Special ID

[Jimbo]

Must see this!

[GeneChing]

Special ID - CFF 2013 Trailer

new! Ver.3 SPECIAL ID Trailer Donnie Yen

[GeneChing]

"Special ID" has some great action sequences but also many shortcomings.


"Special ID" has some great action scenes but doesn't have a properly fleshed out storyline or characters.


"Special ID" favours street brawls and MMA-style fighting over the balletic action in traditional martial arts films.

SINGAPORE: “Special ID” follows undercover cop Chen Zilong (Donnie Yen) as he struggles to destroy the criminal organisation he has infiltrated before his cover is blown.

But things get complicated when crime lord Xiong (Collin Chou) begins to doubt Chen’s loyalty to the gang, and sends him on a mission to recover cargo stolen by Chen’s former underling Sunny (Andy On), who has grown into a ruthless criminal willing to kill to get to the top.

Aided by Chinese police officer Fang Jing (Jing Tian), Chen embarks on one final mission to crack the case and leave the underworld behind.

Helmed by Hong Kong director Clarence Fok, “Special ID” is the third film in action star Donnie Yen’s pseudo-trilogy of films after 2005’s “Killzone – S.P.L” and 2007’s “Flashpoint”, which focus heavily on Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) brawling as well as urban street fighting.

Unlike most Chinese action films today, “Special ID” doesn’t just focus on punches and kicks but also MMA-style grappling.

What really sets the film apart is the sheer rawness of the fights.

In contrast with the balletic movements of traditional Chinese martial arts films, there is no finesse or artistry in “Special ID”.

There is just pure brawling, which sees Chen attempt to do as much damage to his opponents in as short an amount of time as possible.

Yen, who is also the film’s action director, managed to showcase a wide variety of MMA-style chokes and bone-crunching holds in the film, giving a fresh twist to traditional fight scenes that tend to have a heavy emphasis on strikes.

Watch only for the action

The film’s set pieces, like Chen’s massive fight in a cramped steamboat restaurant against over twenty punks, are so good they are destined for repeat viewings over YouTube years after the film is released.

But that’s about all the film has to offer – great action.

“Special ID” doesn’t have the tightest of storylines, and the odd-couple romance between Fang and Chen seems shoe-horned into the storyline.

Questions about Sunny’s motivations and why Chen decided to go undercover have also been left unanswered, resulting in them being rather two-dimensional characters.

The acting is pretty much average though veteran action star Collin Chou was spot on as the menacing crime boss Xiong.

Another thing that dragged down the film was Yen’s gratingly bad Mandarin.

While it is endearing at first to hear his Hong Kong accent shine through, it becomes really annoying as the film goes on.

When it comes to “Special ID”, it all boils down to what the viewer is looking for.

Those who want raw, unadulterated action will not be disappointed, but those who want an action film with some semblance of a storyline may prefer to watch something else, or even re-watch the excellent “Killzone - S.P.L” instead.

Just remember to catch the amazing action sequences in "Special ID" when they inevitably end up on YouTube.

3/5 stars.

“Special ID” opens October 18.

Looking for that first forum review.

[GeneChing]

...but not from a forum member.

Special ID (特殊身份) review
Daniel Rutledge 3 News Online Reporter
Friday 18 Oct 2013 10:09a.m.


Donnie Yen, Tian Jing and Andy On in Special ID poster art
3.5/ 5 stars

Donnie Yen is a hero of modern martial arts movies. The numerous trailers for his latest film, Special ID, promised amazing action built primarily on the sort of tight, gorgeous fight choreography that made Yen the star he is.

On this promise it mostly delivers, although it's not quite as satisfying as I had hoped.

The story follows Yen as an undercover cop in a fairly generic Chinese gangster tale with a story that is functional enough, but in no way exciting. That said, plot is strictly relegated to the passenger seat in an action film as intent on delivering high-octane thrills as this one. And it does deliver them well, even if not quite up to the high expectations I had going in.

Yen, who also choreographs the fights, fuses a variety of MMA techniques into them, of course with a lot of kung fu flair. The result is a beautiful combination of brutal styles that make the hand-to-hand combat consistently entertaining. The fistfights are vicious, although there are no bone-breaking or fatal maneuvers.


As far as Donnie Yen fight films go, this is one of the better ones, but there's nothing in it quite as amazing as his battle against 10 karate black belts in Ip Man or the final fight in Flashpoint. Yen's co-stars all work together well, with Tian Jing and Andy On both being particularly impressive.

