Leofwine_draca
The first in a series of high-profile, hugely-popular Chinese comedies, this broad spoof mixes general Hong Kong weirdness, plenty of slapstick comedy, and a few decent fight scenes into a largely derivative and nonsensical plot. Crucially, this is a film which hinges on the humour – you either find it hugely funny or totally awful. Sadly, I fell into the latter camp, and for me the jokes fell flat every time. The film became largely pointless as soon as I realised this and what followed as an hour and a half's worth of boredom. Camp star Karl Maka, imitating Telly Savalas' Kojak, plays Babyjack, an investigating detective, and he teams up with a short-haired, kick-ass female cop – the character already a cliché even by this early point. There are minor appearances from the likes of Dean Shek and Tsui Hark, and Sam Hui, a low-rent Jackie Chan lookalike, provides some charisma in a heroic role.Various scenes in the movie include: the hero firing a grapple and sliding down a wire before jumping through a window; a series of booby-trapped toy cars that blow up genuine vehicles (an idea ripped off in Grand Theft Auto), a series of bizarre car chases that are played for laughs, and more boring chases than you can shake a stick at. Four sequels followed, with varying degrees of success, but I have to admit that I'm not too excited about watching them after sitting through this debacle. For Chinese comedy, I much prefer the hijinks of the LUCKY STARS films...
suchenwi
"Zuijia paidang" might be translated as "The best pairings", and if so, the first four films (this being the very first) can be interpreted, besides all the stealing, kicking, shooting and car-crashing going on, as an extended saga of three main persons in the following pairings:Nancy + CodySam + X (a different X adored but never consummated, in each of the 4)The rough but always again deep relationship of Nancy and Cody can be sketched as follows over the four films: #1: Getting to know, instinctive dislike, getting closer, sharing one pyjama #2: Wedding #3: Baby Junior is born (and joins his parents in weirdest adventures) #4: Junior is a pre-schooler now, his parents are separated, but in the end...Seen like this, it appears like a soap opera. It's of course a lot more, but I liked this continuing storyline quite much, as I watched all four films on one weekend. Altogether about 6 hours that I didn't regret. :^)One extended scene that I really enjoyed was the ballet gone wrong, and yet receiving so much applause by the audience.
gridoon2018
There are 3 great things about the first "Mad Mission" / "Aces Go Places":1) The music score (you may find yourself whistling it)2) The stunts3) Sylvia Chang's legs Other than that, this is a mildly funny - but rarely hilarious - action comedy. As I mentioned, many of the stunts (from motorcycle jumps to car crashes and from motorized gliding to tightrope walking) are WOW-worthy, and there are some clever comic ideas as well (thief Sam Hui and his partner failing to find a quiet place to discuss their latest job). However, much of the humor is simply juvenile (the bald cop played by Karl Maka is nick-named "Kodyjack", a fat Italian mafia boss makes someone "an offer he can't refuse", etc.), and the story is not all that engaging. Here's to hoping the next series entries are better. (**)
Jack Yan
Aces Go Places is—not that the credits will ever tell you—a remake of the Dick Emery film Get Charlie Tully. The storyline is identical, but the characters are distinctly Chinese.King Kong (Sam Hui) is a Simon Templar-like thief, known for pulling off a major jewel heist in Hong Kong. The Royal Hong Kong Police are stumped and decide to enlist overseas help from a shortlist which includes Inspector Clouseau—but realizing that actor Peter Sellers is now dead (an interesting use of in-jokes mixing reality with the film world), they turn to their next choice, American-based Albert Au (Karl Maka), the 'Bald Detective' (the literal translation of the series Kojak in Cantonese). Sylvia Chang plays a police superintendent who Au falls for.Apart from some changes to the story, and action sequences which arguably inspired Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and other film stars, it is Get Charlie Tully from there. Without revealing too much, the clues are identical; even certain gags.It doesn't mean to say this is a poor version of Get Charlie Tully. It has been cleverly changed to Chinese tastes, and the movie is still funny 18 years on. Arguably, the Hong Kong writers have created something even funnier than the Emery movie through a careful use of puns and metaphors. The pace and timing remain an odd, if hilarious, mixture of British and Chinese.It was, after all, successful enough for four more sequels through the 1980s, although after this outing, the Emery connection ended and Maka and company went for more - for want of a better term - originality.
