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.
