4/5 Better than you think
  by punkviper (Pittsburgh, PA USA)
From the perspective of someone who has a much higher appreciation of CYF's action film history than CYF's romantic-comedy/drama history, this film is a winner. People are right when they accuse it of "genre hopping." One minute a bloody gunfight will lead into some corny cop jokes. Then some supernatural acts will lead into a love story which is then followed by quirky Asian comedy. Some might chafe at the thought of such a stew, but it does work.

So, if you already have A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard Boiled, City On Fire, Full Contact, City War, etc. and are looking to branch out into CYF's less-action more-light fare, this would be a great first stop. Also, check out CYF in Once A Thief, another film light on the bloodshed, but still interesting enough to own.

4/5 It's not as bad as everyone says! at all!
  by Brendan Klein (philadelphia)
I picked up this VHs awhile ago on a CYF whim. The film had been critically hated, and bashed on most of the review sites I had seen. However the cover with chow yun fat in the long coat twirling in a leonesque standoff on the front cover, I had to have it. It couldn't be that bad...and it wasn't.

The problem with this film is it tries to hard to show all sides of Chow Yun Fat's persona as a HK superstar, The film goes from Heroic Bloodshed, to slapstick comedy, to Meladramatic touching love story all in the span of two hours. I am a HUGE Chow Yun Fat fan, and can consider myself somewhat of an authority, and even I in no way hated this film!

Chow Yun Fat plays Ah Ching, an American CIA agent in HK who is hired by the USA government to return a stolen national treasure from a Shaolin Temple. The treasure turns out to be a sweet young woman gifted with supernatural powers (why she is a national treasure is never really explained). That being said, Chow Yun Fat falls in love with her, and protects her from other Vengeful CIA agents who want to sell her to the highest bidder.

What I didn't like about this film was some of the comedy, some. I enjoyed most of it, which is very unusual for me becuase I am not a fan of most Hk comedy. But it is just too funny. From Chow's interaction with the Shaolin Monks, to the Foul Mouthed Cabbie who used to be a Shaolin Master, to the fat little monk named "priestling grasshopper", no matter how many times i watch it, it is still funny.

The film is also a very touching love story, Yun Fat and Lin have a real chemistry. The ending always has me in tears no matter how cheesy it is and predictable. I have shown this film to many of my friends, and i watch as they laugh at the funny parts and hide their tears at the ending.

All in all if you are looking for a hardcore John Woo, Ringo Lam bulletfest, you may wanna give this one a skip. But if you are interested in a cute romantic drama with action thrown into the mix, then you have to see this movie. I would try to rent it first though- it depends on your taste.

Also- beware of the tacked on happy ending. HK audiences started to hate unhappy endings after the 1990's, so one was tacked on at the end of this film. When the train leaves in the distance, that is the directors original ending.

5/5 Romance and natural
  by
The story is about a man which this new task is go to Shaolin to protect "Treasure" , he is also not known that what is the treasure that he need to protect.But after manythings happened he finally found that the thing that he really need to go to protect is his love , a girl whom has natural power,she is so kind and nice(led by Wu Chien Lien)since he had found for his real love in all of his life,that he didn't known before that his love is really in China in Shoulin,Wu Chien Lien's performance in this movie is so pure and natural,she can made the audience to believe in her, nice and kind could make the man can left the life that he were in US.to live with her in China,the romantic through this movie is so nice and really made me feel deeply romance in my heart.

2/5 Unfocused Chow Yun Fat Romance
  by James C. Dascoli (Millburn, NJ USA)
I've enjoyed Chow Yun Fat in both Action and Romantic films, so my disappointment in this movie is not because there wasn't enough action. The weakness of the film is in the meamdering plot and lack of focus of the story. At first the movie starts off in typical Hong Kong gangster violence and gun play. But it shifts to a romantic (somewhat comedic) genre only to fall back into the gangster ending. In such it leaves neither audience satisified.

The plot, such as it is, revolves around Chow Yun Fat, a CIA operative, trying to return a Chinesse natural treasure, which is of course a beautiful pyschic nut case woman. Maybe parts of the plot were lost in translation or when I was dozing off, but if she is a Chinese treasuer - why is he trying to 'bring' her back to the US. And if she is a US citizen how did she get kidnapped in China. Then in the end out of nowhere the Head Priest at the Temple she is hiding at is kidnapped. Suffice to say this leads us back to the typical mayhem and destruction of most Hong Kong action movies, which seems incongrous to the previous hour of the movie.

Chow Yun Fat does an admirable job, as would be expected, and if the movie had focused almost exlusively on the romance and mysticism of the story or on the stubbornness of leaders of the Shaolin Temple the movie would have been a lot better and more interesting. The ending (after the gun play) has a nice touch about it. The movie is a rental and you can actually see a little of Crouching Tiger in it, but don't go into it with high expectations. And you wouldn't be missing much if you skipped over the first 20 minutes and just started the movie when he goes to Chine.

4/5 some cheese but overall highly entertaining
  by
typical of hk cinema...you got romance comedy and action all wrapped into one...with some cheese on top. the monks in baseball uniforms was a bit much and the gun battle at the beginning was also a bit corny...but the rest of the movie was highly entertaining....chow and the heroine have great chemistry and the little kid was great as well...