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This television series based on the Chinese author Liu Cixin's The Three Body Problem (2008) later became an American version entitled 3 Body Problem (2024) shown Netflix. This review is based on the first ten episodes of thirty episodes for comparison purposes to the American version of eight episodes of the first season. This series omits the violence of the cultural revolution and instead focuses its attention on nano-material scientist Wang Miao who is changed into a female character, Augustina "Auggie" Salazar, in the American version and for most of the ten episodes appears more like a crime mystery with a rather obnoxious counterterrorist detective Shi Qiang who becomes a British intelligence officer, Clarence "Da" Shi, a much more likeable character in the American version. Shi Qiang seems miscast as an unnecessary stereotype from American films. The slow pacing of the Chinese version may be too plodding and with insufficient action for American tastes. The plot unfolds rather inscrutably, typical of the Asian mindset. The special effects are crude but what stands out in the Chinese version is the opening and closing credits sung in oddly English with eerie lyrics and fashioned almost like a homage to many of the late James Bond themes as well as at times a rather unique use of flashback scenes or continuing storylines as the ending credits roll. The extended attention paid to Wang Wiao and his family is rather intriguing as to copes with the strange events of deaths of scientists around the world that is given much less American airtime as well as Vera, one of the scientists who commits suicide early on. The two televised versions of Three-Body are very different from each other so far with the American version more of an ensemble (strikingly more socialist nature) effort while the Chinese version is surprisingly individualistic (striking more Western in nature) and at the same time with also a surprising environmental message that seems to be left more in the background in the American version.

Instead of becoming more intriguing and compelling the second third (episodes 11 to 20) becomes more cumbersome and bloated. What started as an individualistic focus on characterization unlike the Netflix ensemble of a team effort creates an increasingly unbelievable storyline of a major crime thriller. With the world and global security interest at stake, the Chinese version of Three-Body requires the audience to believe that only three individuals would be assigned to uncover the mystery of scientists committing suicide instead of an international team (ensemble) of well-versed specialists. The cultural revolution storyline belatedly gets quite a bit of attention and yet almost becomes a separate story in itself unlike the compelling back and forth, interacting past with the present used in the Netflix version. Unlike the Netflix series, the Chinese includes another darker plot running parallel and in addition to the predominate Shen Yufei's presence in this series. The amazing goggles of the Netflix series is replaced by a dated animated virtual reality consisting only of famous figures and historical periods attempting to solve the Three Body Problem that really does not offer the same tantalizing and unpredictable approach taken with the Netflix Series.

By the end of the second third of the series, one is left with a simplified version of previous sci fi storylines from other movies becoming an us versus them, cloak and dagger thriller, a three body problem that currently scientists and mathematicians have already come to the same conclusions in our real world without having to go through the unnecessary gyrations described in this series. With the American penchant for mysteries over the decades and exposure to a multitude of science fiction movies, the mystery of what is going on is fairly obvious early on the Netflix Series and instead the audience must wade through the Chinese version becoming frustratingly obtuse and inscrutable like the stereotypical image of China itself. The mysteries being sought by scientist Wang Miao and detective Shi Qiang that come to light in these later episodes have already been mostly uncovered by an American audience and deduced much earlier in the Chinese version, except for the Chinese protagonists in this series. Unfortunately, even the opening and closing credits become repetitious and loses its originality from the earlier episodes. The most fascinating series experience oddly comes from the slow evolving character of Shi Qiang who seems from his interaction with Wang Miao and Miao's daughter becoming a more rounded and at least tolerable and perhaps even likeable person at times.

The last third of this series presents a strikingly different style as if directed by a different director. The first part of the rest of the series comes across as a crime drama followed by a scientific mystery drama, followed by a primary focus on a character that has a significantly reduced role in the Netflix version and that was more smoothly intercut in that version whereas in the Chinese version the shift to the cultural revolution presents a period drama that includes an excessive amount of narrative explanation while the ending portion of this series has a rather low-grade animation continues with an excessive narrative explanation almost as if the televised versions is more of a reading from script or from a book dialogue. The disjointed presentation tone of the series has its highpoint in how polished both the crime and science drama episodes come across offering captivating mystery investigative and experimenting research approaches to deliver their stories. One of the lingering questions regarding the Chinese version plot is how long it takes for the main characters to realize what is going on and why physics does not exist. It just seems with so much sci fi in American culture could Chinese culture be so insulated from or resistant to alternative scientific explanations?

