Aces Go Places III

Director: Tsui Hark
Year:  1984
Rating: 6.5

As the beginning of Aces Go Places III begins, King Kong (Sam Hui) is once again up to his eyeballs in dames and danger. He is soon on top of the Eiffel Tower fighting Jaws (Richard Kiel) and Oddjob (Harold Sakata) in quite a nifty sequence as Sam jumps from beam to beam and finally parachutes off of it.
 

Though the two previous Aces films had certain elements of the James Bond films, this one goes much further – and also incorporates aspects of Mission Impossible (Peter Graves has a cameo). Though a lot of this is quite enjoyable and contains some great chase scenes, it is somewhat detrimental to the main strength of this series – the chemistry between the three main characters. It is really the fine balance of antagonism and friendship between them that give the films a solid basis and a great deal of heart. As much fun as the stunts and action can be, without the grounding of the threesome, they would be much less effective. Here though in an apparent play for an international audience, the action, stunts and gadgets are put first and the chemistry is pushed a bit into the background.
 

This is not to say that this film does not contain a number of pleasures within – the stunts are quite fun and some of the comedy (such as Karl Maka getting his tie stuck in the zipper of a woman’s dress or having Sam turn the tables on Karl during a lie detector test) are enjoyable skits. Still the film seems to be lacking the energy and inspiration of the two first films in the series. Since Tsui Hark is directing this sequel it is somewhat surprising because Tsui is a master of creating emotional bonds between his characters, but here he seems to be more caught up in the gadgets and the toys he gets to play with.
 

Taking place a few years after the ending of Aces II (Karl Maka and Sylvia Chang are now married and have produced Junior – who is as bald as his father!), Sam is once again scammed by a beautiful woman and a gentleman who passes himself off as a British agent (sort of a Sean Connery lookalike). He is told that the Queen’s crown has been stolen and that he needs to steal some jewels for her. Pretty weak – but it does create the opportunity for two great robberies.
 

In one Sam breaks into the police evidence room (after establishing a brilliant alibi) and escapes on a motorized skateboard across the tops of cars. In the other theft, a group of Santa Clauses steal a diamond, fly through the glass skylight and then ride motorcycles off the building. Sam escapes on a motorized hang glider that goes into the HK subway system - with Maka holding on for dear life. Sylvia and Karl are assigned to find the thieves and have to go after their friend. Also making an appearance are Ricky Hui, Walter Cho and John Sham.