This was the official website for the 2004 Hong Kong martial arts super chick science fiction action film.
Content is from the site's archived content as well as from other outside sources.
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action & Adventure, Art House & International
Directed By: Jingle Ma
In Theaters: Jan 15, 2004 Wide
On Disc/Streaming: Sep 27, 2005
Runtime: 100 minutes
Silver Hawk | TRAILER ORIGINALE;
From Wikipedia:
Silver Hawk is a 2004 Hong Kong science fiction action film directed by Jingle Ma and starring Michelle Yeoh, Richie Jen, Luke Goss, Brandon Chang, Li Bingbing and Michael Jai White. Yeoh plays the title character, a masked comic book style heroine who rides a motorcycle, saves kidnapped pandas and uses her martial arts moves on the bad guys. The masked heroine theme dates back to Huang Ying, a 1948 Shanghai book by Xiao Ping.
Plot
Silver Hawk riding her motorcycle through China. She is chasing thugs who have stolen pandas and are getting away in a truck. She attaches her bike to the truck, jumps on top of and fights the men in the truck until they give up. She heads back to Polaris City (located where Hong Kong is in our world) where she meets an old childhood friend, Rich Man. Then a flashback occurs, going back to the martial arts training academy.
He is the new head of the police department. He recognizes Lulu, Silver Hawks's name in real life, from magazine covers. He tells her of his mission to arrest Silver Hawk. When they arrive at the airport, he asks for her phone number, but she asks for his phone instead. She implants a tracking chip so she can overhear his conversations and agrees to a date if he can recall who she is.
At home, she is telling her assistant Mimi about her trip when her adoptive aunt arrives with Professor Ho Chung for a blind date. Prof. Ho starts to tell her of his new project when she gets word of a bank robbery. She suggests going to the movies and leaves. The pattern of fighting crooks and disappearing before the police arrive repeats until she arrives at a mugging. This is really a sting for Rich Man to arrest her, but she fends him off and handcuffs him to a pole. As she leaves, he yells that she's leaving without a goodbye. This triggers a flashback to when she left the academy with a monk who would train her further in kung fu, leaving him heartbroken.
Back at home, she finds the professor's assistant waiting in his place. The assistant, Kit, escorts her to the professor's demonstration of his project: an A.I. chip that would tap into several databases with information about the user to suggest ways for the user to improve his or her way of life. Lulu doesn't like it because it might infringe on free will. Later, Kit reveals he is a Silver Hawk fan and Man, who is there to provide security, recognizes his "little sister." Then the professor is kidnapped by Morris and Jane, with the police and Silver Hawk soon giving chase. At one point, the escape truck is blocked and the two kidnappers get out to slow the pursuit until the truck can move. Silver Hawk battles the two while a camera on his head sends images of her to his boss. The chase ends at an outdoor wedding where she chooses to save the bride instead of following the crooks.
While Man investigates Shiraishi Inc., who expressed interest in Ho's chip, Ho is brought before Alexander Wolfe, who wants his chip to take over the minds of the phone's users. He coerces Prof. Ho into helping him.
Man's investigation takes him to Zenda City (a.k.a. Tokyo), where Shiraishi is headquartered. His friend on the local force, Lt. Lisa Hayashi, takes him to the CEO, who is already seeing his niece, Lulu Wong. Later, the CEO's daughter Tina is kidnapped by Morris and Jane, and Lulu intervenes. The camera on Morris' head transmits images of Lulu to his boss (Wolfe), who deduces who Silver Hawk is. The crooks escape, and Man brings her to the local police station and asks her about her kung fu skills, which she had earlier denied maintaining. Outside the station, they see the CEO driving away and follow him, knowing that he'd refused to cooperate with police. They tail him to a meeting with Wolfe, who whisks him away in a helicopter before the two can intervene. All Lulu can do is take a picture of Wolfe and later send it to Kit, knowing that he's a fan.