In addition to the fistfights, there is some impressive stunt work, a deliciously suspenseful haircutting scene and a little gunplay to enjoy. The most action fan gratification comes via an extended car chase sequence that includes a stunning fistfight in and on a moving vehicle, at times remarkably reminiscent of a scene in Kick Ass 2 but leaving that ugly CG mess for dead. It's great.

Yen's screen presence in the lead is super cool. I'd love to hang out with this guy and go tenpin bowling or something. He and his co-stars bring the odd bit of humour to the film, somewhat surprising given the serious tone suggested in the trailers. Added laughs come, as they often do, via the subtitles, with cute use of the word 'rascal' and a random "#NAME" popping up every now and then.

All in all, Special ID is a solid movie. There's nothing too mind-blowing in it, but if you're in the mood for a fun action film highlighted with sweet-as fight scenes and a kick-ass car chase, this is definitely worth the ticket price.

Three-and-a-half stars.

Special ID (特殊身份)
:: Director: Clarence Fok Yiu-leung
:: Starring: Donnie Yen, Collin Chou, Tian Jing, Zhigang Yang, Andy On, Hanyu Zhang
:: Running Time: 99 mins
:: Rating: R16 - Violence and offensive language
:: Release Date: October 17, 2013

[GeneChing]

Donnie Yen on feud with Vincent Zhao on set

Vincent Zhao(L) and Donnie Yen
Jocelyn Lee
The New Paper
Friday, Oct 25, 2013

The drama surrounding martial arts star Donnie Yen's latest action film Special ID continues.

Last year, actor Vincent Zhao pulled out during filming. Zhao, 41, claimed that Yen was demanding and difficult to work with and changed the script without seeking his approval, leading to many of his scenes being removed. Special ID is showing here.

Yen, 50, did not comment on the issue until recently in Guangzhou, where he was promoting the cop film.

1 CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE FEUD BETWEEN YOU AND VINCENT ZHAO ON SET?

As a producer, I approached him to film the movie, but the company wasn't agreeable because the management found him to be very difficult to work with.

Even after he left the movie, I went to beg him personally and tried to ask him to stay, but to no avail. I can't believe so much drama ensued after that. It's such a huge insult to me.

2 HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ZHAO CALLING YOU A "SCENE HOG"?

I was sick and injured while filming this movie and only slept three hours a day. I didn't even get to see my family members for a few months. If he calls me a "scene hog" because of that, I admit it. However, if he is simply playing the victim and calling me that to gain sympathy votes, I do not agree with him.

3 WILL YOU STILL WORK WITH ZHAO?

I've never stood out to reprimand Vincent because I don't want the incident to snowball. What is most disappointing is that this issue has led to so many unnecessary rumours and dilemmas. I don't think we will work together again and I feel that he owes everyone involved an apology.

4 WILL YOU FORGIVE HIM IF HE APOLOGISES TO YOU?

It shouldn't be only an apology to me but an apology to many innocent people who were involved, such as our friends and wives. Shooting a film is a group collaboration. I have made movies for 31 years. I have never seen something like this happen.

Donnie Yen wants Tan Bing out from showbiz
From Cinema Online Exclusively for Yahoo NewsroomBy Heidi Hsia | From Cinema Online Exclusively for Yahoo Newsroom – Tue, Oct 22, 2013

22 Oct – He may be a little forgiving when talking about fellow martial arts actor Vincent Zhao who had had a conflict with the "Special ID" team last year, but the same cannot be said about director Tan Bing, who accused Donnie of plagiarising his script.

As reported on Wenweipo, while speaking to the media at the promotional event of the said movie on 18 October, Donnie exclaimed, "He is an undesirable man in the film industry. The entertainment world should not let these kinds of people to exist."

Last year, Tan Bing held several press conferences against Donnie Yen, accusing him and the production company of plagiarising his script for "Ultimate Codebreaker" to make "Special ID". He also accused Donnie of other things including seizing Jacky Chan's producer role after knowing that the latter would not be starring in the film, and declined Han Geng from joining the set due to the latter's popularity.

The actor, who has filed a lawsuit against the director, denied the allegations of plagiarism, saying, "The storyline in "Special ID" is unique and different than that of Tan Bing's "Ultimate Codebreaker". The complaint was filed against the film company, but he spoke ill of me in front of the media. What does it have to do with me?"

He also added angrily that Tan Bing had lost the lawsuit but told the public that the final results were undecided.

However, the actor was still philosophical about his issues, saying, "Everybody wakes up to face different problems. It's all about how you plan to solve them. No matter if you choose the easy or the hard way out, you still have to pay the price."

