Word: viewer
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...played by Hung, who has been assigned to the Los Angeles police department. In many ways it is an old-fashioned cop show, with crude plots and characterizations--but this actually makes it a pleasure to watch since it provides a B-movie charge and doesn't require the viewer to care about anyone's alcoholism or love life. What makes Martial Law distinct though is its intricate, speed-of-light action sequences and its humor, and these both derive from the talents of Hung, who has been a star of comedy-action films in Hong Kong since the 1970s...
...pushes a line of patter that is just a bit too slick to pass for charm. And when his life starts crumbling, you can almost smell his comic flop sweat through the screen. Tom Schulman's script is smart about the media's ability to create celebrities--and the viewer's need to embrace them--until it goes soft-hearted and -headed by denouncing the very salesmanship that Hollywood and TV are built on. For an hour or so, though, the film has the gaudy assurance of a Ginsu knife infomercial...
...voice-over readings of letters and diaries (the narration is spoken by Angela Bassett). If there's a quibble, it's that the re-enactments, done in soft-focus and slow motion, are overused, and one wishes for a fuller description of the slaves' separate culture. Nevertheless, the viewer will come away with a vivid understanding of how slavery flourished in the land of freedom and what costs it imposed...
...they're almost cute. Naturally, the famous Amazonian piranhas and other such dangerous beasts show up and startle the audience, if not with their teeth then with their alien appearances. The mountains tower so high they threaten to break the sky-dome of the screen, the forest envelopes the viewer on all sides with its strange beauty and noise, and the audience can truly be lost in the wilderness of South America...
...herbs, but they are also there for the shock value: Who wouldn't be surprised, if not alarmed, at the sight of a man's lower lip pierced with something that bears an uncomfortable resemblance to a stick of bamboo? There is a feeble attempt to enrich the viewer's historical understanding of the discovery of and relations with various tribes, but pay no attention to it. Most people will probably ignore it anyway...