Ying han (Underdog Knight) (2008)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Dean M

  
  Ye Liu is awesome in the role of Lao San as a (somewhat) mentally-disabled former soldier who dispatches petty criminals with glee. I found this film interesting because the central character is really quite unique. Furthermore, the film isn't about his brain damage in the way… More
  Ye Liu is awesome in the role of Lao San as a (somewhat) mentally-disabled former soldier who dispatches petty criminals with glee. I found this film interesting because the central character is really quite unique. Furthermore, the film isn't about his brain damage in the way <i>Rain Man</i> is about autism. The rest of the movie is pretty average. Sometimes the story doesn't quite make sense, characters appear were you least expect them, they act in a way that goes against character, they say some corny lines, and all those other things Chinese action movies do so well.

• Justin Y

  
  <i>Ying Han</i> AKA <i>The Underdog Knight</i> is director Sheng Ding's first major film. A bunch of places classify this as an action adventure and comedy, but I find that to be deceiving. This is more of a Hong Kong crime thriller.<p>There is a… More
  <i>Ying Han</i> AKA <i>The Underdog Knight</i> is director Sheng Ding's first major film. A bunch of places classify this as an action adventure and comedy, but I find that to be deceiving. This is more of a Hong Kong crime thriller.<p>There is a single story in here, which involves an antique collector's plans to steal a spear. The unique thing is that this story doesn't take full effect until the final 20 minutes of this 90 minute production. Before the ending, there are 3 sub stories that take place. One for the main character, one for the antique collector, and one for the police captain. All 3 move through their own stories before eventually becoming entangled in the main plot at the end.</p><p>The pacing is rather slow, with not that much action as the trailer's market. The kung fu is more street fighting, rather than the fancy wire work stuff. While the choreography is quite good, it is the many slow motion shots that drag the action down.</p><p>Liu Ye, may not be the biggest name in here, but he puts on the best performance. The brain deficiency of his character makes for quite an entertaining watch. Anthony Wong and You Yong do a nice job at portraying the antique collector and the police captain respectively. Ellen Chan and Liu Yang provide the female character support in the film and Yu Rongguang and Honglei Sun make brief appearances.</p><p>Despite not being explosive, <i>The Underdog Knight</i> has some good storytelling along with choice camerawork, which makes for a worthwhile watch.