Waste of time

Such a frustrating disappointment

Overrated

Blistering performances.

When the opening credits start, you are surprised how it's immediately bad : the song is lame, the visual inspiration is particularly awful. Then, the first scene comes and you are already bored. Then, comes Madonna, Sean Penn and nothing changes : there are no story, no action, no exoticism ! This is like this for nearly 100 minutes and if you wonder why the movie bombed, well, now you know ! For those who expected a firework between the new spouses, it's a disappointment : it's maybe the first couple on a screen who doesn't exude a little chemistry between them ! Shot on locations on Macau, you expected to feel like « Empire of the sun » or « Indy 2 » but the places are limited to the port, a lake, and looks like today! The big action sequence is a ridiculous rickshaw pursuit and the special effects are just laughable as much as they are bad (exploded hands, tomato blood!)... In other words, the movie is just totally uninteresting and in addition totally salvaged by a inept crew!

OK, it's not a classic, not every movie is, but if you just want to see a tongue-in-cheek romantic comedy you could do worse.The music of George Harrison helps and I, for one, kinda' liked this unpretentious little movie.Not many movies were being made about China in 1986 and being set in 1938 during the Japanese occupation adds some historic appeal. The plot, although unbelievable, is not really predictable and some of the supporting characters are interesting to say the least.If you want to see a "great movie" then watch something else but if you like a fun movie with a few twists and turns then Shanghai Surprise might be just right.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only person who thinks this film isn't a complete waste of time.I first rented the movie waaaaay back when it first came out on video and actually quite liked it. Then when it became available to buy, I hot footed it down to HMV to get my own copy, and I wasn't disappointed.Let's start off with Madonna. First of all, she looks gorgeous in this. And you know what, her acting isn't that bad. Yes, you read me right, she's not bad. What lets her down, however, is the clunky dialogue. Not even Meryl Streep could do much with this. But she's more than competent with what she has to work with.As for the story, well, it was never going to be a contender for film of the year, but it's straight forward enough and even has a little twist at the end (and no, I didn't see it coming). Madonna is a missionary out in Shanghai, trying to procure opium while Sean Penn is a... not sure exactly what he is, but he ends up helping Madonna against the baddies. Yes, it's full of clichés, but it's upbeat and doesn't take itself too seriously.I realise that the film won't be to everyone's tastes, but it's honestly not that bad.

What is it with bad reviews and pop stars who cannot act, huh? And this is the 80s! Did you think things would be different back in the day? Huh? I guess not! But I'm not one of those people - I do adore movies whose stars are none other than pop stars! It gives me a great chance to see pop stars in action - doing things that we cannot see on the radio because there's no screen on a radio! LOL However, there are screens on a television and a movie auditorium, and I can see the pop stars there! So why give negative reviews on movies like these when people like us give positive reviews? This movie is an 11 out of 10 stars!