User reviews

The first thing you will notice about this Hong Kong version of 'The Bodyguard' is the incredibly awful dubbing. I've seen badly dubbed films before, but never anything quite like this. It's so bad, in fact, that it almost seems like someone hired voice actors that were nothing like the actor that they were dubbing out of spite. Maybe the director, or Jet Li annoyed the man in charge of voice actor casting, and he thought he'd get his own back. Perhaps the director requested terrible dubbing to give the film a seemingly unintentional comedy element? Whatever the reason; the dubbing in this film is poor. Very poor indeed.

Incredibly awful dubbing aside (and it is awful, make no mistake), the film does feature some nice moments. The story follows that of a young girl who is one of three witnesses to a murder. The other two have been killed in "accidents", so the girl's rich boyfriend hires her a bodyguard (complete with terrible dubbing) to protect her. Naturally, the two gradually fall in love as the film progresses. As I said, despite it's awful dubbing; the film does feature some nice moments. One of which involves an assassin taking out several guards with a bayonet, another of which involves an awfully dubbed kid exchanging his pretend gun with a police officer's, with hilarious comedy consequences, and naturally for a Jet Li film; there's Kung Fu, and lots of it.

The film has a rather profound element of comedy entwined within it's plot. As you know, there's an unintentional element, which is a result of the undeniably poor dubbing, and there's also an intentional element, which mostly comes from the little kid and the fat police officer. The cast on display here is nothing to write home about, and they're all poorly dubbed too. Jet Li takes the lead role, and he does fine (but nowhere near as good as he would do eight years later in the sublime 'Ying Xiong').

As I said, the dubbing in this movie is awful. Really, really bad and it does go some way to spoiling the entire thing. It's so bad that it's almost farcical, and at times it's hard to keep a straight face; which does the movie no favours in the credibility department. However, luckily for Jet Li and co; this movie is entertaining enough to just beat the awful dubbing. It's not a great film, but it is good and I recommend it to anyone that just wants to be entertained for an hour and a half. Or for anyone that wants to see proof of why subtitles are better than dubbing.

BODYGUARD FROM BEIJING is, surprise, surprise, a Chinese remake of the Kevin Costner-starring Hollywood hit THE BODYGUARD. I had the misfortune to watch the Americanised version of this, entitled THE DEFENDER, which substitutes the original dialogue with some really bad dubbing, but nevertheless I enjoyed the film as an efficient action thriller of the kind popular during the 1990s in Hong Kong. This one mixes the kind of gunplay familiar from John Woo and Chow Yun-Fat movies with more traditional martial arts mayhem courtesy of Jet Li. The plot is lightweight and slim and the romantic scenes are more annoying than touching, but nevertheless this is a film that delivers in the action stakes, providing solid, reliable fare.

Director Corey Yuen is a dab hand at crafting beautiful action sequences and the choreography is top-notch here as usual. There's a massive shoot-out in a shopping mall at around the halfway mark which doesn't disappoint and an excellent climax using all kinds of props in a gas-filled house that does well to avoid the usual clichés. Some dodgy looking wirework pops up here and there but doesn't spoil the otherwise engaging action. I also liked the hard edge in the fights; Li disposes of his enemies in a violent way and yet that violence is never gratuitous or dwelt upon too much.

In the titular role, Li is as fine as ever, still looking as young as he did in THE MASTER and playing the kind of ruthless, incorruptible figure that crops up time and again in his career. He's a tour de force in the fight scenes and good in the acting stakes too. Unfortunately, Christy Chung is intensely irritating as his ungrateful charge, but support from the likes of Kent Cheng (CRIME STORY) and Collin Chou (FLASH POINT) help to soften her presence and to be fair she does get less annoying as the film progresses. I wouldn't call BODYGUARD FROM BEIJING a masterpiece, but it is a dependable thriller that ably does what it sets out to do: entertain.

Hong Kong movie was hot in the late '80s, and into the '90s, and this is one of the movies from that era. The casting is unusual, and so is the plot. Jet Li, wasn't all that well known at the time, and this was Miss Chinese International 1992 Christy Chung's first big role ( I actually liked the miss Chinese International 92 runner up more than Christy, and she would have been perfect for this role ).

