Hong Kong crime. While I’ve been interested in Hong Kong crime films for a long time, this is my first exposure to Johnny To’s work. In addition to the genre, the film was interested in a quite suitable cast, filled with albeit not the first stars of Hong Kong cinema, but very recognizable faces.
So what happened? The beginning is very ambiguous - the plot goes somewhat peculiar, very not obvious way, and then somehow strange door flies, but at the same time you can immediately see the beautiful camera work and atmosphericity.
Later, the plot will become digestible and even exciting. But most importantly, the actors will begin to realize their very colorful characters. Serious, reasonable hero Anthony Wong and insidious, powerful villain Simon Yam, will simply shine on the screen. I think these are their best roles.Francis Ng played on a level and was the leader of the "team of good" when it was required. But Nik Chun was very peculiar, although his character is very important for the plot, personally I was much more interested in watching the actions of the wife of this character.
In addition to acting, the film will please with unusual purely Hong Kong shootings, both mass and in the “hunting” mode.
Very unusual location. Personally, I had known about Macao before, only that it was once ruled by the Portuguese and a population of about 500,000 people, and it turned out that the city has a very unusual architecture, which was unobtrusively demonstrated in one of the scenes of the shootings. And all thanks to the aforementioned camera work, which was good throughout the film.
The film is also full of brilliant scenes in its composition. If desired, you can find a subtle reference from Sonatine Takeshi Kitano. In the film there is a peculiar, but sometimes funny Chinese criminal humor. There are a couple of shortcomings in the film - two embarrassments with special effects in the first half and not fully worked out the character of Nick Chun, otherwise an excellent Hong Kong crime film with elements of an action movie.
10 out of 10