Film Review: China Strike Force (2000)

Quarter of century ago, with globalisation in full swing and with Hong Kong increasingly integrated with People’s Republic of China, it became common for Hong Kong action films to feature protagonists from the mainland, as well as international or Western stars in the cast. One such example can be found in China Strike Force, 2000 film directed by Stanley Tong.

Protagonists are Darren Tong (played by Aaron Kwok) and Alex Cheung (played by Alexander Leehom Wang), two best police detectives from Shanghai. They were recently became part of special task force dealing with organised crime and corruption. Their abilities are going to be tested when the control over most powerful Shanghai crime organisation becomes coveted by Tony Lau (played by Mark Dacascos) young and ruthless gangster who boss Uncle Ma (played by Lau Siu-ming) opposes his plans to get into illegal drug trade. Tony uses arrival of Coolio (played by Coolio), flamboyant drug lord from USA, to set his plans in motion. Alex investigates, but his work is complicated because Sheriff Lin (played by Paul Chun), one of his superiors, might be involved with gangsters. In the meantime, Darren’s investigation leads to beautiful Japanese woman Norika (played by Norika Fujiwara) to whom he feels romantically attracted.

Director and co-writer Stanley Tong, apparently inspired by practice of film authors like John Cassavettes, names characters after cast members playing them. But once the viewers get accustomed to those minor details, what awaits them is nothing more than series of Hong Kong action cinema cliches, including fate of one of characters becoming quite predictable once he mentions his plans to better future. Although he has gained a lot of experiences by working with legendary Jackie Chan, Stanley Tong in some action scenes shows lack of inspiration. On the other hand, US rapper Coolio is more likely to remembered in self-parodying role of mean gang boss “from the Hood”, while former Miss Japan Norika Fujiwara brings more than enough of a eye candy to male segments of the audience. China Strike Force is watchable, especially if not taken too seriously, but most viewers won’t miss too much if they spend hour and half watching something else.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo
Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax
Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc
Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA

Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7