This television series appears to be based on the Chinese author Liu Cixin's The Three Body Problem (2008) that later became a Chinese movie in 2023 and likely the English translation by Ken Liu (2014) which won a Hugo Award. The plot switches between the terrifying event during Chinese Cultural revolution and later to the present day with the mysterious death of scientists around the around as well as involving the actual dilemma of predicting the orbital paths of three bodies in space. The Netflix first season is powerful and at times captivating but at the same time concluding with a disappointing inconclusive ending. One of the most original science fiction portrayals in years, 3 Body Problem has some problem with pacing in places, one or two unnecessary subplots, the earlier semi-light tone quickly darkening in later episodes, and a few scenes that really don't much rational sense that perhaps were included more for dramatic effect unlike the more consistently, scientifically, and practically filmed Interstellar (2014). The group ensemble seems less focused and compelling than those found in The Magician (2005) and Threshold (2005) television series and less dynamic than the multi-faceted sci fi television series Fringe (2008). Other outstanding movies with an alien, time themes include The Arrival (2016), the Fountain (2006), and the cult classic Slaughterhouse Five (1972). Nevertheless this series includes some of the most exotic visually titillating set designs and eerie ominous alien features that make the series stand out at times and worth experiencing along with some high emotionally intense dynamics and intimately personal turmoil among characters. Hopefully Season Two will bring better satisfaction that Season One strongly suggests.

Look closer and one might discover that Emma Myers took time out from her role of Enid of the new cult classic Wednesday television series (2022) to become another girl this time or 'er mother in this new family comedy that loosely reprises Jennifer Garner from her starring role from 13 Going On 30 (2004) again playing a mother or 'er a teenager. There is still some doubt that Jennifer continues to look as great as she does in this movie or maybe she does. Rita Moreno, 10 days shy of her 93rd birthday when this television movie was released. She also has a co-starring role here as well as one of the very few performers to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony and a Grammy, thus becoming an EGOT. Even Howie Mandel from America's Got Talent was retained to play a role in this fun, family movie. This predictable family comedy hits some nice emotional highs later in the movie and adds to the ironic chaos ensuing when members of this family offer up "a multitude" of displaced body characters. However, this movie misses the highest of marks by not offering the audience more subtle distinctive differences in age behavior that at times seems to make these characters act relatively the same age as themselves. There are a few times that the wrong character is given more scene attention at the wrong time for the context of the movie especially with the parents in their younger bodies not taking more charge absently mindedly as they would more likely do. Mostly this movie keeps it together with a good number of funny scenes with a reasonable plotline that remains consistently entertaining with a decent tie-up of loose ends. An enjoyable romp, if not a classic movie experience.

Yes, it happened. John Wick is no more and perhaps with good riddance. Unfortunately not so for Lance Reddick who played Charon, the concierge of the Continental, who passed away in real life seven days before this movie's general release in the United States. His role continued to be one of the most consistent, entertaining as well as poignant ones of the entire series besides Wick's wife, including this movie. While the beginning slower scenes and a few scenes towards the end of the movie written in to evoke as some sort of effort to make this movie more substantive and balanced but for the most part, this movie was overloaded with excessive violent action that eventually seemed to go on and on and on forever in a sort of parody, video-action game becoming more and more redundant, fantastically unbelievable. And boring. The later half of the movie made the major mistake of using a duel format to end the movie with perhaps predictable results for some people instead of requiring that Wick face spectacular and worthy opponents from each one of the other members of the High Table each with their special fantastic skills that would have enabled John Wick show off more exciting, different ways to fight one and one instead of the overused Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003) fantastic fighting style of Uma Thurman's slaughterhouse scene. This movie is one that is better avoided in order to not risk being disappointed.

