; he's likable and the bits of banter that occur between Darren (Kwok) and his partner Alex make you want to see their efforts succeed, but it's just too little spread too thin and nobody else is acting like there's room for humor in the scene. Mark Dacascos is top-notch with what he's given. If you like how he moves his presence through a scene, using his skin, eyes, those long elegant hands, you'll appreciate his sense of proportion here. He brings the film a sense of solidity when he's in the frame and offers the only intimacy in the venture, using his eyes to evoke it even though his character is aloof. Coolio wields a brutally candid hood mentality charm, pulling no punches with his brazenly observant racism. I found it refreshing and palatable - it's aimed at everybody, even his old friend Tony Lau (Dacascos). His abrasive drama plays well off Dacascos' polished and saturnine hauteur, but the two of them aren't enough to carry a film about "two other guys and some other stuff"... and that's exactly what this feels like. The action scenes are slow, and shot from less than optimal angles. There are ways to shoot people who look this interesting ( Andrezej Bartkowiak and Christophe Gans both know how to put a camera on Mark Dacascos), and with the abundance of attractive personages it's too bad that didn't happen here. I was hoping for another Cradle 2 The Grave, something that surprised my mode of thought and shook up the mix, that had punch, pride, and balance. I was sorely let down. Even so, I give it four stars out of ten, all of it due to Mark and Coolio. If you want to watch a movie that goes where this one doesn't - see Cradle 2 the Grave for some good-looking people, broken stereotypes, nice dialogue, fine music, and superb acting by DMX. If you want mystery, lyrical execution, passion, and art with your kung fu - see Crying Freeman for its beautiful dialogue and provocative tone set by Gans' shooting and Julie Condra's amazing voice flowing throughout. Mark Dacascos is in them both, for all the right reasons.

First of all, this H.K. movie is clearly aimed at a more international market. Nothing immediately wrong with that - in fact, I was excited when I saw Mark Dacascos in the cast. I've enjoyed his work in other movies in the past, since not only does he know his craft well, he has screen presence and even has some acting ability.But perhaps because Dacascos is unfortunately still not that well known in North America, the producers also picked someone with more "name" value to pair up with him. While I can sort of understand this, they really made a bad choice with choosing Coolio(!) I guess I can't really blame Coolio, because in the past he has shown some screen ability. However, the screenplay and the direction make him EXTREMELY annoying, with his non-stop slang talking and insulting. What's even worse is that Coolio's character is given much more focus than Dacascos' character, right down to the climatic action sequence. To say that Dacascos is greatly wasted is putting it mildly.The climatic action sequence IS entertaining, and so are the previous ones in the movie... what little there are. The remaining running time is talk, talk, talk, blah, blah, etc. Most of the focus is in fact on a plot so weak and so cliched that it gives dumb action movies a bad name. (I suspect this is the main reason why the movie has yet to receive an official release in North America, 3 years after it was made!) Stanley Tong really needs to return to his roots, to realize what made his past movies work.

This movie ranks as one of the worst 3 movies I have ever seen! The action is ok, but the never-ending scenes of poorly dubbed dialogoue and semi-erotic "acting" made me turn off before the end. Coolio makes it even worse, if possible.