| John Woo's homage to Euro cinema and classic heist flicks, starring Chow Yun Fat, Cherie Chung, and the late Leslie Cheung, charming, robbing, and shooting their way through France and Hong Kong in a stylish mix of drama, action, and comedy.
Coming off the bad reviews and poor box office of "Bullet In The Head", Woo did a 180 with this enjoyable, if slightly uneven, action comedy, paying tribute to his cinematic influences along the way. People are usually pretty divided on this film, and I can, to a certain extent sympathize with its detractors. But if you just lean back and try to enjoy it as a fun, charming heist movie with solid action and international flair, instead of expecting "The Killer Part 2", you will most likely have a good time.
Fat, Cheung, and Chung shows great chemistry, and you can tell that they had fun making the movie. The heist scenes are a nice mix of classy "Pink Panther" vibe and HK action ingenuity, which blends well and is great fun to watch. The comedy bits are kind of hit and miss throughout and probably the weakest link in the chain here. Some of the stuff towards the end could have been dialed down quite a bit. The drama works well, especially with the always stern Kenneth Tsang and the emotive Chu Kong adding their weight to the proceedings. Action-wise you have Philip Kwok Choi and Rémy Julienne on board. And those names should speak for themselves. Great car stunts, bloody gunplay, and some cool touches of acrobatics and martial arts.
As a whole, this movie is almost Wong Jing-esque, with its "everything but the kitchen sink" formula. And we are far away from "A Better Tomorrow" or "The Killer" here. But if you can look past its inconsistencies, swing'n'a miss humour, editing gaffes, etc. and take it for what it is, it is not a bad way to spend a couple of hours. |