This uneven portrayal of a live Barbie doll played by Margot Robbie along with Ryan Gosling as Ken creates a Mattel movie with heart that hits some nice emotional notes. Will Ferrell has the unfortunate casting as Mattel's CEO in a role that slapstick comedy that comes across at odds and does not play well either in the real world or Barbie Land, like an out of place reformed Wile E. Coyote from the old Road Runner animation (1966-73). The opening Barbie Land scenario seems to go on for too long and the intriguing opportunity for Barbie to experience the real world seems too short as well as the divided focus between the real life mother and daughter and their experiences as well as the daughter's feelings which seemed to evolve too suddenly. While the Barbie Land sets are amazingly cute and the acting in Barbie Land had a dazzling sense of toy land fascination, the overall intriguing plot seemed somehow dated and underdeveloped even for young kids today. The movie as a whole had sufficient freshness of style, Margot Robbie's impressive acting, and a dramatic plot sufficient to retain marginal sustained interest to watch the move all the way through to the end to warrant a summer vacation land of entertainment for two hours.

Is this a good movie? It is hard to describe. The pacing ultimately becomes very slow. With dramatic, eerie thriller elements from Cube Zero (2004) and the latter part of the television series Person of Interest with Amy Acker having a similarity with Sara Mitich playing Eileen in Control, this movie has its moments. Also included are sci fi components from Lucy (2014) and the emotionally wrenching scenes like from Reminiscence (2021), and the more boring but stylistically strange We've Forgotten More Than We Ever Knew (2016) as well as the classic horror movie Silent Hill (2006). Somehow the movie feels incomplete with its understandable and cyclical movie style. Emotionally intriguing, but not completely satisfying with somehow a missing and important piece of the movie element omitted for a full-length feature film. Nice attempt but consider the horror movie Dark Water (2005) or 1408 (2007) for a similar edgy but full-storied feature. This movie could have been much, much better as a one-hour television episode on The Outer Limits (1995).

A frustratingly good movie. First why does one need to have Houston as part of the movie title as Whitney herself was such a great musical star herself. But the movie itself reveals the possible dilemma of attempting to really create a great movie of a great performer. The major problem with this movie was the difficult editing decisions made to reduce this broad ranging career into bits and pieces of her life that left so many storylines of her life truncated and leaving so much out. Perhaps it may have been the movie industry itself that failed Whitney because what if a risky financial decision had been made to make a two-part movie or at least a televised mini-series of at least four or five episodes. Could it be possible that the life of a single individual was too large to be an excellent single movie? This single movie had some great moments, but unfortunately, became too choppy with too many loose ends of underdeveloped storylines, including the Whitney's mother and why her dominance became so submissive, the Whitney's business and finances, Whitney's expensive rehabilitation. There were too many gaps, including a better understanding of her drug use and her decision-making which at various points become quite annoying in regards to her father and Bobbie. But really, this is Whitney and she shined in this movie, but both Whitneys probably deserved more.

Two years after Anna Kendrick won her best supporting actress Oscar in Up In The Air, Kendrick headlined this acapella based movie to near perfection. With plenty of great singing voices and what appears to be a deliberate attempt to avoid the traditional storyline of the popular drama outline and romantic relationships, along with good casting, there is a refreshing, and more than an original note in the air about this movie. Nevertheless, there is a discordant note with the inclusion of perhaps unnecessary grossness in several scenes due to perhaps the comparative inexperience of the director as well as an underdeveloped DJ career that Kendrick's character sought instead of the more polished but subtle 2006 Devil Wears Prada version. What also stands out is the atypical avoidance of scanty female costumes often used to capture the more sensual attention of viewers instead allowing the strength of the vocals to rightly take main stage. A great, if not quite perfect, light and serious musical drama.

Visually quite stunning with delightful and creative designs, shapes, and forms while the storyline is less than original without much in the way of intellectual or emotional, ethical depth of other recent Marvel movies. Apparently this movie was focused on being acceptable to a broad audience range, including young people, Quantumania loses some of its sharp refreshing focus. The created living entities of the quantum universe are more anthropomorphic (human-based) perhaps to be more relatable to children does not reflect the diversity or original forms of life or new-life that would really make this film stellar. As even as special as the set designs and special effects make for a gorgeous setting, there is still room for more crisp, detailed and immersive design work. Some backgrounds end up being mere basic animation projections that do not come up to the level expected of contemporary Marvel productions. Yes, this movie provides an amazing backdrop or canvas and yet the substance and plot of the movie does not rise to the same level. What one ends up with is a movie with a lot of flash but less than satisfactory bite.

