Movielogr

Rating: 6.5 stars

Tags

hoopla Hong Kong martial arts

All movies seen on 07/10/2019

View on: IMDb | TMDb

Iceman (2014)

Directed by Law Wing-Cheong

Action | Comedy | Science Fiction

Overview

An imperial guard and his three traitorous childhood friends ordered to hunt him down get accidentally buried and kept frozen in time. 400 years later, they are defrosted continuing the battle they left behind.

Rated R | Length 104 minutes

Actors

Donnie Yen | Baoqiang Wang | Huang Sheng-Yi | Simon Yam | Yu Kang | Lam Suet | Lo Hoi-Pang | Jacqueline Chong | Kelly Fu | Alice Chan | Mark Wu | Chan Ho-Man | Sukie Shek Wing-Lei | Singh Hartihan Bitto | Tony Ho | Tenky Tin Kai-Man | Shek Yin Lau | Jack Wong Wai-Leung | Bonnie Wong | Justin Cheung

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

Holy shit is this so much better than its sequel, Iceman: The Time Traveler. Like, this is still not a great movie but it’s just better in every aspect. I guess maybe I really screwed up by not watching this first but I really didn’t know there was a sequel. Ugh.

It’s a fish out of water / Yankee in King Arthur’s Court mashup. If you can accept the premise (these Ming Dynasty warriors get frozen in ice for 400 years and also happen to have superhuman abilities- fighting, jumping, etc, and can somehow easily assimilate into modern 21st century Hong Kong very easily- maybe it’s another superhuman ability?), then you’ll have a lot of fun with this. Besides the warriors, May - the hooker with the heart of gold - is so much better realized in this. Granted we would’ve known her backstory in the sequel but that film does nothing with her other than keep her in the way of Donnie Yen’s character.

Yes this is a preposterous movie but Yen and the others are having fun. Simon Yam is chewing up the scenery as the big baddie. Suet Lam is even a hoot. All the fights are better staged. Everything works for a satisfying and entertaining movie. Unlike the sequel, which yes, I shouldn’t have watched before this.

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