The Bodyguard from Beijing (1994)



	The Bodyguard from Beijing		Return to Review Archive - B
	Year:	1994	Jet Li as The Bodyguard from Beijing
	Director:	Corey Yuen Kwai
	Producer:	Jet Li Lian-Jie
	Action:	Corey Yuen Kwai, Yuen Tak
	Cast:	Jet Li Lian-Jie, Christy Chung Lai-Tai, Kent Cheng Juk-Si, Ngai Sing, Leung Wing-Chung, Ng Wai-Kwok, William Chu Wai-Lim, Wong Kam-Kong
	The Skinny:	Solid Jet Li picture which has enough action and thrills to satisfy most fans.
	Review by Kozo:	Corey Yuen’s Hong Kong retelling of Kevin Costner’s The Bodyguard is an above-average action picture featuring Jet Li in the title role. Here, Li gives us acting mode number two, which is that of a stoic man with a heart beating somewhere underneath, though it’s really hard to find it. Li plays a mainland bodyguard assigned to protect witness babe Christy Chung, who witnessed a murder and has Ngai Sing and his cronies after her. Kent Cheng is the nice cop who’s assigned to guard her, too, but he just isn’t as thorough or paranoid as Jet. At first, Christy isn’t too happy with Jet running her life. Of course that all changes, and after that it’s Kevin/Whitney redux, thankfully without the cheesy Dolly Parton songs and weird musical numbers inspired by Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. Despite being quite attractive, Chung comes off as shrill and somewhat idiotic in this film, and she never really seems to have the right chemistry with Li. Then again, it's arguable that Li actually has chemistry with anyone (with the possible exception of Rosamund Kwan). Quibbles aside, the last kung-fu sequence is great and the high-energy gunfights preceding it aren’t too shabby either. This is a solid Jet Li picture and one of his better all-around efforts. (Kozo 1995)
	Note:	• There are two domestic releases of The Bodyguard From Beijing. One is from World Video, which features masking over the original Chinese and English subtitles, and new electronic subtitles layered on in place. What that means is that the image is partially cropped. Even worse, the transfer is off a laserdisc, which means it's pretty awful. The second is from Dimension/Buena Vista Home Video (AKA: Disney). This DVD features a cut, dubbed and rescored version of the film called (get this) Jet Li's The Protector. The picture quality is phenomenal on this disc. Everything else is god-awful.
	Availability:	DVD World Video Widescreen Cantonese Language English Subtitles

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