Wolfe wants the CEO to put Ho's chip in a new phone and distribute them in exchange for his daughter. Later, he forces Prof. Ho to speed up his preparation of the subliminal messages that phones will transmit, despite possible long-term damage to the user's mind. Ho manages to slip a secret message into the phone's computer code.
Days later, Shiraishi is promoting its new phone, and the CEO is more focused on that than on seeing Lulu about his daughter. Lulu goes to her apartment and finds flowers and a message from Wolfe to meet him about Tina. As she's about to leave, she finds Man, who has begun to guess who Silver Hawk is, waiting outside to talk to her. She tells him to wait in the hotel bar, but he leaves some tracking chips on top of the door. when she leaves, the chips fall onto her hair, and he tracks her to her meeting. Inside the building, she meets Wolfe, who then sends four men attached to bungee cords to attack Silver Hawk and leap away before she can respond. She manages to fend them off until Wolfe injures her shoulder with his prosthetic arms. She then uses one bungee cord to leap up to a window and escape. Man tracks her to where she'd passed out from the pain and takes her to his apartment to confront her about her vigilante actions. This is interrupted when Kit walks in and start to blab about the e-mail he'd sent her about Wolfe. Man drags him away to get the information about Wolfe. That interrogation is interrupted by a newsflash about the CEO's support of Wolfe to run for premier. Kit sees how unnatural the CEO's face is; Man sees he's wearing a new phone. The two investigate the connection.
As Lulu bathes to heal her shoulder, she recalls a lesson her teacher gave her about the nature of water and kung fu. This gives her an idea on how to deal with Wolfe.
The next day, Kit has discovered the secret message Prof. Ho put in the code. Wolfe plans to activate the mind control in a few hours, but they don't know where to look for him until Silver Hawk sends them the address. There, the police battle Wolfe's thugs until Silver Hawk arrives to help put them away. Kit finds a way to Wolfe's lair and then tend to Prof. Ho while Silver Hawk and Man battle Wolfe and his men. She uses cloths attached to her flying blades to subdue his prosthetics, and she and Man finally defeat him. But they must use Wolfe's retinal scan to stop the process, so Kit tricks him into opening his eyes. This foils his plan but also activates the self-destruct system. Silver Hawk and the rest escape, but Wolfe is crushed to death.
Back in Polaris City, Lulu has a date with Man. He's called away on official business, leaving the question of whether he'd arrest Lulu unanswered. Silver Hawk later drives up next to Man, and the two tease each other about their signature moves.
Cast
- Michelle Yeoh as Lulu Wong / the Silver Hawk
- Richie Jen as Rich Man
- Luke Goss as Mr. Wolfe
- Brandon Chang as Kit
- Li Bingbing as Jane
- Michael Jai White as Morris
REVIEWS
Reviews From imdb.com
Decent kung fu/sci-fi/superhero mix
Author: sarastro720 January 2005
Asia doesn't have many bona-fide superheroes in their fantastic fiction; they tend to have kung fu masters and such, but apart from Black Mask (which was very mediocre) I don't think I've seen any other real Asian superhero movies except for this one; Silver Hawk. It is a true combo of kung fu and super-heroics, as the main character, Lulu Wong (Michelle Yeoh), has excelled in the martial arts since childhood and have found a way to use her martial arts for the good of all society as the silver-costumed hero Silver Hawk.
The movie takes place in the future, where they have holographic mahjong and some brand-new mind-reading devices. Stylistically, everything is entirely kept in ice-blue glass and metal, which all looks sleek and cool, but also rather cold and inhuman.
A human dimension is added, however, in the childhood flashbacks, where a lot of connections are drawn to Silver Hawk's adult life. For instance, the reason she wears a mask is because she did so as a kid, too, to disguise her identity when she was kung fu brawling in defiance of her teachers' orders. This cross-time dimension with her childhood works very well indeed, also because she runs into her childhood friend again as an adult, his having become a police chief. Initially he wants to catch Silver Hawk, but as soon as he finds out who she is, he starts working with her.
