China Strike Force (2000)

The greatest movie ever made..!

good back-story, and good acting

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Tony Lau (Dacascos) is a gangster trying to convince the higher-ups in his organization to start running drugs, but they say no. Coolio (Coolio) (no, that's not a mistake; in what has to be the most perfect casting of all time, Coolio just happens to play a guy named Coolio) is a gangsta from South Central L.A. who is trying to make inroads into the Hong Kong criminal underworld. So naturally Tony and Coolio gravitate toward each other so they can achieve their own personal aims. Meanwhile, cops Darren Tong (Kwok) and Alex Cheung (Wang) are part of an elite squad who are determined to stop the gangsters and the drugs they import. These guys will stop at nothing, and they're constantly doing crazy stunts to stop the baddies. When they're transferred to Lung Cheng, their contact is Sheriff Lin (Chun), who resembles a Chinese Joe Mantegna. But the real question is: who is the mysterious and beautiful Norika (Fujiwara)? Where do her allegiances lie? So sets the stage for the ultimate showdown between cops and criminals. What will happen? Perhaps the question foremost in the minds of viewers of China Strike Force is: why...WHY is Coolio of all people involved in a Hong Kong action film? And why is his name in the film Coolio? It would have made so much more sense for his character to have a different name, because there is dialogue such as (and I'm paraphrasing here): "Coolio killed my partner two years ago!" Do they mean Coolio or...Coolio? And lets also keep in mind he has a fedora-style hat with no top, so his bizarre, plant-like hair can sprout out the top of the hat. Words can't describe how silly this looks. But in all seriousness, he and Mark Dacascos have good chemistry together, and for American audiences like us, they are the two "names" in the cast, so we already have a sort of recognition factor with them. While Coolio's stereotypical chattering can get irritating, it makes you wonder why this didn't become a three-part series like Rush Hour.Seeing as China Strike Force is light in the character and plot development departments, it makes up for it with stunt work and Martial Arts fights. The stunts stand out as being particularly impressive, especially the car chases. But it's not really enough to keep a 90 minute film afloat, so there is definitely some filler. But it should be noted that American movies have either a Black Yelling Chief (BYC) or a White Yelling Chief (WYC) at the precinct, but here, in a wild twist, is a CYC, or Chinese Yelling Chief. But the movie as a whole has a huge American influence, as best indicated by its numerous Arnold Schwarzenegger references. And of course the presence of the one and only Coolio, who - though you have to wait quite a while for it - gets to do some Coolio-Fu on his opponents. And in an (unintentionally?) "Meta" sequence, we find out Coolio is played by Coolio, while Coolio music plays on the soundtrack. We believe the official mathematical term for that is Coolio Cubed.In the end, China Strike Force isn't really the most consequential movie out there, but it makes for a decently entertaining one-time watch, thanks to the obvious care that went into the stunt work.

I saw this movie at an asian cafe and I can honestly say, this is one of those few movies that can elicit an entire room full of people to tearful laughter just for being so bad. While I have to admit that I didn't pay very close attention to the first half of the movie, the near-nekked back shot of one of the antagonist got my attention (*cough cough* =P) and thanks to the tepid company I had at the time, I decided to watch the rest of the movie. It's essentially a very typical "Hong Kong Action Flick" (TM) with the helpless girl, the foreign baddies who speak English, and the protagonist with a good heart. A million bullets, ten cringe-worthy lines (at the very least), and a hundred thousand explosions later, everything is solved of course and everyone goes home nice and happy. Brainless, easy-to-follow entertainment, not bad after a couple of beers I would imagine, but being as I was ENTIRELY too sober at the time, I would say that the only reason I didn't run out of the cafe was because I was having too much fun laughing at their understanding (or lack thereof) of physics. Motorcycles slamming into walls with heroes flying into the air are just a tad too much for me to take and the entire cafe reverberated with laughter for five minutes after, and given this cafe was populated by geeks, explaining just WHY it was impossible. No duh. Nevertheless, it's an action flick, so check your brains at the door and enjoy this movie for all it's testosterone-y goodness. It doesn't get much worse than this (speaking as a female of course), but then, why would anyone expect it to be better? Besides, watching Coolio try to act is just as hilarious as anything else. 2/10 (1 pt just for the sauna scene)

CHINA STRIKE FORCE has some strikes against it. One is the odd casting of Coolio and the Japanese female lead. The other is the casting of two pop idols, which usually signal a flighty, silly movie.While CSF is sometimes silly, it's mostly entertaining. Not incredibly so by any stretch, but entertaining enough that you wouldn't mind watching the film again. The action is good, and Coolio gives the film some terrific laughs.CSF is one of those films that doesn't do anything it does with great excellence, but it's always good enough that you never feel cheated.6 out of 10.

*warning- spoilers* The film is reasonably acted as far as Hong kong actioners go and this is the best non-chan, non- woo HK film I have seen. The actors are all okay ranging from adeqaute to moments of cheesyness or woodenness. Mark Dacascos is very good in this as the bad guy and he makes an excellent baddie in a limited part. His demise was also a let down, I felt there wasn't a big enough showdown between him and Aron Kwok. Mark was excellent in this as usual with his fighting, he did not look out of place infact his form and acrobats beat the others hands down and he did some impressive stunt work whereas say Van Damme would have been consistently doubled. The film has a good pace, Coolio is funny in an over the top way and there are some exceptional stunts. The fight scenes are first class although as far as Hong Kong goes I have seen better and some unrealistic stunts and wire work also look dodgy but overall I was entertained. Dacascos stole the show for me and his only weak moment was where he was smoking a cigar, it is obvious he's not really a smoker with his strict training he undertakes and the fact he looked like he was going to throw up, aswell as a sore sounding throat. Overall this is a good way to pass 90 or so minutes although the DVD I own has a bad picture and mediocre sound. 7/10