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The Matrix (1999)
"Woo"
"The Matrix" is quite possibly the most overrated film I have ever seen. In it's defense the film has certainly garnished a legion of loyal fans from all over the world. And why shouldn't it? The film features ground-breaking special effects that are becoming more and more mainstream; the action sequences (which are choreographed by Hong Kong cinema legend Yuen Woo-ping) never fail and are always entertaining, and the art direction and cinematography hit their targets well.
But what happened to the story? Everything else about this film works so well that being subjected to a story that borrows from nearly every other Sci-Fi film I have ever seen bores very quickly. Yes, I am fan of Quentin Tarantino who does exactly the same with his scripts. The difference: Tarantino's films ("Resivour Dogs," "Pulp Fiction," and "Jackie Brown") are entertaining from beginning to end and surely contain more intrestingly constructed dialogue than one boring Laurence Fishburne speech about "the real world" after another.
However, the film's most irritating character has to be Agent Smith played by Hugo Weaving. After viewing "Men in Black" it's hard not to laugh at Weaving's character nor feel the nails sliding down a chalkboard when he speaks. "Mr. Anderson..."
Though the single most irritating thing about "The Matrix" is how many people love it and claim it to be the greatest of all Science Fiction films. Would have been intresting to see Yuen Woo-ping direct this film and co-star Jet Li. Neither of which are appearing in the sequels now as once intended.
**1/2 out of ****
Hei tai yang 731 xu ji zhi sha ren gong chang (1992)
More guts, no glory, no story.
"Man Behind the Sun 2" aka "Camp 731: Laboratory of the Devil" is one of the most worthless films I have ever had the displeasure of seeing. Godfrey Ho (who is incorrectly listed as being an alias for T.F. Mous) managed to take Mous' disturbingly realistic film (which was originally intended to be a documentary and ended up falling somewhere in between docudrama and exploitation stomach turner) and completely flush out every element that made "Man Behind the Sun" so hard to view.
What's worse is that Ho doesn't even make a weak attempt at a plot. Instead he literally copies Mous' work word for word only stopping to pump up the amount of blood, torn flesh, innards, and severed limbs. Ho never treats his victims with honor, rather he goes out of his way to completely exploit the unwatchable torture and mass executions these innocent prisoners of war endured.
Though, the most grueling ordeal is having to sit through a film that is based on real documentations of Camp 731, which was set up in Harbin, China by the Japanese during World War II. Inside Camp 731's Nazi-like interior
captured Chinese, Koreans, and Russians were subjected to inhuman biological warfare testing. In the end out of 3,000 men, women, children, and infant prisoners not one was left alive and some 200,000 more Chinese died from neighboring areas when the camp was imploded and the Black Plague (which was being experimented with) was unleashed.
Godfrey Ho should live in shame.
Zero Star Rating out of ****