The bad guy (supervillain, really), Fire Wolf, is quite dull, and his plan not very well described. There are a couple of plot holes in the story, too, and while the action is pretty good, the fighting isn't spectacular. But still a relatively good and watchable movie. I rate it a 6 out of 10.
I'm very interested in movies that combine kung fu and science fiction. My list so far includes Silver Hawk, Avenging Fist, Jet Li's The One, and, of course, the Matrix Trilogy, and Equilibrium. And also, Star Wars, sort of, since the Jedi abilities are a form of martial arts... I hope to discover more movies with kung fu and sci-fi combined.
Martial Arts Fightin' Super Chick Action... Woo Hoo!
Author: hokeybutt from Milwaukee, Wisconsin26 June 2004
SILVER HAWK (3 outta 5 stars)
Pretty decent action-hero yarn starring Michelle Yeoh as the title character... who dresses up in a silver coat and mask and goes around beating up bad guys and making the police look bad. She meets up with a childhood sweetheart who now happens to be in charge of a police task force devoted to putting a stop to her vigilante tactics. They are forced to team up to fight a madman with a plan to take over the world with some mind-altering telephone technology. The story is pretty standard... but the stunts and fights (which are very reminiscent of The Matrix and Tomb Raider movies) are fun. I was glad to see that, while the movie does have lots of humour, the movie is not too "camp". Fun for the whole family!
Cool light-hearted Sci-fi Action B Movie. NB: Very weird dubbing.
Author: Zombified_660 from United Kingdom9 April 2006
Silver Hawk is an enjoyable Cantonese take on the superhero genre. As such it's much more enjoyable than recent US additions like Spiderman 2 or Daredevil, taking a very Blade-like 'Good vs Evil in a knock-down drag out fight' approach as opposed to going for the 'tortured hero' take on things American directors seem to dig. If you want depth you are firmly looking in the wrong place (go for the original 80s Batman maybe?), but if you want action, humour and incredibly sharp fight choreography, you've come to the right place.
It's similar in style to both Blade and Sam Raimi's Darkman, also taking cues from recent Hong Kong movies like Twins Effect. It has a fantastic look, good strong characters and a simple but effective plot that keeps you glued to your seat. Additional praise must be heaped on leading lady Michelle Yeoh. Much like Jackie Chan, despite many would-be successors coming and going since her debut in the 80s, she still has what it takes to front an action movie in spades. She not only makes Silver Hawk a genuinely likable and unique presence, she's also still a mesmerizing fighter to watch. The fights in this movie are really good, some of the best non-period kung-fu I've seen since the likes of Versus. They're played with humour by Yeoh, with Silver Hawk cockily dancing around baddies before kicking their teeth in, but they're still imbued with an impact missing from many similar films.
So why the 6? Firstly, Silver Hawk is incredibly lightweight. If it wasn't for the balletic and convincing fight scenes, this movie could probably have been a 12A or even a PG, it's like a Bond movie only with a female lead. Get boy, send bad guys home with bloody nose, end. It's simple, and that's why it works so well, but it doesn't have much depth, and I'll mainly re-watch it to enjoy the great fights and Yeoh being cool as she always is.
Then there's the dub. It's not, as I originally thought, an entirely Americanised dub. It's like Gen X Cops 2, in that it's dual language, always has been, and was intended for dual release. However, much like a lot of Jackie Chan's movies and Jet Li's earlier films, it's dubbed in quite a slapdash fashion, in a sloppy manner that makes it obvious all the actors except Yeoh and Luke Goss have been re-dubbed by voice-over actors, and that Yeoh and Goss voices were added at post-production instead of using the original recordings. It's not awful, and it compares favourably with some more suspect re-dubs, but it's still glaringly obvious that most characters are not being voiced by the original actors, and that the voice-over wasn't done in sync with the film, it was done off in some studio somewhere with just a script. If you think you can put up with that better than I did (I couldn't help wincing during certain scenes, such was the complete disconnection between dialogue and on-screen action) add a point to the score, and if you don't watch subs, add two. That's the best way to approach it really.
