I'll admit that much of the acting is very bad, the dialog is even worse, many of the stunts look so fake that they're ridiculous, nothing about the action scenes is in any way believable, and the story itself has been done to death... BUT...

Coolio is consistently funny as the South Central LA drug dealer trying to make a Chinese connection, Norika Fujiwara is as beautiful and sexy as you could want an actress to be, Mark Dacascos is actually pretty good in the movie, and even the fake-looking stunts are fun to watch as long as you don't let yourself get shaken out of the story by the extremely poor production values.

So although I grimaced in a few places, after it was over I realized I had enjoyed watching it.

Average for This Type of Thing, an Expensive, Slick Looking, Overproduced Kung Fu Action. Director Tong (a former stunt man) has Made a Career Helming Hong Kong Films and Seems to be Trying Forever to Become "International".

Problem Is, the Appeal and Charm of Hong Kong Action is Hong Kong Action Unfettered by a Hollywood Looking Production that is so Pretentiously Pandering to a "Wider" Audience that the Core and Soul of its Raw and Reliable Homeland Sizzle is Wanting.

The Only Thing Recommended Here is Some Daring Set Piece Stunt Work. But Even that is Derivative and Lacks a Certain Spontaneity. The Wire Work is Clunky and Rapper Coolio is the Clunkiest of the Clunk Going On Here.

It's Not Awful but Some of it Is. A Very Weak Story and Even Weaker Acting, Makes the Whole Movie Sink Under its Contrived Conceit of Cool, and Again, Not Helped by Hiring Coolio.

The Movie Looks Good and the Few Disjointed Action Scenes Make for Some Fun, but Overall it is a Mediocre Mess. An Appeal for a Hollywood Sleekness when None is Required.

Coolio—he of the Gangsta's Paradise and the craaaazy hair—has a major role in Hong Kong action flick China Strike Force, which is enough to make any sane martial arts movie fan hesitate about watching; but even though the rapper's performance is as diabolical as one might expect, the film is simply too much fun to ignore. China Strike Force is also totally preposterous much of the time and requires a huge amount of suspension of disbelief, but it is precisely this bonkers 'screw logic' approach that makes matters so entertaining.

The opening scene gives a pretty good indication of what we're in for: cop buddies Alex (Leehom Wang) and Darren (Aaron Kwok) are on a mission to save a hostage, and use their martial arts skills to pummel the enemy into submission. After much hard-hitting violence it is revealed that the whole thing is actually a police training exercise—one in which the pretend enemy are willing to take an awful lot of damage for the sake of realism (and in which Alex and Darren seem more than happy to risk blindness, the other cops content to shoot the good guys in the head with paint-balls!).

After this daft intro, we get into the story proper: Coolio plays a drug dealer (also named Coolio—what are the chances?) trying to break into the Chinese market. Mark Dacascos is Tony Lau, Coolio's Shanghai contact, who goes against his uncle Ma's wishes by importing narcotics. Wang and Kwok are the policemen out to stop the drug smugglers, helped by beautiful Japanese Interpol agent Norika (played by the drop-dead gorgeous Norika Fujiwara). And that's really all you need to know about the plot, 'cos all the fun is in the fast, furious and far-fetched action?

Marvel as one of the cops rides a motorbike onto the roof of a car, and then defies physics by leaping onto the top level of an open top bus. Watch in amazement as a racing car is driven underneath a moving lorry at high speed. Drool in excitement as Noriko does stretching exercises in a prison cell. Thrill to the sight of Kwok and Dacascos fighting on top of a pimped up, purple and yellow Rolls Royce suspended from the bottom of a helicopter. And stare in disbelief as Coolio, Noriko and Kwok battle it out on a plate glass window teetering like a see-saw hundreds of feet above ground level.

Thanks to its death-defying stunt-work (check out the end credits to see some of the not so successful attempts) and director Stanley Tong's excellent handling of the action, China Strike Force manages to be a hugely enjoyable no-brainer—even with Coolio in it!