This vibrant and authentically executed story of a young woman from a meager family against her father's wishes goes to Tokyo to become a dancer. The immersive, sharply etched quality of photography closely follows the woman played by Bambi Naka as Yume through various behind the scenes life of real Japan with plenty of appetizing exposure to apparently real dancers in many different settings including Hip-Hop, Go-Go, S&M, and modern. There are elements of Bill Murray's character experiencing Japan in the Oscar Best Picture nominee Lost In Translation (2003) and some of the crisp cinematography from Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999). This dance movie far exceeds the typical dramatic storyline of almost any film in the dance genre in its efforts to depict real dance and living life without pretention or fictional drama that often exudes from most other dance movies. Instead, the audience is invited along with Yume to actually experience pieces of her life as she seeks a foothold in Japan as a dancer. The only two obvious weaknesses that hold this movie back from near perfection is the just slightly undeveloped reveal of how Yume is able to really afford to stay in Japan even as great glimpses of her being a hostess and another dance job further on in the movie and her climatic physically painful dance competition routine of the movie just does not quite have the amazing choreographic power to convince the audience of its importance to the movie's ending (under-utilizing her adopted crow stage name and limited use of the stage with a custom that does not allow her to really show off herself as she dances physically or visually nor do we really see much of the audience making dance competition less than authentic). Nevertheless, Dreams On Fire is one the best dance movies produced.

Your typical commoner girl (this time a writer with writer's block) recently dumped and a "typical" prince who happen to meet on this beautiful marine preserve and the rest is predictable. This movie has a slightly different bent in which the reveal happens earlier than usual and the resulting dilemma takes more time to resolve while the writer is confronted with more of a intellectual problem than usual. The scenery is gorgeous, and the pacing is competently presented. For those interested in the by now well-used rom-com story with a little more bite, this movie has all elements that romantics have come to expect and a tad bit more.

A boy reluctantly goes to visit his uncle and his family in Mexico and comes across a mystical animal. There is nothing new about this version of this family movie, but the introduction of the bilingual, bicultural tonality is refreshing. Christian Slater appears as a rather vague scientist-poacher persona that is given a less evil characterization than most black and white adventure movies. This movie also offers a taste of Mexican culture, including the Mexican wrestling phenomenon as well as a suggestion of dementia in a soft dramatic way. Chupa is a pleasant, predictable family entertainment that is flavored with environmental concerns offers up a simple, well-paced story.

At the time, the original Bourne production starred three well-known actors, Richard Chamberlain (who was nominated for a Golden Globes for his performance and acted as the lead role in television's Dr. Kildare), Jaclyn Smith (original Charlie's Angels), Anthony Quayle (Oscar nominee) as well as Denholm Elliott (Indiana Jones). Time has not been kind to this television mini-series where its slow pacing, overly dramatic acting, and now with the opportunity to compare the series to the updated movie franchise starring Matt Damon reveals this television series as almost a parody and soap operatic version of the movie version. Chamberlain is loud and frantic and surprisingly not appealing as Damon's more subdued and authentic feeling along with his heightened smart and sharp assassin talents. There are only a few moments of quality movie production here, mostly in the second half of the series especially the intense dramatic scene between Chamberlain and Quayle. Perhaps at the time of its release the movie plot was exciting and new, but today it now seems old fashioned and melodramatic. The problem may have been with the director and writers of an old television mentality. Unlike the updated version, the musical score lagged and really did not contribute to or enhance the television production. The acting, especially the fight scenes felt artificial like old television westerns. With an intriguing potential to exploit the plot twists and relational turmoil, this television series never reached its potential and is probably only worth watching to compare with Matt Damon's performance and storyline.

This almost brilliant comedy, romance, coming of age, mental health, mystery, thriller is just that - everything but the kitchen sink. Like perhaps the Koreans themselves and their educational system - the effort to try too much results sometimes in brilliance but also weaknesses and flaws as the cracks begin to show. The writers and directors in trying to produce the bright and best television series have partially undone what they have attempted to accomplish. This series has some great delightful, entertaining moments of brilliance but the inclusion of so many genres to capture the widest television audience possible becomes too much to enjoy and comprehend. The attempt to cast the widest net possible also forces the net to almost collapse under its own weight. By jettison the murder, mystery thriller aspects of the movie and allow the remaining audience to enjoy a quality experience of comedy, romance, drama, coming of age, and autism, a more authentic and fabulous television series might result.