Anyone know anything more on Ultimate Codebreaker?

[doug maverick]

getting tons of mixed reviews from friends on this..i might watch it on stream tonight... im nervous..lol

[GeneChing]

SI is a postcard from HK and Nanhai, showing modern China in it's disheveled glory. Donnie is a deep undercover cop wannabe in the triads - a 'special ID'. He has to work with a PRC hottie cop in Nanhai. There's some quick dialog changes from Cantonese from Mandarin which add to the relationship and humor of the situation. Collin Chou is one of the evil gangsters.

The first Chinatown DVD I saw was HD, but it crashed half way through, just long enough to get me interested. The version I watched was a little stuttery, and the sound was like a half second ahead of the action, and there was a weird ad just before the first fight with a really young Chinese girl in a bikini pushing a website. And it turned out that the first version mixed up the order of some of the scenes, so I had a slightly distorted conception of the story. It was funny to get that all sorted. It's a good case against Chinatown DVDs.

Of course, I got a better version later but the resolution wasn't nearly as clear. The action is top notch. Great fights. Donnie against the gangs. Awesome ultravi. Bloody. Kitchen knives, shovels, beating down the masses, heavy MMA influence so lots of arm bars and RNCs. There's a fun car chase. The overall plot was ok, a bit sappy, but tolerable. I was entertained but it probably isn't worth a 2nd watching, especially seeing how I've already seen half of it twice, in the wrong order no less.

[GeneChing]

Good to finally have a date for MK3D.

Hey boys and girls, we were graced with a reunion with the most powerful presence in kung fu cinema today. We caught up with superstar Donnie Yen who gave us the facts about his never-ending schedule of projects and his struggles with the film he came to premiere at the New York Chinese Film Festival, Special ID.

Dig it!

Special ID Donnie Yen

The Lady Miz Diva: Welcome back to New York. Can you tell us why you came to support the New York Chinese Film Festival?

Donnie Yen: To be honest, this is my first time at this event. At this time, I normally take advantage of events like this to take a break from my busy schedule and then travel with my wife. That’s the only time we have a long time. We’re both so busy with my work and my films and our family. Actually, they invited me last year, but I was already committed to the New York Asian Film festival, so I attended that. This time they asked months ago if I would be able to make it to this one and I had a couple of days off, so here I am.

LMD: I want to start with my last question first. Would you please tell us about your upcoming films? It looks like you’re attached to 80 different movies and I’d like to know what is accurate?

DY: {Laughs} Monkey King, it’s releasing on January 31st in China and the rest of Asia for Chinese New Year.

LMD: Is there a US release planned?

DY: Yes, I actually spoke to the producer that’s responsible for distributing the film in North America and he told me that he’s looking at summer.

Iceman, I’m doing Iceman parts one and two. The first one will come out on April 4th, I think.

Priority Run is in talks with Arclight, so I’m not sure, it’s not committed yet. Crouching Tiger is not committed, but there are a couple films that are in the can, like Iceman. Part two should be in the can by the middle of December. I finished with what used to be called Best of the Best. It’s now called Kill the Kung Fu Killer. It’s kind of confusing, right? That’s in the can, but I don’t know when it’s going to be released. They don’t want to have all these Donnie Yen films crashing on top of each other. I’m in talks for another project based on a novel called Chinaman {Not sure if he meant Chinaman by Shehan Karunatilaka, or China Men by Maxine Hong Kingston}.

LMD: Last year you mentioned your romantic lead debut in Together, with Michelle Chen. You played a character called Mr. Cool. Can you ever picture moving into straight drama films with no action?

DY: Probably not. I recognise myself as an action guy, right? But I do want to change what has been for the longest time the conception of the action guy, because normally when you talk about action guys, it’s involved with the seriousness of the acting side. If you want to break it down to why, it’s because for the longest time, action films can easily achieve a certain success, especially during the 70s and 80s - since Bruce Lee days - if you have a couple of good action scenes, then the film can be quite successful in the market. Nowadays, it’s different; nowadays it requires the old school delivering a powerful performance from the actor, and it’s something that I’ve been striving for the last six or seven years. How do you move from there? I’ve been in the business for so long that I constantly strive to elevate the standard, but by elevating the standard there must be an all-around element where you can bring up the standard besides just purely on the action. I mean, there’s so much you can with the action, so it’s back to the basics of storytelling and characters and performance.

LMD: You’re here to show Special ID. I was surprised at the hard-hitting quality of the fighting.

