Tweet
Released by: 88 Films
Released on: April 11th, 2022.
Director: Vincent Kok
Cast: Jackie Chan, Shu Qi, Emil Chau, Stephen Chow, Vincent Kok, Tony Leung
Year: 1999
Purchase From Amazon
Gorgeous – Movie Review:
Directed by Vincent Kok, from a script he co-wrote with Ivy Ho and leading man/producer Jackie Chan, 1999's Gorgeous opens in Taiwan where we meet Bu (Shu Qi), a pretty young woman who works at the karaoke bar that her parents own. A local man named Long-Yi (Richie Jen) has a crush on her and tries to talk her into marrying her by presenting her with a giant oyster, but it doesn't work. When she finds a bottle with a love letter in it containing a Hong Kong address, she decides to leave her family and her dolphin friend behind and take a flight across the water to, hopefully, find true love.
When Bu arrives at the address, she meets a very confused man named Albert (Tony Leung). He isn't interested in a romantic relationship with this stranger as he's gay. When, out on a fashion shoot with Albert, she witnesses an attack on a stock-trading bachelor named C.N. Chan (Jackie Chan) at the hands of his rival, L.W. Lo (Emil Chau), she manages to save him. He takes her back to his place for a meal, and they hit it off - she likes that he's rich and that he's kind to her and he's amused by the way she eats. Eventually they're an item, but things get complicated when Long-Yi shows up in Hong Kong hoping to win Bu back and Chan has to square off against Lo's latest find, a professional boxed named Alan (Bradley James Allan).
Gorgeous is, in a word, uneven. It wants to be a sappy romantic comedy, and most of the time it is, but because Jackie Chan is headlining the movie, it has to have some fight scenes in it, and it does. These fight scenes aren’t on the level of Chan’s best work, but they’re still really strong and make the movie worth watching, the two matches with the late Bradley James Allan (who also worked with Chan on Who Am I?, Mr. Nice Guy, The Accidental Spy, Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon and a few others) being the main highlights in this department. Chan’s unrivaled ability to work physical comedy into his martial arts set pieces is given a few moments to shine here. A scene where his character saves Bu from a gang of (clearly gay) ‘hoodlums’ that Albert has set up for her to help get Chan’s attention only to have a real gang show up shortly after sees Jackie fighting on a motorbike in interesting and unique ways, and the first scene we see him in, where he fights Lo’s cronies on the top of a boat, is also very well done.
The romance, however, is hokey and overwrought. Some of the comedy between Bu and Chan is effective but just as much of it is sappy and stagey. Our two stars don’t quite have the right chemistry here to convince us that they’re in love, even if Bu manages to convince Chan to take a day off and spend it with her (spoiler alert – they decide to go swimming with dolphins – there’s a weirdly high dolphin quotient in this movie!). We can see why, on paper, they like each other: he’s a wealthy playboy who wants to settle down and find someone he enjoys spending time with and she’s a fun, quirky and beautiful young woman with lots of charisma. But it never feels natural.
Still, Gorgeous is worth seeing for the same reason that most of Chan’s output from this era is worth seeing, and that’s for the right and the stunt set pieces. This lets us look past the bad CGI (dolphins again) used throughout the movie and focus on the impressive scenes of acrobatics and martial arts. Bonus points for throwing in a genuinely hilarious cameo from known other than Stephen Chow as a cop that winds up being the funniest bit in the entire film.
Note that this Blu-ray edition from 88 Films includes the original Hong Kong version of the movie which runs 1:59:40 and the International version which runs 1:39:20. The shorter International version removes a lot of the details of Bu’s backstory
Gorgeous – Blu-ray Review:
88 Films brings Gorgeous to Blu-ray framed at 2.35.1 widescreen and in AVC encoded 1080p high definition taken from “2K transfers from original Film materials of the Hong Kong & International versions of the film” on a 50GB disc. Transfer quality is pretty solid. Some scenes look a bit soft, but it’s quite likely that this is due to the original cinematography. There’s virtually no print damage here at all on the Hong Kong version, though some small white specks and scratches do show up on the international version. The film’s color reproduction looks really strong. Skin tones appear lifelike and natural throughout and the transfer benefits from strong black levels. There might be some light DNR here, as things look just a tad smooth and a little waxy but it isn’t overpowering. Compression is pretty solid and all in all, the picture quality here provides a nice upgrade over the previous DVD edition.