To expand Korean television, like this series, to an international audience the difficulty of distinguishing Korean characters who look similar to each other creates an even more confusing and confabulating effort to keep track of what is going on in the movie taking away from the ease of just watching and enjoying the series. To include so many detail required of a murder mystery just becomes too much for a number of viewers. Too taxing to just enjoy watching. Just the additional inclusion of a young man with autism into this movie, a very commendable move at inclusion, is sufficient to fill up the capacity of this television series to be appreciated.

Korea appears to be on its way in surpassing American comedy-romance, but they still have a ways to discovering a more appealing, enticing way to incorporate crime mystery thrillers the way that the American film industry, including Monk (2002) and Lucifer (2016). Perhaps Korean directors, writers along with their producers have succumbed in a similar fashion that the Korean students and their mothers have to the lure of succeeding at all costs. Episode 5 and a motorbike that just happens not to work is one example where the script outline forces the action instead of a more naturalistic and more acceptable dramatic scenes and even the term "Aspergers" instead of "Autism" in the same episode suggest that the writers are unfamiliar with the actual fact that it is no longer appropriate or used in the mental health field raising further questions as to whether the writers are just taking stereotypical dramatic license to promote the scenes in their series to the detriment of the mental disability community. In the same episode 5, the introduction of a dramatic shift towards scheming of the principal character changes the tone of the whole series to become more tension filled and dramatic to the point of becoming a different series completely and unwatchable having to watch something different than advertised, not something personally appealing.

It is not often until lately that Americans have easy access to foreign movie productions, but it appears that Netflix is flooding its programming with them. Like Korean movies which appear to have set them on a level perhaps even exceeding the entertainment value of American productions in a number of ways, apparently they are not the only ones. This German rom-com has a refreshing different take on the devil-inspired subgenre. What the director and scriptwriters accomplished here was a fascinating balance between comedy, drama, good, and wily evil that set a consistent tone that both allowed a creative edgy darkness and avoid the serious horrific motif that would have been impossible to balance with the lighter, innocent goodness of the premise that this movie was built on. The ending scenes were brilliant in their twisty way the daughter of evil made her indirect presentation in her attempt to carry out a bargain made in hell with her father of turning someone evil on earth above. Deliciously sly badness with goodness.

A well-crafted rom-com about an employee of an energy drink company who coming back from a disastrous sales pitch encounters a stranger on plane and while drinking a lot discloses many secrets about her life. With decent pacing, a rather different and refreshing plot outline, Can You Keep A Secret is entertaining and becomes a fun distracting experience. No real obvious weaknesses to be found in this movie. A simple with no overly lavish attempts at comedy, but a straightforward display of odd circumstances that does not take a lot of thinking only experiencing that offer some clever insights into women and men in relationships.

There is something captivating and delightful with this first episode. It includes a refreshing creative storyline of a newly married bride and her eventual struggles as a consequence. There is an nice homage (special recognition) to La La Land (2016) along with a continued use of a resonating melody used throughout the episode. This episode takes itself seriously as an adult but without melodramatics and introduces a rather mature sense of life especially in the context of Korean culture which is never exaggerated like some Korean television series. The dramatic moments as presented here are rarely found and offer up really tender and touching moments. There is even a quaint reference to Cinderella. The typical use of Korean irony is well accomplished in this episode and never overused that can often be the case.

A surprisingly decent science fiction movie with plenty of action and some emotional content. While somewhat predictable in its evolving storyline, there is good pacing, a nice effort with photography and set design considering the budget constraints ($105 million) for an attempt at a blockbuster being released June 11 when was getting school out. There are a few overly scripted moments that seem made just to keep the movie going forward and maintain a set storyline instead offering a more authentic or serious way out (a little lazy and unoriginal). No real movie breakthrough but this production and its use of existing sci fi and action adventure concepts were put to good use. Worth at single viewing at least revealing a commendable effort in the action adventure sci fi genre. Considering the state of art and conceptualization of movies almost twenty years ago, this movie has withstood becoming dated and retains its production value so far.

