Initial D

I borrowed and watched all 3 installments of Infernal Affairs last week. The first movie was the best, then the series spiraled down into a confused mess by the 3rd installment. I only liked Infernal Affairs 2 because of Edison Chen. He's awfully cute but had very little screen time in Infernal Affairs 2. I wanted to see more of him, so I borrowed Initial D and watched it last night. Again, he had very little screen time on this show but was cute as ever. Since I am also an admirer of Jay Chou I wasn't completely unhappy with the movie. It is a very fun movie with lots of comic relief and exciting racing scenes. I feel like looking up the Initial D OVA.

I couldn't help comparing Initial D with Tokyo Drift. Having watched both Tokyo Drift movies, I prefer Tokyo Drift overall in terms of stunts and cinematography, but I dislike 2 Fast 2 Furious. There are some aspects of Initial D which I feel are nicer than Tokyo Drift though. First of all, I prefer the cast in Initial D, including Edisen Chen (ofcourse) and Jay Chou. I also prefer the way the hero (or main character) is portrayed in Initial D. Takumi (Jay Chou) is the reluctant hero, who has the skills and talent but does not show it off. In comparison, Sean (Lucas Black in Tokyo Drift) was brash and showy. Maybe it is a trite comparison but I think it might be the difference between East and West.

Interestingly, last night I saw Princess Blade, another movie based on anime like Initial D, just before watching Initial D, and Yuki Hime was also the reluctant heroine but with superb skills and talents in Japanese martial arts. I like the reluctant heros.

Polar told me not to write an entire blog entry about Edison Chen. Though I started this entry wanting to do that, I obeyed her. Nevertheless, I will end here by saying I still need more Edison Chen eye candy, so luckily, I have The Grudge 2 on loan from Video Ezy and I intend to watch it tonight. I prefer the original Japanese version, Ju-on, but I watched the first Hollywood remake The Grudge for the sake of Sarah Michelle Gellar (cause I miss Buffy!) so it's not surprising that I will be watching this sequel for Edison Chen. I suspect he will not have much screen time either, he's actually not a very good actor. I wonder why E! placed him as the No.1 next big Asian star (I saw this on TV and I can't remember the title of the show), ranking higher than Rain! I guess it might be because he has this great business acumen, attitude and speaks perfect Canadian accented English. And gosh, he has a blog which ofcourse I'm adding to my google reader. Definitely. Even though it might well be ghost written by some kid on his payroll.