The Hong Kong version gets a Cantonese 16-bit DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track, while the International version gets English and Cantonese options in 16-bit DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. Subtitles are provided for each language option on the disc. Unless you have an aversion to subtitles, watch the movie in Cantonese as the English dub is as goofy as you’d expect it to be. Regardless of that, the audio here is nicely done. The 5.1 mix spreads out the score and effects work nicely while everything remains properly balanced throughout. There are no issues with any hiss, distortion or sibilance, it all sounds very good.
Extras for the Hong Kong Version start off with an audio commentary with Frank Djeng and FJ Desanto. It’s an interesting talk that covers a lot of ground, including Shu Qi’s career, the different cameos that are featured in the movie, some of the Hong Kong locations that pop up in the movie, details on Allan’s role in the movie as well as his career in Hong Kong, insight into Vincent Kok’s career as well as on the different cast and crew members he worked with here, details on the production and on the film’s theatrical release and much more. A second audio commentary with action experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema is also included, and it covers how odd it is that Jackie doesn’t appear in the movie for the first fifteen minutes, how Shu Qi hasn’t aged since this movie was made and still looks amazing, the fantasy elements of the movie, the different bit part players that populate the movie, the environmental messages in the film, Leeder’s own experiences with Brad Allan and lots of other details.
On the International Version we get an audio commentary with Jackie Chan, in English, where he talks about audience reactions to this movie, how and why he came to star in this film, where his career was at after the success of Rush Hour in the western market, his thoughts on how the audience would react to him starring in a romance movie, casting the movie, working with Brad Allan on the fight scenes and putting together some of the stunt set pieces, working with Vincent Kok, having control over the action scenes in the movie, why he wears white in so much of the movie and lots more.
There are also some featurettes included here, starting with Shy Guy - Andy Cheng On Brad Allan, which is a seventeen minute piece where Cheng talks about meeting Allan in 1996, what he was like to work with, how he was very talented as a stuntman, his background in gymnastics and wushu, why Chan liked to work with him, thoughts on his role in Gorgeous and the work that he does in the film, how he had a different way of working than most of the native Hong Kong stuntmen and his thoughts on his tragic passing at a very young age.
Up next is an Interview With Director Vincent Kok titled Boxing Day. This twenty-four minute piece explores how and why he got into the Hong Kong movie industry and how he came to be a director thanks in part to his sister's connections, some of the people that he learned from in his early days, his work with Stephen Chow and the friendship they share, working on the script for Gorgeous and working the comedy into the film, what Jackie Chan was like to work with and wanting to talk to him face to face about doing a romantic comedy before the production started, wanting friendship to be a prominent theme in the movie, the film's production schedule and the hard work that went into it, getting Chow to cameo in the film, working with Tony Leung and Shu Qi and what the Hong Kong film scene was like when the movie was made.
The archival The Making Of “Gorgeous” featurette is a thirty minute piece that includes interviews with Jackie Chan, Tony Leung, Vincent Kok, Richie Jen, Shu Qi and a few others. It covers the fairy tale elements of the movie, contains a lot of behind the scenes footage, clips of Chan's workout routine, the use of live dolphins on set in one scene and more, though it is more of an EPK piece.
Finishing up the extras on the disc are two music videos, a Hong Kong trailer, an English trailer, menus and chapter selection options.
As is the norm with 88 Films, the packaging is also quite nice. This release comes packaged with some reversible cover sleeve art with the original one sheet on one side and new artwork by Sean Longmore on the reverse. That same Longmore artwork is featured on the slipcover that accompanies the disc. Inside the case you’ll also find a limited edition, twenty-eight page, full color booklet that features writing on the movie by Matthew Edwards that covers his time spent on set in Istanbul during the making of The Accidental Spy (which was made shortly after Gorgeous). A limited edition folded poster featuring Longmore’s art is also included inside the case.
Gorgeous - The Final Word:
Gorgeous isn’t Jackie Chan’s best film but it’s still a movie worth seeing primarily for the impressive fight scenes and stunt work as well as for the bits of comedy that do work. The Blu-ray release from 88 Films is a very strong one, presenting both cuts of the movie and a host of interesting and well-made extra features to go along with a nice presentation for the feature and some deluxe packaging.