jfh_dragonfly Donnie Yen does his best, and some of the fight scenes are okay, but the plot line is the worst movie writing I've ever seen. Really sorry to have wasted my time on this one. The only reason I fell for it was because Donnie Yen is generally so good. Editors and directors and writers alike bombed him this time.

taijiquan12 Donnie Yen is in my opinion the best martial arts movie-star out there right now, especially since Jackie Chan and Jet Li have slowed down and Tony Jaa is only just now getting off to a shaky start with the poorly reviewed Tom Yum Goong 2. That being said, it's a major disappointment that Donnie Yen's latest, "Iceman", is a miss for the now middle aged (not that you can tell) martial arts master. Iceman is directionless, confusing, poorly paced, and makes very poor use of Donnie Yen's truly impressive and astonishing martial arts skills. The script is a fish out of water/man out of his time type story, that we've seen before, with nothing new to offer. Some other reviewers have drawn comparisons between this and the Marvel Comics character Captain America, and I can assure the only similarity is that both are frozen men who wake up in different time periods. Rip Van Winkle is the same story but is that also similar?No, Iceman is in a league of it's own poor storytelling, a remake of a previous film with the same premise from the 80's, this rehash has totally juvenile humour that always misses it's mark, a contrived love story, and a main character capable of ridiculous things with little to no explanation. Captain America is at least explained to have a DNA altering serum in his body, learning Kung Fu doesn't make you superhuman. They don't even make good use of the fish-out-of-water story and Yen's character adjusts to modern times with ridiculous ease and little incident. Granted, some of the humor may have been lost in translation for me, however I'll say that other foreign comedies, like those of the great Stephen Chow, are always great for a laugh in my book. Absolutely don't go into this thinking you'll see Donnie Yen kick any kind of butt in major degree, the few fight scenes this movie does have are poorly constructed, filled with bad CGI, and nothing new or close to his potential. Iceman is like the ice-age altogether, worth avoiding.

3xHCCH I have been a Donnie Yen fan every since I saw him in the first Ip Man film. Now every time I see a Donnie Yen film shown locally (which is not often), I try to catch it. Last year, he shifted his fighting style from elegant Wing Chun to gritty MMA in the film called "Special ID". This year, Yen turns to fantasy fighting in "Iceman".Mainly "Iceman" was about a group of four friends who are high officials in the Imperial Guards during the Ming Dynasty. Three of them frame He Ying with conspiring with Japanese pirates, leading to his execution. As he tries to escape, he gets caught in an avalanche, gets cryogenically preserved, only to wake up in present day Hong Kong. Two of his traitor "friends" also wake up with him to continue their 400 year old fight.He Wing is a kind and helpful guy, especially to the girl who took him in, May. He even helps May with her invalid mother currently in a nursing home. He Wing is also on some sort of quest, searching for the key to the so-called Golden Wheel of Time, an ancient time machine of sorts. Furthermore there is a group of corrupt cops who are after the three frozen Ming guys to sell to a North Korean buyer. All these plot lines could not really be settled in one film, as the ending obviously pointed towards a sequel. Acting is cheesy. The comedy is lowbrow, slapstick with jokes about various body functions. The best parts of the film are still the fight scenes, even if the style was old-fashioned with a lot of obvious wire work. The climactic fight scene is the awesome three-way in the middle of a suspension bridge, with chains vs. sword vs. battle axe. Exciting stuff, though it went a bit overboard with its length.

Bob's Yeruncle The Hong Kong Captain America puts on a good show, but leaves us either on the hook for a sequel, or scratching our heads wondering if Graham Chapman wasn't on the scripting staff.Lots of things to like about this movie, including; Donnie Yen, humor, good action, and some excellent cinematography. While the ending is somewhat unsatisfactory if this turns out to be a one-off movie,the producers are obviously trying for a Bourne Identity sort of franchise here, and I hope they succeed in making it.Lots of good work on display here. If the sequel gets made and meets the same standard, it would easily bump this rating up a point or two, and more importantly, revive interest in and sales of the original product. It has all the makings of a classic, except a complete storyline.