Unexpectedly nimble with a sense of charm without any pretention or commercial mainstream crassness. There is an independent film character to this movie and stands out for it simple but meaningful storyline about an inadvertent meeting between an English teacher and a former student who has written a unpublished play and which turns into an effort to make into a high school production. The comedy drama eventually descends into a typical drama section but with much deeper and harsher resonating elements than most such movies and remarkably somehow survives intact. The greatest weaknesses that appear in this movie are the overly sudden resolution about 20 minutes from the end of the movie, the lack of sufficient movie time spent on the play within the play and its ending that would have really captured the "real" audience resonance of the play within the play, and the need to spent a little more time on resolving the relational tension among all the principal characters, especially the director and lead actress in the play within the play. The voice over at the beginning and especially the ending were nice added touches. Overall, the movie was decently performed especially without having to rely on heavy brushes with comedy and quite entertaining.

Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, and Max von Sydow, all major movie stars of their time star in this espionage thriller about a CIA employee who reads publications for their possible strategic value who finds himself on the run from the CIA. This espionage thriller began a new subgenre with its debut after President Nixon and the Watergate Scandal that brought a new sense of paranoia and focus onto our own government as well as contributing to a different more serious, authentic cinematic experience of assassins and spies. Preceded by various espionage adventure thrillers more focused on action as well as the apparent insistence of a strong female role in its movie such as Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959) with Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and James Mason; Murderers' Row (1966) with Dean Martin, Ann-Margret, and Karl Malden; Arabesque (1966) with Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren; Hitchcock's Topaz (1969) and the eight James Bond movies (1962-1974) before The Three Days of Condor opened. Three Days of Condor is a serious and slower paced movie that provokes dread as a backdrop allowing the mind to engorge itself on tension-building, thought provoking fear similar to the two major spy movies that came before it, The Ipcress File (1965) with Michael Caine and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) with Richard Burton, Oskar Werner, and Claire Bloom and also may have later influenced John le Carre's The Russia House (1990) with Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer. Robert Redford would reappear later along with Brad Pitt in The Spy Game (2001) with its gritty and harshly thoughtful script. Enemy of the State (1998) and even The Bourne Identity (2002) these much more action-oriented espionage films owe quite a bit to Three Days o Condor. Even with its slower pace, the direction, editing, and scripted performance retain their appeal and ability to captivate the audience much like the mystery thriller of Terrence Young's Wait Until Dark (1967) with Audrey Hepburn. A great film in itself for delivering on a difficult overall subtle tone for a espionage thriller without much action allowing the audience in simmer with nerves and a haunting sense of apprehension that indirectly takes into the very spotlight as the actors on the screen experience.

Alas this television series breaks down terribly after the first eight or nine episodes. Lately, Korea has produced some of the best comedy romance movies and series. Unfortunately this is not one of them. What could have been a great comedy, romance, thriller unfortunately becomes an overly long, bloated series to too many characters, wacky and terrible subplots with other characters. With quality editing and shortening this sixteen episode series to eight, this Korean television series could have become one of the best romance comedies and or thrillers to come out o Korea. The first half this series was funny, hard-edged with its great mystery, and raised the bar for depicting romance between its two principal characters. But after the mystery is sorted out, the comedic banter between the principals is left to mostly sideshows of other characters often becoming a terrible, unfunny parodies. The pacing of the rest of the series till the end is uneven, and at times boringly, ploddingly slow. It is difficult to separate the American and Korean cultural niceties for quality, but Koreans are definitely depicted more prudish without much of the enticing open intimate depictions of American rom-coms or the rather off-putting Koreans lavishing on a "flirt" and a "date" period that is so atypical for Americans. The Korean scriptwriters could have learned a lot from the Japanese rom-com Good Morning Call series that went on for two seasons and 27 episodes (2016-2017) which even did not have to rely on sexy scenes to be a great television series. Top Korean or Chinese romance movies to watch include: Hotel Del Luna (2019), My Holo Love (2020), and Live Up To Your Name (2017).

