Golden Job (2018)

Never go against the family!

Golden Job was a throwback movie with a big budget. It spared no expense on the cast, filming in spectacular scenery, or blowing up or smashing cars and spraying buckets of blood. It also didn't spend very much time on developing a well thought out script. Of course, most people who watch heist and car chase movies aren't usually looking for a lot of depth. If you are, you're out of luck.

This "made family" would have benefited from watching a Godfather movie. Never go against the family! Ask Fredo what happens when you do (Godfather II, it's an old movie but worth checking out). Instead, this family kept giving the wayward "child" chance after chance to repent. Penitence was not easy when a truckload of gold was involved.

There was almost no female presence in this movie except for a few scenes. This was amped up testosterone with shootouts, explosions, and multiple car chases with shooting and explosions. Woe to the innocent civilians who become collateral damage by being crushed, mangled, shot, or blown up as the bad guys and badder guys chased each other through Montenegro, Japan, and anywhere they were.

The music was appropriately jaunty for a boys' heist/rampage movie. I have no complaints about the production values, they were top notch.

The cast did fine with what they were asked to do. Not a lot of room between shootouts and explosions for character growth for the 50-year-old men reunited from the Young and Dangerous series. I enjoyed Kurata Yasuaki's small role especially when he put the beat down on a few younger thugs.

The lack of female presence, the very weak script, the whiny "Dad always liked you better" villain, the ridiculous collateral damage that went unaddressed, and the presence of Eric Tsang (google what happened with Yu Sin Man) lowered my score for a mindless action movie that I would normally enjoy.

If you are a fan of older Hong Kong movies and are yearning for a throwback trip down memory lane with a famous cast, exciting scenery and sets, and don't mind the things I mentioned, this would probably be an exhilarating drive for you. By the end I felt more like I'd been stuck on the side of the road in the rain with a flat tire waiting for AAA to show up.

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