Basically Silver Hawk is really good fun, a cool superhero movie with a great heroine played by a great actress. It's fast, funny and has really good fight scenes, but you could get put off by the awkward dub. It's good enough that I think it's worth the effort, and I'll definitely be watching it again soon.
Masked Michelle
Author: Estee Wong
30 January 2004
In this movie, Michelle Yeoh plays Lulu Wong, a much-idolized rock star and philanthropist by day, and a super heroine, Silver Hawk, who fights injustice in skin-tight black leather outfit as her alter-ego. Richie Ren plays police detective Richman, who has an uncanny instinct and incredible wit, but he hates Silver Hawk for being always two steps ahead of the police. Both of them, however join hands to fight a baddie, Wolfe (Luke Goss) who wants to dominate the world through a special microchip in mobile phones which will broadcast subliminal message to users.
Directed by cinematographer-turned-director Jingle Ma (Hot War, Tokyo Raiders, Summer Holiday, Goodbye,Mr.Cool and Para Para Sakura), the action scenes are beautifully choreographed, especially the one where a group of bungee jumpers armed with hockey sticks attacking our heroine in an outdoor arena. The opening sequence is also awesome with Yeoh riding a motorcycle and jumping over the Great Wall of China. There's also ample use of CGI to enhance the action sequences throughout the movie. Although the script is pretty straight forward, Ma succeeds in presenting the story in an entertaining way with constant flashbacks to the past when Lulu and Richman were studying at a Shaolin Temple. The two kids who play them are excellent, especially the boy.
Yeoh is a delight to watch. She looks great in her well-designed outfits and executes her fighting scenes with style and finesse. Her experience in martial arts helped tremendously. Providing comic relief is Brandon Chang, who plays a computer whiz kid who constantly pops up to annoy Richie Ren. Wolfe's role was downplayed. Instead his two assassins played by Bingbing Li and Michael Jai White (Universal Soldier: The Return and Spawn) got most of the action. Surprisingly, both of them had no dialogue in the movie.
Nonetheless, Silver Hawk is an entertaining movie which promises good laughs and visual delights for this Lunar New Year.
No stuntwomen were harmed in the writing of this review.
Author: sadie_thompson from United States11 August 2004
Michelle Yeoh is apparently trying to kill herself, or at least damage something. The woman will do anything, regardless of how potentially painful it can be. This movie is a little bit tamer than other things I've seen her do, but still. She induces flinching. (I loved watching my mother's face when I made her watch Supercop--the scene where Michelle hung off the side of a van, only to fall off and crash through Jackie Chan's windshield caused Mom some anxiety. I of course piped up, "Michelle Yeoh does all of her own stunts. Jackie Chan isn't the only one.")
Anyway, this movie is about Lulu Wong, a hugely famous woman--she's famous because she's rich, apparently. (What's nifty about Michelle Yeoh playing Lulu is that you can see Michelle being stylish. She isn't usually--it's also interesting that Lulu seems to be MUCH younger than Michelle actually is. Good acting there, Michelle!) Lulu wears all white, and has all kinds of wigs and different hairdos. She knows everyone, everyone loves her, she's perfect. That's her main identity. When criminals strike, she dons a silver mask, a silver suit, a silver jacket, and dashes to the scene on a silver BMW motorcycle. (Gorgeous bike.) Silver Hawk is an appropriate name, as you can see. She has little silver blade things, like Batman's batarangs, or whatever they were called, but she only uses those to disarm people. Once they're empty-handed she starts the a**kicking. The first scene of the movie is the best--the movie starts off with Michelle (I'm assuming it's The Stuntwoman herself) jumping over the Great Wall of China on her bike in pursuit of some poachers. The cinematography here is marvelous. Once she catches them she beats them mercilessly, but it looks beautiful. It doesn't seem like wire-work, but if it isn't then Michelle Yeoh isn't affected by gravity. She does an incredible kick on several of the poor criminals--she runs up the front of a van, then does some sort of pinwheeling roundhouse kick in midair. All of this is in slow-motion, and I actually think real-time would have been more effective. Once the crooks are in a heap on the ground, Silver Hawk reveals her disappointment. "Give me ten more minutes," she asks. Five? Two? By this time the criminals have tied themselves up and completely surrendered. See, Lulu has to put herself in danger to get excited, but since she's such a great fighter she's never really in a perilous situation. (When I said excited, I didn't mean that this is a porno movie. I mean that some people ride roller coasters, others fight crime.)
