MovieChat Forums > Fong juk (2006) Discussion > is this the film i went to see?

is this the film i went to see?

posted 17 years ago by eggy_1988
23 replies | jump to latest

ok slightly confused now. i did go see a gang film called exiled last night...but this place has given it high reviews and tonnes of praise. i was sat in the cinema praying for time to fly in this god forsaken movie. i just couldnt get into it at all, there was nothing of how the characters were related except 1 photo which wasnt explained. and as far as a plot went we spent the 15 min drive afterwards trying to get a coherent one out of us both.

i just really didnt like this movie one bit. despite the fact i get in free i really felt like walking out and demanding money back, just for some satisfaction of time wasted.

Why does everyone like this film....? cross genre i know but paradise lost was better imo, and thatr wasnt excactly the greatest movie of all time now was it lol.

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A revoloution without dancing is a revoloution not worth having. - V

[–] torydude 17 years ago

Yep... That's the one.

I'm WAY into all this kinda stuff, and will watch ANYTHING a first time... But this movie ABSOLUTELY BLEW!

An obvious 4+ groups of people gathered their stuff & left through-out the movie. And my GF & I were only sticking-around to wait for the pay-off ending (that never came).

Camera-work & all that is great, scenery etc.

Characters are good, acting fine also.

Storyline = 100% SNOOZEFEST throughout entire movie!!!

Anyone who thought this movie was amazing needs to give themselves a few sharp uppercuts, then wake the *beep* up.

Anyone who's seen this movie entirely, and says they'd watch it again, is a 100% LIAR.

[–] aidanmckenn 17 years ago

Pillock.

[–] teenratboy 17 years ago

Perhaps you only like action films where you don't care about the characters? Perhaps Bad Boys will help you with that. You should also look into Con Air.

[–] QueenNadine 17 years ago

>>Anyone who's seen this movie entirely, and says they'd watch it again, is a 100% LIAR.<< You're calling me a liar? Nice generalisation. As another poster suggests Bad Boys may be more appropriate for you.

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[–] MrBelette 17 years ago

"Anyone who's seen this movie entirely, and says they'd watch it again, is a 100% LIAR."
Anybody calling you intelligent is a 200% liar

[–] dslacker-683-753931 9 years ago

I watch this film about once a year. It is funny, sad, violent, heartfelt, well-acted, well-written, and wonderfully directed by a master of his craft.

[–] waldewart 17 years ago

Anyone who's seen this movie entirely, and says they'd watch it again, is a 100% LIAR.

I just watched it again and loved it just a much the second time. I guess that makes me a 100% LIAR. Kewel!!!

[–] grendel824 16 years ago

I liked it, but I'm glad I saw it assuming it would be pretty bad as opposed to hearing someone tell me it was "brilliant" or something. It moved way too slowly at times, which might have actually been refreshing for a movie of this type if it didn't happen quite so much. The gunplay was fun and ridiculous without quite becoming an out-and-out farce. The implied but rarely expounded upon history of the main characters was cool. There are hints of greatness or brilliance here and there, but they're drowned out by the averageness and sometimes below-averageness of the movie.

I'd watch it again, but not soon and not in favor of just about anything in my collection. If you don't understand how somebody could like or even love this movie, then you're not all that bright or you should get yourself checked for autism or Asperger's. But on the other side, people who go around praising movies like this and going on and on about how wonderful and brilliant and genius they are are just setting everyone else up for extreme disapointment. Learn to tell the difference between movies that YOU just end up loving for whatever reason and movies that actually ARE the greatest thing since sliced bread that almost anyone with taste would love. Ironically, the inability to distinguish those kinds of thing ALSO points to autism or Asperger's.

It's not too hard - I LOVE Star Wars, and it's also a really great movie - if you don't see why, there's something wrong with you. I also love Equilibrium, but I'm not about to get somebody excited to see it because it's just not that great of a movie. Maybe they'd love it too, but they'd more likely have a positive experience if they don't expect too much.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Topmounter 16 years ago

I pretty much have to agree with the OP, I just watched this movie and I'm still scratching my head.

Is the region 1 DVD I got from Netflix a completely butchered cut? While I'm a huge fan of Peckinpah, Sergio Leonne and almost any Western, as well as pretty big fan of HK actkion flicks, the movie I just watched seems to bear little to no resemblance to the movie that anyone with a positive review saw.

There was no Cantonese audio track, the English dub was awful and the translation wasn't even close to the subtitles. I ended up having to turn off the subtitles because the difference between them and the dubbed audio was incredibly confusing.

The action scenes were "ok", but I didn't really see anything especially innovative, clever or awe-inspiring. I would have much rather watched Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, etc. again for the 501st time.

While the basics of the plot were pretty obvious, there was very little that kept me interested in or caring about what was happening and I found none of the characters to be especially compelling.

Please tell me there is a Region 2 DVD with a different cut that lives up to the hype.

[–] europe_travel 16 years ago

I agree. This movie sucked. Bad. I booted it from my DVD player after fifteen minutes.

Weak story. Bad acting. Flat visuals. I lost all faith in the movie when the gangster flicked cigar ash in slow-motion.

This is second (or third) rate John Woo and John Woo is a hack.