DY: Yeah, it’s very hardcore. I think in many areas of the film, it could be a lot more solid. This film - I was also the producer - went through many, many problems, many obstacles. It’s very difficult to put a film together nowadays, especially with these types of subjects. As China is a very powerful growing market for filmmaking and we’re talking advantage of it; especially for someone like myself who was based in Hong Kong filmmaking, this type of material with violence and gangsters and undercover cops, it’s quite sensitive in China. The bright side is the policy is opening up. There’s quite a few swearing in Cantonese in this film and this is something that I thought that they would be cut out, but they embraced it. It allows artists like myself to be artistic on that level and you can feel that’s where the future is going. But at the same time, there’s a lot of areas where they can be more professional about it, they cut out a couple of scenes here and there. I think the overall story would be a lot better if they didn’t cut it out, particularly with the development between my character and my mother.

See, that was the area where it didn’t really make sense because everybody was asking, ‘What’s up with the mother?’ I’ll tell you the backstory, I’ll tell you the stuff that they cut out was she had a problem; she had depression. So there’s a scene where I’m having dinner and she’s just crying hysterically and I say, “What’s the matter? Whoever took advantage of you in the market, I’m gonna go and give them a whipping.” She says, “No, I don’t know why I’m crying.” It’s because my father left us and because of that it still comes back to her. So I tell her “Why don’t you hang out with me?” and they go to the bar. That’s why there’s the scenes where they’re drinking and he says, “I’m taking care of you. You think you’ve been taking care of me? I’ve been looking after you.” Those are the scenes that they cut out, so the development of the mother and son didn’t make much sense. So here and there I thought the whole movie overall could’ve be a lot more solid in terms of fully developing the characters. That’s the unfortunate thing, that’s something I have to cope with.

LMD: Well, the fortunate thing in Special ID is the action.

DY: The action is definitely out there, yeah.

LMD: Could you talk about designing the action for the film?

DY: I always have a love for doing contemporary films like this. I did Sha Po Lang, Flash Point. To me, this is kind of the same style. The past couple of years, the market requires me to do more of these period films, especially after the success of Ip Man. But then, deep inside, I wanted to go back to Flash Point. And I feel as an actor it provides me more of a freedom for creating a character, because you don’t have to live up to these historical burdens. When you play a period hero, you can’t be free; there are certain expectations.

So I went back to do Special ID and I said this is the area I wanted to be in, especially with the MMA style. You know, there’s a lot of MMA-style movies out there, right? But I wanted to show them how to do an even more advanced way of doing the MMA in a contemporary film. I know that Flash Point has established a benchmark for a lot of people; not only the action fans, but also within this whole MMA society. I wanted to show that what I can do with Flash Point, I would do with Special ID and this type of fighting style.

continued next post

[GeneChing]

Coincidentally Jing Tian will be Jackie's co-star in PS2013.

LMD: Was there meant to be a fight between you and Collin Chou, who costars in Special ID? I think a lot of fans hoped for a Flash Point rematch.

DY: I invited Collin to… It was like this, I put the cast together at the last second. Collin came. There was supposed to be a fight between him and the girl in the toilet, right? But then we had a discussion and he told me his concern that he felt that if he would end up fighting this fragile girl, that he would kind of lose face. So I said, “Okay, I’ll tell you what, I’ll cut it out,” so that’s what I did. As I was telling you, there was a lot of problems in the completion of this movie, so at the end of the day I wished it could’ve fully developed as I wanted it to.

LMD: Jing Tian is great as the female cop. Her action scenes are quite convincing…

DY: You’d be a lot more impressed if you’d seen her previous films.

LMD: Really? Had she done other martial arts films?

DY: Not at all! {Laughs} That’s why I said you’d be even more impressed.

LMD: I asked Sammo Hung about his approach to working with ladies as a fight choreographer and he gave me a very interesting answer. What is your approach to working with women in action?

DY: Well, I have a way of shooting styles, of shooting actors. I approach it very differently from maybe my mentors like Yuen Woo-ping and Sammo, all those masters of shooting action. I approach it in a very scientific way. I understand that you can’t really turn an actor into a martial arts expert, even in years, never mind months or weeks, right? So you gotta have a plan. You gotta be realistic and at the same time be scientific about shooting a person like that; from understanding whether she has the potential. How capable is she physically, and how many weeks I have before designing tailor-made - not only from choreography - to how do you shoot her on a shot-by-shot basis and making adjustments? When I work with her, it’s like I’m her cornerman; that I have to work with her shot by shot.

LMD: I was very happy to see Ken Lo in your great fight sequence together and Andy On, who also has actual martial arts experience. As opposed to someone who never did martial arts, it must be easier to work with actual athletes who know more or less what you’re asking for?