Jet Li's star was on the rise starting around the time this movie was made, and he starts getting noticed in the US around this time also. Simon Yam was briefly wooing Christy shortly after this movie was made. Simon of course had many other options as he was one of the most eligible bachelor in Hong Kong.

The movie's title is almost verbatim fact as Jet was from China, and Christy was from Canada. The unusual mixture of the two culture shows in the mood of these two actors. The plot is also unusual in that an operative from China protects a rich capitalist girl. The movie's background looks more modern than the present day Hong Kong. Hong Kong seems to have slid backwards in culture since its repatriation. This is evident when you see this movie.

So this is an interesting movie, and the producers at Dimension Film did a really good job of capturing the character of Li, and Chung, and incorporating them into the story. Jet Li is like an unstoppable terminator in this movie, and it correctly highlights his skills, and power.

This is an excellent movie, and is worth a watch if you're a Hong Kong movie fan.

This film is pretty entertaining. But this film has about 3 action scenes were "Jet Li" shoots people with a gun. And he killed like a 100 people!! There's also a brief fight and a classic fight scene at the end of the film. The story is also good. But this isn't your usual Jet Li film because it contains less action then any other of his films. But this film is really good to watch for a good story with a action twist. If you like Jet Li you will probably like this film. So go rent this film now!!

If you like Corey Yuen's balletic gunfighting, more recently demonstrated in 2002's "So Close," then you will enjoy the earlier "Bodyguard from Beijing." This film is fun to watch, and manages to produce some surprises despite the formulaic bodyguard-and-rich-bratty-girl plot. The schmaltzy sequence with the song is the only part where the movie drags. However, given Yuen's preference for gunplay, Jet Li fans are apt to be disappointed, since Li has less opportunity to showcase his kung fu skills. Christy Cheung gets the job done in the damsel-in-distress role, and to paraphrase Dorothy Parker, she plays the range of emotions from A to B.

A corrupt businessman commits a murder and the only witness is the girlfriend of another businessman with close connections to the Chinese government, so a bodyguard from Beijing is dispatched to help two Hong Kong cops protect the witness.

There is not much to this film that anyone with common sense couldn't figure out. The romantic angle, the plot twists... this is a very by-the-numbers story. But while that may not make for a great script, it makes the film fun to follow.

And the comedy relief is not bad. The overweight bodyguard is rather amusing. This is amplified by the English dubbing, which seems to make him even more of a clown than the original language (Cantonese?). As much as I prefer subtitles to dubbing, it works great this time.

A Hong Kong-made variation on the previous Hollywood hit "The Bodyguard", this film stars martial arts icon Jet Li as a bodyguard hired to protect a young woman (Christy Chung) who had witnessed a murder perpetrated by a crime kingpin. Now the bad guy is sending LOTS of goons after her in order to permanently silence her, so the bodyguard will have plenty of work to do. What complicates matters is inevitable: he and the woman develop feelings for each other, although she already has a boyfriend, the filthy rich businessman who hired him.

Although the American release, featuring some typically wretched dubbing, does the film no real favors, we still get a pretty entertaining thriller with Li in top form. His screen presence & athleticism are undeniable, and Ms. Chung is certainly lovely & appealing, although her character starts off by resenting the scores of precautions that he puts into place. Kent Cheng adds lots of comedy relief as an HK police detective with money problems. And Collin Chou makes for a *great* bad guy as the last assassin standing, a guy coldly determined to get revenge since the bodyguard had previously offed his brother.

The action truly is excellent, with an intense final fight between Li & Chou, and director Corey Yuen keeps the story racing forward quite nicely. The budding romance between Li & Chung is wonderfully played by the two stars.

All in all, this engaging diversion proves to be a worthy viewing for fans of Li.

Seven out of 10.

The Bodyguard from Beijing is a bit of lively, unpretentious fun that takes Mick Jackson's The Bodyguard but replaces Kevin Costner with Jet Li and the weird musical numbers with kung fu. Corey Yuen directs with a visceral energy that wouldn't be out of place in a Wong Jing movie and although, the writing is certainly a bit on the hokey side Li's charisma as a real man's man shines through. With plenty of high-energy and varied gunfights to keep you engrossed, a solid musical score and a fantastic final fight to boot elevate what could have otherwise ended up as a rather undercooked and stale riff, yes it's rather generic but there's a heart-beating somewhere underneath its surface. Also, the annoying kid gets shot in the foot which warranted a cheer.

