Special ID (2013)

People are voting emotionally.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Donnie Yen's name usually mean the movie is gonna be pretty fun, i own several of his movies and despite not all of them being masterpieces, at least there entertaining. Then there the kind of Ip Man 1 and 2 which are just awesometacular movies.This one i heard suffered from a lot of problems on set and it show. First of all the story is completely messed up. The movie try at some point to make you feel for these characters, but somewhat for a major part of the movie its just too hard. You just follow and ask yourself who is this...? Protagonist appears left and right and you just get the basic of the story. I never got into the story, as why this guy is a bad guy, why he is doing what he does, and they kinda try to establish a connection with some characters with minimal back story flashbacks but there so few of them it basically just tell you that protagonist 1 knows antagonist 1.How about the martial arts you would say? Well, its really hit or miss, some scenes where pretty good while others where cringe worthy... Special effects even tough rarely used are terrible when they happen.In the end considering i didn't had a terrible time, but was not either that much into the movie, i will give it a slightly average score of 6.Donnie's acting help him get 1 more points...

A lot of criticism has been raised at SPECIAL ID for its production problems, resulting in a slightly choppy, hastily put-together movie and a story that isn't entirely satisfying. To be honest, none of this stuff bothers me when I watch an action or martial arts film; all I care about is the calibre of the action. After all, who watches something like WARRIOR KING for the story? The good news is that SPECIAL ID is a film packed with the best kind of action pulled off by Hong Kong producers: wonderful car chases, hard-hitting martial arts fights, and all manner of bruising brawls and showdowns. I could care less about the story, as long as I see Donnie kicking ass in a well-choreographed way, and SPECIAL ID gives us ample opportunity to see the star at his best.Okay, this film isn't of the calibre of KILL ZONE, or FLASHPOINT. But then, I didn't expect it to be; few films are. Instead, it's a decent thriller with some cracking and spectacular action scenes destined to be enjoyed over and over again. I really enjoyed watching it, and if that makes me an undemanding viewer, then so be it.

Weak action film is far from Donnie Yen's best.The plot has Yen as a deep cover cop battling a crime lord.I interviewed Donnie Yen when this film played at the New York Chinese Film Festival in November 2013 and before I could say anything about the film, or anything t all, Yen began talking about how disappointed he was in the film. He went on to talk about how the film was put together the wrong way and was doomed never to work. He seemed to be distancing himself from the film, which was strange since no one at the festival had seen it yet. You know a film can't be really good if its star bad mouths it.Actually the film is't horrible. The plot is a mess but the action mostly works and sometimes that's enough. In the present case it's almost enough, certainly the film would be worth seeing streaming or as a loaner, anything so long as you're not paying much to see it.Donnie's done mostly better and he's done worse.

I'm always surprise that Donnie Yeh has not exploded onto America like Jackie Chan or Jet Li. I saw a biography on the man and learned that he spent a lot of his childhood in the states and as such speaks better English than the average Chinese action star who basically just learned how to read lines in English. Kind of Ironic, and added to the fact that The Don is more attractive than his peers you would think Hollywood would be knocking on his door, Or maybe they are and Donnie chooses to stay away from the headaches the ones that came before him had to go through.Special ID shows the kind of hands-on film making Donnie gets to do in his native land. The action sequences are long and energetic like I would expect from a Kung Fu flick, and never let down. What I love best is the martial arts sequences are very contemporary with what's going on today. The Don does the traditional high speed flying kicks that are trade mark in Kung Fu, but I noticed that Donnie is using the rapid punches that remind me of his role as Ip Man. I also notice that mixed martial arts seems to have influenced the fights in this movie with a lot of low to the floor fighting which actually made the conflicts realer for me. Outside the fight choreography, there was also an awesome chase scene as well.Donnie plays a police officer who wants to take down China's most ruthless crime syndicate. In order to do this he has to go deep undercover, but when the mob boss suspects a traitor in his ranks, Don as "Dragon" Chan, is in trouble of getting his cover blown and his life ended, which puts him in conflict with his duty as a police official. His best ally is Fang Jing, an officer who puts herself on the line and in the action. I love noting more than to see a woman who is more than just eye candy to the action hero (but she does do eye candy very well).Another highlight for me is one of The Antagonist's henchmen Sunny played by Andy Oh. He spoke a lot of English in the film for reasons I did not fully get, but this may have help with me relating to the character, as I did not have to read what he was saying, but the fight scene between he and The Don was brilliant.Once again the Don delivers a worth wild Action flick, to add on to the many reasons why Hollywood does a disservice to itself sleeping on his skills, but it's probably for the best as an American made Special ID just would not be the same.