I enjoyed the movie BUT! My problem with Tokyo Raiders is the with the director/cinematographer
of the film, Jingle Ma.
Mr. Ma has worked as cinematographer on the following: I liked the 'chemistry' between Ekin and Tony. They seemed to work well
together. For once I didn't find myself thinking "Oh come on, Chan Ho Nam
is no kung fu master" while watching Ekin in something outside of Young &
Dangerous films. Some of Tony's segments had a very 'Jackie Chan' quality to them, showing
the influence of Mr. Ma's work with "the Nose", especially the sequence on
the car carrier. TR also has some 'Chow Sing Chi' flavor mixed in, as well.
I thought the final jetski/speedboat chase sequence was a terrible way to
end the film. Just sooo believable! I found the cinematography (look at the
list above!?!) very annoying at times. Some of the visuals were just out
of place IMO while others were beautifully done. This guy did shoot City of
Glass, for God's sake! I did like that kooky, infectious soundtrack. Cha-cha-cha! Gordon Chan's 2000 A.D. is a slight bit better experience.
Immortal Story (1986)
Flaming Brothers (1987)
The Iceman Cometh (1989)
The Days Of Being Dumb (1992)
Pom Pom And Hot Hot (1992)
Fong Sai Yuk (1993)
Last Hero In China (1993)
Drunken Master II (1994)
Fire Dragon (1994)
Rumble in the Bronx (1995)
Full Throttle (1995)
First Strike (1996)
Comrades, Almost a Love Story (1996)
Viva Erotica (1996)
The God of Cookery (1996)
City of Glass (1998)
As you can see from this partial resume of films that Mr. Ma has shot, he
has done some great work. He earned his chance to direct and did quite
well with his 2 previous films, Hot War(1998), which I saw in the cinema,
and Fly Me to Polaris(1999), which I haven't seen. On those projects, he
had the good sense to hire a cinematographer. On Tokyo Raiders, he decided
to handle both jobs.
Francis Ng and Ken Lo notch it up over Tokyo Raiders.
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