Mad Mission

Aces Go Places is the first in the series of the hilarious and stunt filled films that would be Cinema City's answer to Golden Harvest's 'Lucky Stars' series (with both going into production around the same time). Directed by the fantastic Eric Tsang - who ironically would go on to be a key player of the Lucky Stars - the first Mad Mission may lack the hard hitting martial arts action of its competition, but its certainly just as enjoyable!

What he lacks in kung fu skills, superstar Sam Hui makes up for in charm as diamond theif King Kong. Having stole his latest win, his loot is hid by close friend Gigalo Joe who is immediately tracked down and killed - in a crazy way - by Mad Max (Chen Sing) for having slept with his sister. Before he dies though, Joe is able to tell King Kong that he tattooed a map of where he hid the diamonds - on the asses of 2 women...

Now you know just how crazy this is going to get!

From there, we get introduced to the hilarious Karl Maka who plays Detective Baldy along with the always wonderful, Sylvia Chang - a Hong Kong cop who soon falls for Maka's odd ways and eccentric style. The 3 of them soon form a bond, eventually, after a host of wild chases, car stunts, fights and comedic situations all while trying to look at as many of Joe's girlfriends backsides for the map.

Of course, this is all while any number of well dressed bad-guys are chasing them down!

And that's what Aces Go Places is really all about... How many car stunts, action scenes, crazy gadgets and laughs can we fit in to 90 minutes? This in turn becomes the blueprint for the whole series, but I'm not complaining - they are all very highly entertaining.

Of course, we can't forget the memorable theme tune and song created by Teddy Robin Kwan and sung by Sam Hui - a tune I whistle often...

I still enjoy Aces Go Places today as much as I did when I first saw it. Although it may look a little dated, the film is still as wild and funny as ever and is a great start to the series that just got bigger with every sequel!

Overall: A lot of fun and a great example of what makes Hong Kong movies so different...