DY: It’s a different type of challenge for me, different type of obstacle. For me, if I’m working with a lot more versatile action guy or girl, I will try to bring up the level even higher, so it’s a different type of challenge. Working with someone like Jing Tian, she had no experience in action films and she’s quite slim and small, it’s a different type of challenge. And both bring satisfaction to me. To work with Andy - I know Andy; he’s done numbers of action movies, so my goal was, ‘I’m gonna make Andy look better than in any of his movies.’ That was my goal. That’s the satisfaction. But with Jing Tian, I wanted to surprise people with what she can do, particularly with some of her works; she had never done an action movie, never mind doing something like this. I set the goal very early on a couple of things I wanted to achieve; make Andy On the best he ever looked, surprise people with Jing Tian’s action onscreen, thirdly surprise people with my range of acting as far as {going from} Ip Man to playing the gangster and having this type of rawness. I believe in these areas, I achieved that.

LMD: Could you give some advice to a young actor or actress who would like to follow in your action footsteps?

DY: I don’t think you can just… If you want to be an action actor, or an actor that specialises in martial arts films, of course you gotta know martial arts. You gotta be a martial artist in the first place, right? You have to also be - by today’s standard - understanding of a wide range of different, various styles of martial arts. That’s very important. That’s like having a wide range of taking on different roles as an actor. Knowing various martial arts styles prepares the actor to do period films, to do contemporary, you can do Wing Chun master. Fortunately for me early on, I had a very strong foundation in martial arts, and when I was a child, I went through extensive learning and crafting my various styles of martial arts, so I was fortunate in that area. I think first and foremost, you just have to be a good actor. You gotta be in good shape. You have to look like you’re in good shape. All the elements count. You have to be prepared all around.

LMD: Please give a message to your New York fans.

DY: I hope all the hardcore fans will enjoy Special ID, particularly the action. And I think for Monkey King, people are going to really be surprised by my performance. Monkey King was really groundbreaking for me as an actor. It’s a very, very special piece.

~ The Lady Miz Diva
Nov. 7th, 2013

[GeneChing]

If I can make it to the theatrical release, I totally will. Gotta support those.

Well Go Acquires North American Rights To ‘Special ID’
By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday December 19, 2013 @ 12:11pm



EXCLUSIVE: Well Go USA Entertainment acquiredspecialid North American rights to Clarence Fok Yiu-Leung’s Special ID, the story of an undercover cop (Donnie Yen) who goes deep inside China’s most ruthless crime syndicate. The Matrix‘s Collin Chou also stars. The pic was acquired from Easternlight Films in a deal negotiated between Ying Ye, managing director, on behalf of the company, and Pfardrescher on behalf of Well Go. Special ID hits theaters on March 7, with an Ultra VOD window beginning February 4.

[Stickgrappler]

3 more here:

http://www.stickgrappler.net/2014/01...-1-donnie.html

Enjoy! More GIFs from Special ID coming.

Happy New Year!

[Stickgrappler]

Here is the second set of GIFs I've made from Donnie Yen's Special ID



Enjoy 3 more GIFs:

http://www.stickgrappler.net/2014/01...-2-donnie.html

[Stickgrappler]

3 more here:

http://www.stickgrappler.net/2014/01...vs-ken-lo.html

--------------



4 more GIF's here:

http://www.stickgrappler.net/2014/01...tian-jing.html

[GeneChing]

From Well Go's site:

USA
Mar 7, 2014
NEW YORK CITY
City Cinemas Village East
181-189 Second Ave.
New York, NY 10003

LOS ANGELES / SAN DIEGO
Laemmle Noho 7
5240 Lankershim Blvd
North Hollywood, CA 91601

Texas
Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline
14028 N US Highway 183
Austin, TX 78717

East Pointe Movies 12
8300 Gateway E.
El Paso, TX 79907

Rio Grande City Stadium 10
4586 E US Hwy 83
Rio Grande City, TX 78582

Corpus Christie Stadium 16
5218 Silverberry
Corpus Christi, TX 78417

NEW MEXICO
Aztec 5
911 West Aztec
Gallup, NM 87301

HAWAII
KuKui Grove Cinema
4368 Kukui Grove St.
Lihue, HI 96766

Pearlridge West
98 - 1005 Moanalua Road
Aiea, HI 96701

Canada
Mar 7, 2014
TORONTO
The Royal
608 College St
Toronto, ON M6G 1B4

[Jimbo]

Oh, well.

Guess I'll have to wait for the DVD to come out.