After that great opening sequence, we're treated to a plot. Professor Ho Chung (one of Lulu's love interests) has developed a completely idiotic artificial intelligence chip that supposedly increases the wearer's standard of living. We see it tested on a young lady--a holographic English butler appears and informs her that she is 48 days pregnant. A co-worker of hers confirms this, yelling, "That's incredible! We only found out yesterday.!" I found myself wondering if the transparent English butler had Tact 2000, a program few people seem to possess. What if the lady didn't want everyone to know she was pregnant? Could the AI detect that, or will it just humiliate everyone endlessly? The guinea pig doesn't seem to mind, she just smiles. An assistant brings her a drink, and the butler explains that the AI taps into your most primitive impulses, in this case thirst. (That amused me--what would it do if someone had a certain other primitive impulse?!?) Finally, it demands that she do some prenatal exercises. She doesn't want to, but the butler isn't taking no for an answer. Finally, the demonstration is concluded. When Professor Chung asks Lulu what she thought, she tells him flat out that she doesn't like it. I don't blame her--she isn't fond of people telling her what to do. HOWEVER... ...enter Alexander Wolfe, a nut with an English accent. He is very fond of telling people what to do, via secret subliminal messaging, preferably. This new device seems to be perfect for his plan, so he sends MICHAEL JAI WHITE to kidnap the professor. (Don't send a Spawn to do a kung-fu master's job.) Once that's done, Wolfe reveals his silly plan--he is going to place the chip into millions of cell phones, and at a certain time he will play the aforementioned subliminal messages. A technology mogul's daughter is kidnapped also, so that Wolfe can force the mogul to place the chips into a new phone model. He does, and Lulu (remember her?) wonders why. She decides to take matters into her own silver-gloved hands.
As it happens, the new police superintendent used to be a friend of Lulu's, and even more coincidentally, he despises Silver Hawk. How can they work together, you ask? Not very well, is how. He has no idea that Lulu and Silver Hawk are the same person, even though anyone with at least one sense could figure it out. (Silver Hawk looks like Lulu, she sounds like her, she might even smell like her, I'm not sure. You get my point.) So, while they have to save the world they also have to contend with each other. The superintendent, Rich Man, is more interested in arresting Silver Hawk than anything else, especially when she humiliates him in front of some teenagers. (He dressed himself in drag, so maybe he shouldn't be so hard on her.) Eventually it comes to the point where Rich Man has to knuckle under and just deal with it.
This was a good action movie, with several nifty fights and some funny parts. I had a couple of gripes, though, and I might as well vent. First--Michelle didn't get to do all the cool stuff the bad guys go to do. For instance, when Silver Hawk first runs into Alexander Wolfe, his minions bounce around and fly through the air using huge rubber bands. It looks incredibly fun, but Michelle is grounded. She has to run around getting kicked in the face. By the time she gets her leg up to kick back, the person has already flown away. It's just that she could have done wonders with that. This same problem pops up in the last fight with Wolfe's goons. They zoom around on rollerblades with hockey sticks. Not Michelle. She has to hit them as they fly by. Again. It could be that Michelle Yeoh didn't want to do these things. That's okay. If for some reason behind the scenes they just decided that she wouldn't do it, that's not okay. She is Silver Hawk--she should fly. Second--this movie falls prey to another problem that's rampant in Michelle Yeoh's films. She's absent for long stretches at a time. Eventually, you get wrapped up in something else and then she pops up again just when you least expected her. That happened in "Royal Warriors," "Supercop," "Supercop 2," "Butterfly and Sword," and gosh, even "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon." I don't want to sit there wondering what happened to her. Did her character die, or just get fed up? Maybe if I had an explanation of why this is done. I realize that Michelle Yeoh gets injured frequently, and that's understandable. Is that the deal? Do they have to shoot around her? Someone fill me in, please. I guess I'm used to Brigitte Lin's films--there is rarely a moment where she doesn't appear. Even if one pops up the filmmaker makes darn sure that you'll think about her. Someone please give Michelle Yeoh the same courtesy.