John Chang is sent from Bejing to protect the only witness to a murder, Michelle Yeung. However, as the two get in deeper and deeper into the fight for survival, they start to get feelings that could spell doom for the both of them.

Jet Li was some 4 years away from becoming a world star as opposed to his standing in Asia, his pre American efforts are a highly mixed bunch. Here with The Defender we find Li oozing cool and delighting in the art of chop sockery and intricate gun play, but strip away the action and we are left with a pretty empty film. It's a standard fable of bodyguard protects pretty girl (the delicious Christy Chung) and after the initial resentments subside, we find our duo falling in too deep and putting all at risk within their world. However, the action (the point of these pictures as we know) delivers royally, particularly in the last quarter where the ante goes thru the roof and the testo level follows it, it's here where Li and the rest of the grafters earn their respective corn. The finale sequences alone make this picture worth your while, whilst you will rarely see a skateboard and a torch be so intricately and funnily used at the same time!

Instantly forgettable outside of the action set pieces, it still manages to be an entertaining watch for the action junkies amongst us. 5.5/10

Bodyguard from Beijing is a HK remake of Hollywood's The Bodyguard starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. But HK's version is quite different and a whole lot better. First of all, the relationship between the two stars of the movie (Jet Li and Christy Chung) has more tension and is more believable. And the action is incomparable. The shopping mall scene and especially the end fighting scene are simply too awesome to describe. You have to see it for yourself. Albeit the fact that there are some melodramatic scenes, this movie is a must for any Jet Li fan or wushu/action fan.

What is it w/ Bodyguard movies where the female always has to hate the bodyguard but ultimately falls in love with him? She was utterly annoying, and I'm surprised his character falls for her, but ... good enough excuse for cool fight scenes. Jet Li excels at playing these tough cops/soldiers, devoted only to the mission and his code of honor. His hand to hand combat is great stuff to watch and I love how calm and still he is until it's time to unleash his fighting ability. It's fun seeing this same tough guy turn into a nervous wreck when he finds himself falling for his assignment, but even better to see him kicking ass in the mall, or the house, or... wherever. If only his female costar could have a bit more spine and brains!

The story was terrible, not even Jet Li's moves could make this flop cool. No one could act except for Li, it was painful waiting to get to the fight finally. The kid with the gun was bad, the gas aspect didn't make sense. Just bad.

I am a big fan of Jet Li, and absolutely loved this film. It is beautiful and very sad. Brilliant work by all the actors and the fight scenes were great. The ending was not quite what I expected - warning! not like the Hollywood endings!

Considering that I felt like picking up a new Jet Li film to see some but kicking and brainless hand to hand fighting, I grabbed this title.

Unfortunatly, this movie contains more gun battles (ala Chow Yun Fat but nowhere near as good), than Jet Li and company's acrobatic fighting. Thus it was a let down.

The faucet fighting was interesting and even funny, considering this was something totaly unexpected in a Jet Li film for me, more on the line of say Jackie Chan.

But alas I'd recommend Fist of Legend, Tai Chi Master, or even the Enforcer over this dissapointment.

Rating 4 for martial arts Rating 3 for overall movie score

*** stars out of ****

The Bodyguard from Beijing is an action thriller that mixes romance and humor. The plot is mainly a backdrop for some grand shootouts and martial arts sequences, but it does have some moments of characterization. The movie may not be as jaw dropping as some of Jackie Chan's films (or some of Li's other works) but it delivers the expected action and thrills. The film is basically about a bodyguard (Jet Li) who is hired to protect a beautiful woman (Christy Chung) after she witnessed a murder. Now, many people will stop at nothing to have her killed and Li has invoked the wrath of a dangerous ex-soldier whose brother Li killed.

I was surprised by the fact that there was more shootouts and gunplay than Li's usual kung fu, but the shootouts were quite thrilling and entertaining, particularly the mall sequence that almost gets a bit absurd in the amount of people carrying guns inside. For a while there (due to the amount of gunplay) I was expecting Chow-Yun Fat to just ram through a door and kill all the villains.