[–] vance_holley 16 years ago

I juts couldn't believe in this movie. I had so high expectations on it, me being a true Johnnie to fan (I saw Full time Killer, Running out of time, Breakin News, PTU...), and then it looks like a joke of the director on us, the viewers, like hE's saying "you like Hong kong movies? *beep* YOU!" HWy dos everything look so fake? What's wrong?

Now, don't get me wrong, it's not the worst movie i've ever seen (the scene of the restaurant is a pure To moment), but it looks, to me, far from Johnnie to's best.

I would really like to know what is so great about this movie. I really do. Please, someone explain me why you like the movie .

[–] red_phenix 15 years ago

OP.
About the photo not being explained - there are five men, and there is a dated picture of five boys. Add the lines "We grew up together. We joined the gang together" and you don't have to possess a lot of mental power to figure it out. Perhaps reading the subtitles and looking at the screen simultaneously was too hard for you. Maybe next time you should get your girlfriend to speak them aloud.

vance_holley.
I'm assuming you're a guy,and have friends. Have you never shared a bond with a group of your pals that is so strong you'd do anything to help each other out? You have known them for so long and are so comfortable in each others company that you don't even need to speak, you know what the others are thinking, and have faith and trust in on another. Esprit de corps. This movie is about friendship, loyalty and honour, and if you had truly experienced such things you would appreciate this film a lot more. But that's just me, I'll defend this movie from idiocy and people who get their facts wrong (i.e. the original poster) but the rest is opinion. Personally, I really enjoyed it.

[–] relax_already 15 years ago

i personally enjoyed the film. I actually didn't like "Fulltime Killer" =) so maybe its just different tastes! the soundtrack for this film was amazing and the cinematography was well done.

[–] Matt_phoenixuk 15 years ago

I just watched this, I gave it a 4. Pretty rubbish.
Some of the camera work was great but the colour palette was totally wrong, the story was a mess the gunfights were disorientating.

I mean it may seem good idea to flick the camera 180 degrees to show some guy shoot some other then flick back again to watch him die, however this is a basic directing 101 no-no. Breaks the suspension of disbelief, disorientates the viewer and expunges any drama by doing so.

For every step in the right direction this movie took, it took 3 in the wrong direction. If I'd seen this at the cinema I would have demanded my money back too.

[–] djagility 15 years ago

I pretty much agree with this.

I just finished watching the movie and was a bit confused about some parts, I just don't think enough time was spent on showing us more of a connection between them all.

Perhaps the idea was good but it wasn't presented very well. The action was nothing great either.

I'd rate it about a 5, maybe 6, overall I found it pretty bland and slow.

[–] Adam_P_L 14 years ago

I'm surprised that the people who like the film don't talk more about how bizarre and over-the-top the action is. It's not necessarily a reason not to like the film, but based on all the positive reviews, and how epic and amazing they made the film sound, I was surprised to see things like characters shooting doors off their hinges and then shooting the doors back and forth across a room ... that's this movie, right?

And this is the movie where the heroes suddenly jump into a photo booth giggling like a bunch of teenaged girls immediately before the big showdown, right?

I didn't imagine this movie, right?

http://ocdviewer.wordpress.com

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] Adam_P_L 14 years ago

I'm very familiar with Asian cinema (well, Hong Kong and Japanese cinema mostly) and still found this movie weird.

After seeing "Throwdown," I kind of have a better idea of where this director's coming from, but I still prefer Kurosawa, Ozu, John Woo, Miike, the Shaw Bros., Masaki Kobayashi, etc.

http://ocdviewer.wordpress.com

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] gurvinder62 13 years ago

you are right...this is a total crap movie.

[–] tdcp 13 years ago

Contains spoilers....

Last night I put this film on and fell asleep. Couldn't get into it, it didn't keep me from falling asleep. I was tired though.... So I might have started to watch it with the wrong state of mind I thought. It seemed to not lead into something great though.... I wondered as well 'why does this film receive a 7.3 rating', but ratings are often no clear indications of your own tastes. Today I finished watching it and it actually gets better. The slow pace and atmosphere at first made me feel like nothing was happening at all even though there were some action scenes here and there, there didn't seem to be a very interesting story and the characters seemed flat. Today as I continued watching the film, it seemed to keep that atmosphere, but it actually became more fun since the moment they (spoilers start after this) go to rob the truck transporting gold. They decide not to do it and then walk into it after all. There the film became interesting and furthermore it had some more nice scenes. The can of red bull being used as a soccer ball for example. Overall I wouldn't rate this a 7.3, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. Just don't expect a lot of cool action (it has some though) and mostly don't expect rough tough cool characters, it's more of a laid-back silly film with silly gangsters, and DON'T EXPECT this to be done in the way films like 'Sonatine' by Kitano were done. It's an ok film. Not one I would recommend, not one I would tell anyone to stay away from either. Perhaps try first Sonatine, Moon to (2007), Election 1 and 2 (though they are not superb either, they are entertaining) and moving out of the gangster area: Nabbeun namja (2001), Akmareul boatda (2010), Kokuhaku (2010), Kung fu (2004).

"You don't have to say anything at all. I won't believe it anyways."