Schlocky and Fun!!!
Author: masercot from Manassas, Va5 November 2006
I won't lie. I LOVE Michelle Yeoh. I would watch a ninety minute movie in which she simply reads a phone book (not two hours, though...I'm not that big a fan). From the beginning of this movie to the end, they give you what you want: Michelle Yeoh, kicking butt...
Her Silver Hawk costume is simply silver cloth and hotpants. The best special effect is her motorcycle. My son was immediately reminded of Batgirl.
But, Yeoh is fun...smiling as she beats up villains, giggling with her female friends...far from the solemn character that she was in Crouching Tiger. Her personality was much more like Wing Chun.
The martial arts sequences are good and you can see that Yeoh did a lot of her own stunts. The villain looks particularly villainous. There is very little death in this and the violence is cartoonish.
A joy to watch!
Not great, but Michelle Yeoh is reason enough to see this
Author: AwesomeWolf from Australia7 November 2004
I've been a fan of Michelle Yeoh ever since I saw 'Supercop' a few years ago. In fact, having not previously heard of 'Silver Hawk', I bought it based solely on the fact that Michelle Yeoh was featured on the cover in a kick-arse pose. I regret nothing.
Lulu Wong (Michelle Yeoh) is a Hong Kong celebrity who happens to have a secret: She is the masked super-hero Silver Hawk. Silver Hawk just happens to be in the neighbourhood whenever there is trouble ('neighbourhood' can refer to a Hong Kong alley, the Great Wall of China, etc). The Hong Kong police are out to catch Silver Hawk, as it seems she's been making them look like fools. I don't see what the problem is: if I was a Hong Kong cop, I'd sit back and let her do all the work, and I'd be paid to do nothing. Coincidentally, the new police superintendent Richman (Richie Ren) happen's to be a childhood friend of Lulu's - they were orphans together at the Shaolin temple (really, how can a crime-fighter be taken seriously if they haven't studied at the Shaolin temple?).
Meanwhile, Professor Chung (Daming Chen) publicly shows off his latest: invention: an AI chip that can scan a person's body, and then decide (better than the person themselves) what is good for them. The Professor doesn't quite understand why the AI chip is poorly received by the crowd, until he runs into trouble with Alexander Wolfe (Luke Goss) an English pop star turned super villain. Wolfe's sinister scheme is to combine the chip with the latest in mobile phone technology, so he can brainwash the population, unless Silver Hawk can stop him.
'Silver Hawk' is a bit odd for a kung-fu film. It is sleek but silly, occasionally suffers from an awkward imbalance between a serious and silly tone, and then switches from reality to over the top super-heroics. Sure, these are characteristics found frequently in Hong Kong kung-fu movies, but 'Silver Hawk' seems a bit different. I can't quite put my finger on it. It is fun, but it seems like HK cinema borrowing from 'The Matrix' (rather than 'The Matrix' borrowing from HK cinema).
'Silver Hawk' features some pretty cool action scenes, namely Michelle taking on villains on bungee cords, or an evil in-line hockey team. The fights are generally fun (I'll get to those in a minute). A lot of the comedy and character interaction - especially between Michelle and Richie - seemed rather awkward, but it was entertaining anyway. I think the main strength of 'Silver Hawk' is that it looked like Michelle was having a lot fun filming. I mean, she got to play with Batman-esquire Hawk-erangs - who wouldn't have with those?
