2046

I've been waiting for this movie for months based on the previews. I knew it was a sequel to In The Mood For Love, a previous movie made by Director Kar Wai Wong, but I couldn't figure out how the sci-fi aspects hinted at in the previews could possibly intrude into a story as earthbound as In The Mood For Love.

As it turns out, the movie shifts around in time and has certain stream of consciousness aspects as real events mix with scenes from the sci-fi novel the protagonist (Tony Leung) is writing, which is interwoven with fictional characters and situations and situations and women from his own life.

Speaking of women, this movie features three of the most beautiful and well-known Asian actresses. I'm speaking of Gong Li (Raise The Red Lantern, Farewell My Concubine), Maggie Cheung (In The Mood For Love, Hero), and Ziyi Zhang (Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Hero; House Of Flying Daggers).

In The Mood For Love took place in a Hong Kong boarding hotel where the Tony Leung character lived in room 2046 and collaborated on a sci-fi story with a woman (Maggie Cheung) he loved but could not have.

Now a sleazy, cynical guy with money problems, he went back to the hotel to rent room 2046, but ends up taking 2047 because 2046 is being renovated. He decides to stay in 2047 and a beautiful young woman (Ziyi Zhang), who is also the hotel owner's younger daughter, moves into 2046.

We witness his dalliances with the hotel owner's younger daughter and older daughter (Gong Li) as well as flashbacks to his earlier affair.

As his meandering and irresponsible life both helps and damages the women he encounters, scenes from his novel interweave and the female characters appear in 1960's wardrobe and wardrobe from the future.

Now, as to the title. Not only is 2046 a room number but it's the title of his sci-fi novel in progress (though the title changes to 2047 when he collaborates with the Ziyi Zhang character).

If you like linear plots and tied up loose ends, this movie won't be for you. But if you like mystery, intrigue, and gorgeous visuals, not to mention stunning Asian women, I can recommend this movie wholeheartedly.

Transporter 2

There are so many ways to start this movie because there are so many things to say about it. I think I'll begin with a digression.

The Transporter is one of the best action movies of all time. The charismatic Jason Statham (Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and The Italian Job, among others), established himself as a leading man and something of a martial arts star with well-choreographed fight scenes.

It was that rare movie that bucked the general flow of movies from comic books. I don't know of a comic has resulted from The Transporter but it doesn't really matter: essentially it was a cartoon.

In this movie, Frank Martin, ex-special forces guy with a love of fast cars, returns doing what he does best: getting something or someone from point A to point B as quickly, recklessly, and dangerously as possible. He's the best of the best, and as lethal as he is behind the wheel, the bad guys had better seek cover when he gets out of his car, because he really knows how to fight!

The influence of Jackie Chan is evident here, because many of the fight scenes involve acrobatics and the creative use of props to defeat anywhere from one to a dozen opponents. Of course the difference is that Jackie Chan really does it, and while it seems Jason Statham does almost all of the fight scenes himself, creative cutting and special effects are obviously involved as well, whereas when Jackie does it, he really does it. No matter, you're not thinking about that while you're watching the movie.

I mentioned that the previous movie was essentially a cartoon, and this one ratchets up the cartoonishness even further with stunts that are not just hard to believe, but which are literally impossible. Just to take one example, knowing that there is a radio-controlled bomb magnetically attached to his car, Frank drives one side of his car up a ramp (funny how ramps seem to be wherever needed in action flicks), forcing his car in to a flying 360. While passing under a cast iron hook on a heavy chain, the car flies just perfectly relative to the chain to knock the bomb off before it explodes.

This is just one of many examples of impossible stunts in this movie.

Back to the car for a second. Having traded in his BMW for an elegant and sexy Audi A8 W12, a 12-cylinder 420 horsepower sedan that manages hit all kinds of objects, to be hit by numerous bullets, and to plow through a masonry and concrete wall without getting so much as a scratch on the bumper. It's an impressive car and, especially in the beginning, this movie takes product placement re: automobiles to a whole new level. Audi will be selling lots these because of this movie.

Here is the story in a nutshell. Filling in for a friend, Frank Martin is now in the states acting as transporter and bodyguard for a young boy whose father (Matthew Modine) happens to be the Federal Drug Czar. Frank has actually developed a soft spot borh for the boy and for his frustrated and unhappy mom (Amber Valletta of Hitch and What Lies Beneath). As this job is winding down, he accepts the task on his day off of taking the boy to his pediatrician's office, which unbeknownst to him has been taken over by kidnappers working for a vicious international criminal.

Leading the kidnapping crew is the criminal's psychopathic girlfriend, who makes a rather peculiar-looking nurse in her red platform shoes and with makeup seemingly applied with a trowel. When Frank notices blood seeping out from under the door of a closet in the doctor's office (the real doctor and nurse, now dead, were stashed there) he really realizes something is amiss and goes about getting the boy out of there, with limited success. The rest of the movie is pretty much about carrying out his promise to protect the boy, and we all know that when Frank makes a promise, you can bank on it.

Transporter 2 is, if anything, even better than it's predecessor, which had a couple lulls in it. No lulls here, though like all action movies it tends to unravel somewhat at the end, but even so it's the best action movie in a while. Even the recent Batman movie doesn't even come close.

Not a "chick flick" by any stretch of the imagination, if you're looking for best popcorn movie around, most likely this is it.