There are hundreds of comedy romance movies out there and like the business themed background to this movie, the competition is harsh and tough. This predictable movie has its charm along with some of the best photography of an exotic place, St. Martins. One could describe this movie as more drama than comedy and it works well as this stuck-up billionaire executive tries to convince another smaller business owner to sell her business so he can acquire a special battery that would significantly increase this big business's bottom line. The eventual triangle between one man and two women is handled quite well, exceeding the typical problematic relational difficulties of other movies. The evolution of the billionaire is handled pretty well and the typical banter is scripted above average while the typical dramatic moments as required of comedy romance movie is intriguingly fresh, though it could have been developed a bit more. The editing of this movie also stands out, making scenes shorter with a nice bite to them, leaving out more wasteful dialogue. This rom-com is enjoyable, nicely muted, but does not break huge ground. It is, however, worth one viewing and taking the time to savor the sights and production values of this movie.

This sequel seems to start off with a promising, perhaps this movie could be better than the lukewarm original movie, but it descends into unrealistic fight scenes that become an off-putting parody. Many of the later fight scenes go on for an insanely long time which become quite obnoxiously boring and raises that question as to maybe how bad the Accident Man is at killing people. A good number of jokes fall flat because they are so obviously forced into the scene as if they were supposed to be so witty and make the movie better. They do not. Maybe the Accident Man should have died many times like this movie. The director seems to have adopted that more is better, but in this instance, creative, new, and refreshing assassins would be more in line with the original theme of Accident Man. As a scriptwriter, one could have bought or procured a list of the assassins coming to get the also off-putting man who Accident Man is guarding and go on the offensive and show how amazingly diabolic he actually was in accidentally offing these other amazing assassins. The off-putting man who the Accident Man is stuck with is actually the worse part of the movie providing this movie with mostly disagreeable characters that nobody likes and makes watching this movie pretty much of a hurtful venture in of itself. As mentioned in a review for Accident Man (2018), Polar (2019) would be the decent comparison assassin movie for this comedic, specialized assassination sub-genre. Pulp Fiction (1994) of course would be the standard or even Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2002) and Vol 1 (2003). In many ways, this movie really does not make a lot of sense either. While the few last scenes had some net positive value, ultimately this movie is not worth watching, no "accidents" here.

There are a number of decent and even good assassin movies out there. This is not one of them. This comic attempt at an action thriller fell short because of its sub-standard treatment o an actually pretty good plot. In the mold of Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol 2, with the principal character having to face various specialized assassins, Scott Adkins as Mike Fallon goes on the warpath with a weak script, littered with cliques, weak and mostly mindless fight scenes that do not do justice to the intriguing assassin theme of brilliant ways of killing people. Instead of the entertaining Pierce Brosnan from The Matador (2005) or light-hearted Brad Pitt from Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2007) or Bullet Train (2022), we get Mike Fallon struggling with inconsistent fight resolution scenes. Even John Cusack was given a more entertaining effort in Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) and Mads Mikkelsen was given a solid script that enabled him to perform in a similar but decent assassin movie, Polar (2019). Accident Man failed to meet the production value that the intriguing story deserved.

As one of the few Asian focused superhero movies, the bar for succeeding is much higher and unfortunately, the director and screenwriters failed to meet that bar. Flashbacks accordingly should only be used rarely and only if necessary to really enhance the overall movie, not as some fashionable stylistic preference. Some of the overly dramatic characterizations of Asians still linger in this movie and the insistence of achieving a fusion of Guardians of the Galaxy comedy with the more straightforward Ironman franchise underwhelms unlike the way Black Widow and Dr. Strange found their own loft dry wit that especially Asian movies truly deserve. The Asian-American director overly Americanized the more Eastern nuance of this movie that could have incorporated a more serious and credible presentation of ethnic culture like The Black Panther or Wakanda. In effort to create a mainstream Asian superhero loses too much in its development and presentation. While avoiding obvious stereotyping and parodies, Shang-Chi only duplicates past superhero movies and fails to truly reach the potential of the contribution that an Asian perspective could offer to the adventure, action movie genre.

The movie begins to turn around after most of the useless flashbacks are used up and offers somewhat of a more serious superhero movie. There are then efforts to present this movie more than the typical black and white, two-dimensional movie design. But cute, exotic set designs and brief pseudo-Asian intellectual sayings are not enough. When one magic arrow from an inexperienced practitioner can make a difference, this movie only establishes itself as mostly cliches and stereotypical, derivative script writing, and makes one wonder if the Asian-American director really had that much control over his own movie. With all that is said and done though, in more capable hands, these new Asian characters still have potential in a sequel that is alluded to in end credits along with a potential use in a Marvel movie ensemble.