I mentioned the fight scenes being fun to watch. Conversely, they also present one of the film's weaknesses: 'Silver Hawk' goes for too much of flashy, Hollywood look. It looks sleek, but I couldn't help but think that it could have been done better. The villains were generally unimposing and uninteresting, and the story could have been better polished.
'Silver Hawk' may not be the best super-hero, or kung-fu, or Michelle Yeoh movie around, but take it for what it is: a fan way to kill time. Recommended for fans of Michelle Yeoh - 6/10
Michel Yeoh in one of her best movies!
Author: masamura2000 from Macau1 February 2004
My wife and I didn't expect much from this film, knowing that it has the worst box office in the past ten years for a Chinese New Year release and how much we loathed "The Touch"... However, being a sucker for bad movies, I opted for the action movie rather than the other usual comedies and I wasn't disappointed at all. Yes, the dialogues might be a bit dodgy, a common flaw amongst Hong Kong production nowadays, trying to look "Hollywood-esque" but we were there for the action and we got what we were looking for, great fight sequence with each character having his/her own fighting style.
I have seen most of Yeoh's movies and this one ranked right at the top with "crouching tiger hidden dragon". Most of her film roles were forgettable but "silver hawk" at least leaves a more lasting impression albeit Yeoh really begin to look her years. I certainly hope that a sequel would follow but judging from the box-office, I might be pushing too far.
Goofy, Superficial Fun
Author: chez22 from United States10 February 2007
My wife and I just watched this tonight on Showtime while on vacation on Maiu. We wanted to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary in an exotic location. My wife had spent hours before deciding that the beachfront rentals in Lahaina would be the perfect central location for a Hawaiian adventure. Also it's a great place for a break from work consulting and helping small businesses who want an online presence. Although I now have a lot of experience I do periodically check in at ecommerceplatforms.com, a great website that offers the newest and most updated information for ecommerce platforms, as well as reviews and comparisons of new software and tools, the best ecommerce features, and tips and solutions for businesses in their online commercial ventures. Just before we left on our trip I was looking at the ecommerce platforms pros and cons of the top three platforms. I was leaning towards suggesting Shopify for a client, but when I looked at Big Commerce and the fact they are the best for scaling, I realized I needed to do more research. eCommerce Platforms is my hidden source for reviews. Plus their blog posts are really informative. But this should be downtime and discussing work is off the table.
We had spent a full day snorkeling, playing golf, and strolling on main street in Lahaina looking for a good place to eat and marveling at the huge Banyan Tree (Maui's oldest living tree) in the town square. This was our third day in this amazing paradise and we were still feeling a bit of the time difference / jet lag. So instead of going out after dinner to dance we decided to spend the evening in. The rental where we were staying had a huge library of dvd's that we could choose from. Perhaps we were too much sun touched or just a little tipsy from dinner but we chose Silver Hawk almost as a joke.
I certainly agree with the first reviewer that perhaps there were too many Western-style jump cuts, CGI and Matrix- style fight scenes. With that said, it's all in good fun. The whole movie is pretty silly, but in a good-spirited way. It's odd enough in a Hong Kong sci-fi action way to keep one's interest. The art direction is superb, along with the costume design.
Sure there's lots of eye candy. Beautiful Asian women in sexy costumes. In fact it seems every woman in the movie, no matter how small the role is a knockout and dressed to the nines. Michelle Yeoh, in the lead role, seems to have a different hairstyle and outfit in every scene.
