Sunday, December 31, 2017

Shanghai Soon?



The Hong-Kong-born-British-citizen-IRA-revenge thriller you have always been waiting for. The trailer for this looked really good, and I was not disappointed. Jackie Chan deftly plays the father of a woman who is killed in a terrorist bombing (no spoilers, I promise) who sets out to "find the bastards who killed my daughter" as the saying goes. Pierce Brosnan is terrific as the former IRA/Sinn Fein leader turned peaceful bureaucrat to whom Chan's character turns to find answers, and of course in the super-secretive world of the New IRA, none are coming. That is where it goes terribly wrong for Brosnan's Deputy Minister for Irish Affairs, as he drastically underestimates Chan in ways that would spoil the plot if I revealed. This is really a two person cat-and-mouse game but the supporting cast of English and Irish stalwarts is great - the main event is Man v. IRA. You can take a guess who loses. Pretty violent, so if you don't like that avoid this film. But, if you can stomach it, it is well worth the effort.