Like so many international film stars (and filmmakers) before him, Jet Li came to America looking to conquer Hollywood but found that his best work remained the movies he made back home. He hit our shores in 1998 as the sole bright spot in Lethal Weapon 4 before heading up some films of varying quality including Romeo Must Die, Kiss of the Dragon and the woefully underseen Danny the Dog (aka Unleashed). Nine years later though and he was apparently done making movies on this side of the pond (aside from supporting roles in Sylvester Stallone’s Expendables trilogy). Unsurprisingly his best film in that period was the Chinese production of Hero.
Li’s worked steadily back in China since then averaging up to two films per year, but aside from the Stallone flicks they’ve all been period pieces. That’s set to change this summer with the release of Badges of Fury, and while normally I’d be thrilled at the thought of Li in a contemporary setting again the film’s trailer has given me reason to pause.
Check out the questionably funny and fury-less trailer below.
So, there’s that.
The title seems a bit of a misnomer as even with a series of murders as the central mystery the tone here appears nothing short of ridiculous. It’s possible the trailer is simply playing up the comedy and saving the actual action for the movie itself, and with a cast that also includes the equally fantastic Collin Chou and Wu Jing I can only hope that’s the case.
Still, I’m not complaining about the film’s three queens.
Badges of Fury opens in China on June 28th, 2013, but while no date has been set for a US release yet it was picked up by WellGo USA last month meaning a solid Blu-ray release can’t be too far behind.