Jackie Chan has yet another kung fu comedy – with this one being more comedy with a little kung fu / martial arts thrown on top.
Gorgeous is about a girl in Taiwan named Bu (played by Qu Shi), a young girl yearning for love (awww). Disappointed with the slim pickings in town, she finds a bottle in the ocean with a note ‘I’ll be waiting for you in Hong Kong – Arthur’.
After reading this note Bu does the smart thing – jumps on a plane to Hong Kong and finds Arthur!
There is a problem, Arthur is a homosexual and has no interest in perky young girls like Bu. But they decide to hang out anyway on a boat. While sailing and enjoying sea breezes, Bu witnesses a fight on a another boat – between a guy named Chan (guesses? – Jackie Chan) and some men. She then offers him a lift on her boat and the town end up crashing into a rock.
After being rescued Bu ends up at Chan’s house – a penthouse that is insanely clean and white as Chan is quite rich. Charmed by Chan (and possibly his riches) Su falls for him and devises a plan to have him fall for her.
The plan? to pretend to be the missing girlfriend of a Taiwanese mobster. How that would work, I don’t know. But from there they have their get togethers whilst Chan deals with his old friend trying to send people around to beat him up constantly and for almost no good reason. So of course there’s lots of action and trouble in paradise as the two experience some ‘bumps in the road’ in their relationship.
A Romantic Comedy with Unnecessary Action….Sorta…
So the main storyline is Chan and Bu – falling in love (once again – awww..). But the action and fights seem purely superficial and unnecessary. However, the fighting is easily the best part of the movie so I’m not sure what to think!
We see Chan fighting off his buddy’s goons who have no intention of really hurting him, before pitting against an undefeated pint-sized boxer – who does somne awesome stuff!
So in a way the story is like a superficial container for the fighting ….or in reality its the fighting that’s superficial layed over the story. Confusing? It depends on how you perceive it. The story is really not that great, the action however, is something else!
The Martial Arts and Action
At the beginning of the film we see the usual smart and highly inventive fighting style of Jackie Chan fighting multiple men. He uses his environment and seems to move in and out of small spaces ducking and weaving and doing his ever so precise stunt work. This is what Jackie movies are all about!
But the rest of the movie goes onto another awesome level – showing off some of Jackie’s best one on one fight scenes has he takes on the Pint size boxer!
The two trade off against each other impossible fast and with tremendous ferocity. Jackie’s highly animated moves are strictly more fighting oriented and less ‘stunt’ oriented. He throws more punches and kicks and shows off some really awesome martial arts at a pace I’ve never seen before. It was pretty damn nice.
The action shows up on a handful of times but each scene is fantastic. This is one of the more technical martial arts focused performances of Jackie’s career, I actually like that it was more of a boxing match than anything else toward the end of the film. Nicely done.
The Verdict?
An ordinary story with nice action. No depth, just entertainment. Check it out.