As for the acting, Jet Li is actually quite fun to watch in his transformation from a hardened bodyguard to a soft man falling in love. Christy Chung is decent though she's mostly relegated to the role of damsel in distress.

My main complaint about the movie was the how the gunshots looked in the film's final shootout. When the bullets hit the wall, they look more like cartoonish sparks than rough bullet impact. However, the great martial arts fight at the end more than made up for it. It's a great action sequence, as it involves Li and the dangerous ex-soldier kicking each other around while trying to get water from a faucet due to a gas leak.

an exciting love story with everything going for it. the humor, the action, the romance, all great. could have used some more of the great action, though. Jet Li is terrific as the bodyguard from Bejing. The last fight, the faucet fight, is really cool. check this one out.

In "The Defender", Jet Li plays an elite Army body guard whose mission is to protect a babe who is the target of a small army of bad guys. The upside of this film is a couple of fire fights which are very ordinary. The downside is the absence of just about everything we look for in action flicks: good drama, good acting, a good story, any weapon larger than a hand gun, creative martial arts (eg: Jackie Chan), stunts, car chases, pyrotechnics, and the ever popular T&A. Without the sporadic violence, this squeaky clean, low budget flick would be rated PG. A boring waste of time for all but the most diehard Jet Li fans. (C)

The Bodyguard From Beijing aka The Defender is a solid action classic starring Jet Li and directed by Corey Yuen. Prior to this project, Jet Li had only done period kung fu movies. This is his 1st modern action movie that combines martial arts with gunplay. Jet Li is a bodyguard from mainland China imported to protect a prosecution witness ( the gorgeous Christy Cheung) from harm. Christy Cheung's character initially does not like the elite bodyguard hired to protect her. As she falls into danger, Jet Li keeps her out of harms way, she then finds appreciation for Jet Li and his dedication to his job. A bond and mutual attraction grows between them. Kent Cheng appears in this as well as a cop assigned to work with the bodyguard. Kent, equally adept at drama and comedy is mostly the comic relief for the film. Corey Yuen did a fine job directing here with keeping the right tone, telling the story fluently with the right amount of action and getting good performances from the cast. Corey also is the action choreographer so he is responsible for the quality of the action also, which was done well with a healthy dose of guns, explosion and kung fu. He also works with Jet Li as action choreographer on all of Jet's US films. Overall, TBFB is a solid action flick and when I want to watch a Jet Li movie with guns this is my 2nd choice only to the awesome, incredible action classic Black Mask.

For Jet Li fans this movie is worth watching, but most others may want to give this one a miss. Jet is not bad as the mainland elite soldier (top of his class, of course, always willing to sacrifice himself for the mission), and the acting is not bad (the Hong Kong cops are believable and good-natured, and the girl's kid brother is OK), but the overall action is weak, and so is the story: A young girl, who's a rich guy's girlfriend, is a protected witness, and must be defended by the best bodyguard available, as the bad guys want to kill her before she can testify. Very standard plot. It takes a turn as Jet kills one of the bad guys, thus calling down the vengeance of the dead guy's brother, who then comes after the bodyguard (not really caring about the girl, although he does work for the same bad guy she's going to testify against). This vengeful brother, interestingly, is played by Ngai Sing (Seraph from the Matrix sequels). However, the final battle is not very exciting, in my opinion, although the gas angle was a new element.

5 out of 10.

I rewatch this all the time because it is just so cheesy and over the top. Which makes it so great! I like how the love story between Jet Li and the female lead is evenly baked. It feels well earned and I really believe they fall in love with one another by the film's end. The romantic build up and tension is nicely constructed. The action scenes are fun and blockbuster-ish. The plot is over the top. The villain is over the top. But that's great, too. The comedic side characters and even the kid are great additions as well. It's just a overall fun movie to buy into. The ending is also the best, most corniest closing ever...and I love it!

Well it's nice to finally see Jet Li in a movie that's not martial art related. Playing a superb bodyguard trained in Red China, hired to protect a beautiful girl he's doing a fine job. The fighting sequences in this movie are among the best I've ever seen, shooting from the most impossible angles while jumping around like crazy to avoid his enemies. You gotta see this to believe it! I know there are a lot of Chinese action movies like this but if u want to see one, be sure it's this one!!!