THE STORY OF THE GUN (1991) **

The Story of the Gun seems like a mash-up of a John Woo actioner (there are shots of doves before a shootout) and a Jackie Chan comedy.  None of it really works though, mostly because the comedic shit is pretty unbearable.  The action is competently staged (I liked the scene where a guy gets thrown through a watermelon stand in slow motion) and there is a smattering of blood, although the various fight sequences and shootouts aren’t quite good enough to salvage the movie. 

The plot has Gordon Liu playing a cop who is out to bust a gunrunning ring.  The problem is that the stuff with the villain rising to power takes up too much time.  The subplot with the villain’s love triangle slows things down too.  You also have to put up with a long scene in which a nerdy chick sings karaoke that’s pretty much murder on the ears. 

As much as I love Gordon Liu, it’s kind of hard to buy him playing this type of character.  Not only that, he looks ridiculous sporting a Magnum P.I. mustache and a scraggily mullet.  I mean, look at this guy:

There’s also a weird scene in the beginning where Liu and his son take a bath together that is really uncomfortable to watch (especially when the kid comments on his dad’s “big thing”).  It’s supposed to be played for laughs, but it’s just really odd.  Maybe it’s a cultural thing and something got lost in translation.  At any rate, it just seems out of place and inappropriate.

AKA:  Guns of the Master Killer.