Peace Hotel (1995)

Literally: Peace Hotel

Director: Wai Ka-Fai

Producer: John Woo (Ng Yu-Sam)

Writer: Wai Ka-Fai

Cast: Chow Yun-Fat, Cecilia Yip Tung, Chin Ho, Lau Shun, Wu Chien-Lien (Ng Sin-Lin)

Running Time: 86 min

Plot: Legend has it that a homicidal maniac massacred over 200 gangsters in a murderous spree and forced his sword onto a stone creating the Peace Hotel. Chow Yun Fat stars as the gate keeper of the Peace Hotel - a safe-haven for fugitives with an unspoken rule that the hotel would not help escapees flee. Cecila Yip plays Chow's love interest as the girl for whom he breaks all the rules.

NUMSKULL'S REVIEW: Peace Hotel is a farily intriguing film that makes good use of Chow Yun-Fat's strengths and takes advantage of his well-known "lone killer" persona without giving you the feeling that you're watching just another gunslinger movie. His character...who, in an awe-inspiring stroke of originality, is called "the killer"...runs a safe haven for people on the run from the law, from their pasts, and/or from people they've pissed off. No violence is permitted within the hotel's walls, but once someone leaves, its open season on their ass.

Cecelia Yip plays a real bitch who seems to be both a kleptomaniac and a pathological liar. She cons her way into CYF's good graces and, for reasons explainable only in the logic of cinema, they fall in love. He knows she's not being totally honest with him, though, and it comes back to bite him in the nuts.

Performances are generally good all around, though it's hard to take the kid seriously when his character is inexplicably named "Doggie." The action sequences are limited to a brief shootout and some sword fighting. They're not the crux of the film, not by a long shot. American westerns obviously served as inspiration here, and it's not exactly what I would call a "classic," but Peace Hotel is decent enough to serve as an introductory film for someone just getting into HK movies.

Damn, this is one of the shortest reviews I've ever done. Well, it's a short movie, too, and there ain't a whole lot to say about it. So stop reading my babble and go out and live life to the fullest. You'll thank me someday.

NUMSKULL'S RATING: 7/10

VIC NGUYEN'S REVIEW: Vic Nguyen's Review- Reminicent of an American western, Wai Ka-fai's directorial debut is a highly engaging, misunderstood masterpiece that also happens to mark Chow Yun-fat's last Hong Kong production to date. Here, Yun-fat stars as "the killer", the proprietor of a sanctity called the Peace Hotel, where troubled fugitives and their families can reside without fear. However, this tranquilty is put to the test upon the arrival of a mysterious women, who brings trouble to both the reformed killer and the hotel. The spagetthi western-ish score is stirring and grand; the cinematography lush and superb; the screenplay complex and intelligent; and the performances excellent and finely textured- these are just a few of the reasons why Peace Hotel is a terrific film, and is a worthy final ode (or is it?) to Chow Yun-fat's illustrious Chinese film career.

VIC NGUYEN'S RATING: 9.25/10

DJ NIXON'S REVIEW: This one was, to say the least....wierd. It's OK, the beginning was really dumb, but it got much better as the movie went along. The plot goes like this, there was this man (Chow) who killed like 50 people at this hotel, and so he reopens it and calls it the Peace Hotel. Get it? No? I didn't either. Well, he then falls in love with this women who this men want to kill so he ends up defending the hotel because of her. This is in the 1800's, so there is only one 2 minute gun fight in it. The gun fight is really cool though, Chow get a machine gun and does all this cool stuff and blows about a 100 people away. But don't get this if you're expecting lots of gun fighting cause you're not gonna get that, although there is some swordplay........An OK Chow Yun-Fat movie, a bit on the different side, although it is worth checking out.

DJ NIXON'S RATING: 8/10