recommended

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Absolutely Fantastic

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

The movie had elements of Highlander and Les Visiteurs and some other time travel type movies, like Demolition Man (though this movie precedes Demolition Man). It is about two warriors from the Ming Dynasty. One is a psychotic killer while the other is an honourable royal guard who has to arrest the killer in twenty days or be executed himself. He chases the killer to Buddha's time wheel, originally designed to force Evil to experience a hundred life times, but used now to escape into the future. They meet, fight, and fall of a cliff and are frozen in ice only to be revived in the 20th Century.This movie goes through all of the stages of culture shock in regards to time travel. Cars being monsters, television, and the old toilet and light switch jokes, which were performed heaps better in Les Visiteurs, but then Les Visiteurs was purely a comedy movie while this movie is more of a typical Hong-Kong action comedy. Then comes the shock of the changes, the Ming Dynasty has collapsed and everything has changed. Women has risen in status to a point where, as Ching is convinced, men are subservient. Then there is the bad guy who fits in with society reasonably well, except that he goes for pearls instead of Rolex watches.I enjoyed it, as generally I like Hong Kong movies. There is little in the way of in-depth themes, or none that I can draw out of it (unlike John Woo films). There is the struggle of Ching to come to terms with the collapse of his empire, but this is something that we don't face, or not on his level. Yes, we find that at times our life simply collapses to a point where everything has changed, but I don't think The Iceman Cometh is design to provoke such thoughts. I think this movie is purely designed to entertain with martial arts extravaganzas. Woo seems to deal more with interweaving thought into his films, especially with the Killer, but we never really see Woo films on SBS. This is a good movie and would watch it again.

WOW!!! This movie is incredible. It has two of the most underrated martial artists. They are Yuen Biao and Yuen Wah. When these two go head to head...everything breaks lose. Do not let the title fool you. This has a bit comedy and alot of martial arts combat. Two opponents (once friends) travel across time from the Ming Dynasty to modern (1987) Hong Kong. Most of the film focuses on Yuen Biao and the ever beautiful Maggie Cheung. When we see how bad guy Yuen Wah has adapted to modern day tools of murder and mayhem...the fists and feet fly. I don't want to give away too much of the plot. However, the time travel device is a Buddhist "wheel" that when a Black Buddah is inserted as the key...time travel is possible. The end fight between Yuen and Yuen is one to see. Check it out.

Yuen Biao is the most underrated martial artist of his generation. In my opinion his acrobatic skills outdo both Jackie Chan and Jet Lee although for some reason he isn't as highly rated as JC and JL. This film, his finest, is actually a sort of sci fi/fantasy film. He stars as a warrior of the Ming Dynasty in the 16th century. He and his adversary are fighting and they both fall of a cliff and are frozen; only to be found in the 20th century by scientists and accidentally unfrozen. This film with it's fantasy plot could have been his worst but with his acting, the fighting and the outrageous comedy with the lovely femme fetale Maggie Cheung this is a modern and all time classic. The things Yuen Biao does in this film show why I rate his acrobatic skills higher than JC and JL. The comedy interplays with violent action with Yuen Wah's performance as a sadistic villain spot on. The script is pretty intelligent and the jokes come thick and fast making fun of the late 1980s seen through the 16th century eyes of Yuen Biao who discovers television, electricity and... toilets. The jokes however aren't as glaringly obvious as Jackie Chan and some (very few) Jet Lee films (as very few Jet Li films are comedic if any); the humour is like an episode of The Simpsons, you have to recognise them but when you do they are really funny and actually very intelligent and heartwarming jokes. Maggie Cheung is absolutely brilliant in surely an Oscar winning role as the hard hearted hooker with a soft inside, she shows here that only she could have played this role perfectly. However Yuen Biao just steals the show from Maggie Cheung with his portrayal of a serious but innocently funny warrior. Also the chemistry between Yuen Biao and Maggie Cheung is absolutely electric, they really do sizzle when they are both on screen together. Also unlike Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung films the humour is played with a straight face throughout and this film is the better for it. A modern classic with some great humour fused with some violent fights and the best acting I have ever seen. The ending also has a wonderful bitter-sweet denouement. One more thing is the soundtrack. It is absolutely wonderful and the best bits are the xylophone and the violin when Yuen Biao messes up some very simple house tasks. Surely this film defined the words "all time classic".

"Iceman Cometh" starts out as a manhunt by Ming royal guard Yuen Biao after a rapist-killer of thirteen women in the royal palace, including a relative of the emperor. The guard is transported along with the killer to a snow covered area by a Tibetan wheel with time travel properties. After the two are frozen in the snow, a scientific expedition finds them years later and brings their frozen bodies back to modern Hong Kong. The guard and killer are accidentally thawed out, and the guard ends up getting involved with a call girl (Maggie Cheung)Maggie Cheung steals every scene she is in. Yuen Biao is tops in action scenes with his opponent, the actor who played Panther in "Supercop," but Biao is no match for Maggie. She uses him first as a housekeeper to clean up her messy apartment, then as an enforcer to shake down her clients for additional payoff money. She is the one with most of the problems, from a pimp who threatens to throw acid in her face if she doesn't go out with a client to her later run in with the rapist murderer.The movie also has some nice technical effects when the Tibetan wheel goes into its time traveling mode at the end of the movie, but the real special effect is Maggie Cheung's acting range. She can project some personality on the screen.