If it's on cable, or there's nothing else available at the video store and you're a fan of kitchy Hong Kong action, it's certainly worth a look. The movie turned out a great way to chill out and recover after a full day of Maui fun.
better than Yeoh's previous movie
Author: Iron Hand from shanghai6 February 2004
I wasn't expecting much after Michelle Yeoh's last flop "the Touch". "Silver Hawk" doesn't have such a great story, but the action scenes were really well done. the part where Yeoh flew over the Great Wall with her motorcycle was particularily amazing. Jingle Ma once again proves his talent as an action movie director a few years after "Tokyo Raiders" (skip "Goodbye Mister Cool" and "Para Para Sakura" unless you're really desperate). Another good reason to go see "Silver Hawk" is the absence of Ekin Cheng from the cast. That guy seems to star in too many HK movies since the mid 1990s. Worth mentioning is "Yin Xiong"'s Chen Daoming, who delivers a great performance. "Silver Hawk" is by far the most successful HK attempt at adapting a comic superhero to the big screen after "Hak Hap" and the mediocre "Hak Hap 2: City of Masks". Just for that I would give it a 7/10.
Rotten Tomato AUDIENCE REVIEWS
***** Timothy J
Jul 03, 2019
Really Good Movie! A very enjoyable watch. Good plot with good acting.
+++
*** Ryan S
Feb 19, 2018
3/5. Silver Hawk is a very silly super hero film. It's not super interesting, but the action is really fun.
+++
J*** ohn A
May 27, 2013
Michelle Yeah Produces And Stars In Slam-Bam Martial Arts Superhero Film. Not As Good As Her Usual Films, This Is Still An Entertaining Film From Start To Finish. Yeoh's Character Is A Wealthy Animal & Human Rights Activist Who Disguises Herself As Crime Fighting Vigilante The Silver Hawk. A Decently Made Superhero/Vigilante Flick Which Gives Toby Maguire's Spider-Man A Run For It's Money.
+++
* ½ Adam B
Feb 18, 2013
I was hoping for a cult-classic style martial arts movie, but got a thin plot, bad voice overs, and a horrible super hero heroine. I should have known better, but I took a chance and lost.
+++
**** ½ Melody C
Dec 24, 2012
It's very entertaining with beautiful stunts. half a star deducted for the cliche plot.
+++
** ½ Phil H
SUPER REVIEWER
Dec 15, 2012
So you thought 'The Avengers' was a good comic book flick huh? well move over Iron Man Captain America and Hulk...move over for Silver Hawk!!! Not too dissimilar from various other Far Eastern fantasy martial arts flicks, this film merely came to my attention due to the casting of Michael Jai White, Luke Goss and the gorgeous Michelle Yeoh. Its your basic comic book character action film but the hero is a heroine (Yeoh) and she isn't exactly a superhero but more like Iron Man, a person with money who fights crime in a nifty suit. Well I say nifty suit, this suit simply looks like silver spandex with some silver painted goggles on her head and a long silver flapping coat. The thing that is so silly with this is everyone is virtually dressed in silver, all the bad guys and henchmen are in silver armour and everyone uses silver weapons or gadgets. Surprisingly Jai White is a silent bad guy henchmen in this (looking like a certain character out of Mortal Kombat and with some Biggles head wear for some reason) and unsurprisingly Goss is the main villain. He is dressed in a Matrix style full length silver trench coat (indeed) with prosthetic silver metal forearms and looking like Richard O' Brien's brother. The action is tame but reasonably well choreographed, nothing amazing but it does the job with no strong violence or blood. All of the film is pure comic book silliness which does look like something made for TV but a lot of Asian movies can look like this. You could almost think of this as a Chinese 'Batman and Robin' complete with fighting bad guys on bungee ropes, rollerblading ice hockey bad guys and Silver Hawk has her own Batbike type vehicle, its just not as camp. Well...that is until you see Goss in his skintight shiny silver vinyl costume towards the end.
+++
*** ½ Robert P
Aug 23, 2012
Japanese Super Hero Flix are alway good
+++
½ * Avatar
Kenan I
Feb 25, 2012
so idiotic even a child was saying what will happen next :S
+++
*** Eric J
Jan 13, 2012
Well-made and Michelle Yeoh is fabulous, but not a lot of action in this action movie
+++
**** Rhode Rian G
Dec 02, 2011
Kinda cheesy!! but still a fun and enjoyable martial arts super hero film!!