Name: Film Review: Tokyo Raiders (2000)
Item: Tokyo Raiders
Rating: 50
Author: @drax

(source: tmdb.org)

In early 2000s Hong Kong film makers have invested a lot of money and effort to prove doom sayers wrong and prove that, despite Chinese takeover, their cinema industry can not only continue to thrive, but actually compete with Hollywood in its own game. One of the more successful efforts was Tokyo Raiders, 2000 action comedy directed by Jingle Man, known as the start of successful franchise.

Plot begins when Macy (played by Kelly Chen), daughter of wealthy Hong Kong banker, decides to defy her father and flies to Las Vegas in order to marry her Japanese boyfriend Ken Takahashi (played by Toru Nakamura). When Ken fails to appear at the altar, Macy is baffled and flies back to Hong Kong where she would stumble on Yung (played by Ekin Cheng), interior decorator who wants to find Ken over unpaid bills. Two of them fly to Tokyo and find that Ken got involved in some illegal business with yakuza, and because of that Yung and Macy face the wrath of yakuza boss Takeshi Ito (played by Hiroshi Abe). They are both helped by Lin (played by Tony Leung Chiu-wai), eccentric private detective who works helped by a small army of sexy female assistants. They begin to investigate Ken’s disappearance and soon find that the case involves marital infidelity, organised crime and international espionage.

Tokyo Raiders was immensely succesful at Hong Kong and much of the Asian box office, although Hong Kong critics apparently weren’t that impressed. Many considered director Jingle Ma as nothing more than cheap imitator of John Woo. Such criticism, although expected from the more demanding viewers, is somewhat unfair to Jingle Ma, since even some of his more renowned colleagues often fail to address common problem in Hong Kong commercial films – plots that are paper-thin yet terribly complicated at the same time. Ma, who began career as associate of Jackie Chan, was more interested in action scenes, as well as the obvious parody of Charlie’s Angels. His efforts were helped by good cast, including visibly aged Tony Leung Chiu-wa, as well as composer Peter Kam who used Latino motives in the soundtrack to add semi-ironic note to numerous scenes of fighting. Many of the action scenes are impressive and some are inventive, like Lin’s use of umbrella to fend off attackers at the beginning. Another good thing about Tokyo Raiders is fast tempo which helps audience miss numerous holes in the plot. Tokyo Raiders is one of those action comedies that provides sufficient levels of entertainment to low demanding audience. Its success was followed by two sequels, both directed by Jingle Ma – 2007 Seoul Raiders and 2017 Europe Raiders.

RATING: 5/10 (++)