A Nite in MongKok (2004)

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June
Love is a Many Stupid Thing (2004)
Special Tribute Review:
Blackie Ko's Life Express (2004)
Dating Death (2004)
Miracle Box (2004)
Itchy Heart (2004)
Enter the Phoenix (2004)
Breaking News (2004)
Silver Hawk (2004)
Love Battlefield (2004)
Around the World 80 Days (2004)

September
Hidden Heroes (2004)
Dumplings: Three Extreme (2004)
Windstruck (2004) &

Jet Li's Once Upon A Time in China (Box Set DVD)

After the incredible international success of the excellent romance/comedy movie 'My Sassy Girl' Korean director 'Kwak Jae Yong' reverted to the straight Melodrama he had made years before with 'Sketch of a rainy day'  in the Romance film 'The Classic'. Now, with his new film 'Windstruck' He seems to be trying to take half of each of those films and gel them together. And sometimes it works...to a degree.

The story goes like this: When officer Kyunjin hears a woman screaming she cannot let such a crime go unnoticed. She catches a man, Myungwoo, and takes him to the police station where she learns that he is the brave citizen who tried to catch the real criminal. As a newly-appointed teacher at an all girls high school, Myungwoo needs to supervise students on a field trip to the red light district. An officer is assigned to protect him, to his dismay, that person is Kyunjin. Now, it's time for the mission to start.

Windstruck stars 'Jeon Ji Hyun' from 'Sassy girl' and 'Jang Hyuk' from 'Volcano High'. The movie begins with Jeon Ji Hyun standing on the edge of a roof over looking the city as a cover of knockin on heavens door plays out in the background. She moves towards the edge and lets herself fall...!!! The movie is then told in flashback form as she meets and befriends a quiet teacher 'Jang Hyuk' on a routine mission into the red light district. The scenes between the two are sometimes funny but genuinely touching. Even if most of the set ups seem to be drawn from the romance movie book of cliche. Kwaks direction, along with Hyun's winning performance somehow seem to outshine any cheesy-ness there may have otherwise been. Jang Hyuk also gives a quiet and endearing performance as the put upon 'Boyfriend'. The film also has a few nice action sequences with Hyun heading into battle with her reckless "I'm scared of nothing!" Attitude.

 However...Yes...you guessed it, as the film aproaches the mid section a tragic event occurs which threatens to change their lives forever. From here in Kwak Jae Yong allows his camera to spend a large amout of time getting every ounce of emotion from the lead actress. And she does impress. It's telling that the role was writen especially for Jyun Ji Hyun. Since 'My Sassy Girl' she has become a fantastic actress . However... it is also during this latter half... just as in My Sassy Girl... that the movie starts to drag a little. It really could've done with about 20 minutes being cut from the running time. And however good an actress Hyun is there is only so many times you can watch one girl cry in a movie. Despite this the clever use of Wind imagery is very nice to watch...and, come the end there is a lovely surprise for everyone who has seen 'My Sassy girl'.

I'd say if you've never seen Sassy girl you'll probably get more from this film than those who have as there is nothing  new on display here. All in all 'Windstruck' is a cute little film with some quirky moments and one or two nods to the directors previous films...it is however...Nowhere near as good as 'My Sassy Girl'

I rate it 7/10.

Click for full size pic!

Reviewed by Seraph (Paul) - September 2004