Wong regardless, always blends in a form of amusement whilst delivers a simple but often prominent and intriguing storyline to accompany - another reason to why I've grown fond of his stuff. A wealth of high entertainment for the majority of viewers to enjoy is also included to make up for anything else that's underdeveloped, partially why some of his projects have failed to churn out any success. Despite this and some of the infamous real life stories about him, it's quite a rare inspiration for HK Cinema to have such a talented and legendary player in the industry, to which we probably won't see a lot of in future.

Onto 'The Last Blood': Whilst it was frequently hailed as the sequel to the classic 'Hard Boiled' (especially in the UK), the latter was made the year before and 'Boiled' would become one of John Woo's most successful and critically acclaimed films in his career amongst 'The Killer' and 'Better Tomorrow'. As ever, Wong surfs through the years of his celebrated career and rarely (if ever) has enforced a halt to it, especially to direct this entertaining flick.

'The Last Blood' regardless definitely deserves the right to stand on it's own. More attractively, it also broadcasts Alan Tam's somewhat-hidden and rare role of an prominent action star than what he's most know for, a Hong Kong Canto-pop singer! It's less known that he initially filled in for Jackie in the 1987 film 'Armour of God' in result of the formers' major injury on set, should he have taken a real turn for the worse...

During the Gulf War, many terrorists are planning worldwide attacks on political figures and leaders to abolish peace for all. One gang of terrorists in particular: the Japanese 'Red Army' are determined on planning the assassination of Daka Lama (Lo Sho Kai). The former, despite repetitive warnings over the major threat of his life, insists his trip to 'Singapore' during the 'Nation Day' to broadcast his words to the people that his country is suffering greatly from poverty.

Unfortunately, Daka Lama is shot in the airport he arrived in and requires a blood transfusion. During the process of capturing the assassins, May (May Lo), another innocent civilian is taken hostage and suffers the same fate. The blood they both require is the same rare type with only three such men in the same country carrying it. Two are assassinated leaving 'Fatty' (Eric Tsang) the only donor available.

The boyfriend of May; Bee (Andy Lau), becomes embroiled in a feud with Interpol cop Lui Tai (Alan Tam) and his partner Stone (Leung Kar Yan) over whom will receive the limited amount of blood available. Both realize that rebellion of the two parties is pointless and must work together in order to save lives in and from danger.

For a HK film, it's solid cast and action make this a recommended purchase despite the minor flaws!

Okay, first off, The Last Blood (which has been re-titled Hard-Boiled 2 for some overseas versions) has absolutely nothing to do with the John Woo actioner. In fact, it was made two years beforehand (I suspect that it was retitled and re-released after Hard-Boiled became a hit). The only thing vaguely similar to the two films is a shootout in a hospital.

At any rate, as with most Wong Jing films, there's next to no plot or story development. Some people really hate Wong's style, but I dig it. Let's face it -- most films have crappy plots anyway... why not just get straight to the blood and guts? You won't mistake this movie for a cinematic masterpiece like The Killer, but it is a fairly enjoyable 90-minute romp, even if it just boils down to an extended chase/gunfight sequence. A couple of points, though: if you're not familiar with HK pop culture, you're not going to get a lot of the jokes (Lau and Tam are both popular singers and some of the jokes are based on that). The movie is also extremely violent in parts, which might put off some viewers.

On a visit to Singapore the Dala Lama is critically injured in an assassination attempt and in dire need of a blood transfusion. Injured in the same attack is Andy Lau's girlfriend, also left fighting for her life. Amazingly they both share the same rare blood type with only a handful of people being possible donors within Singapore. The national army surround the hospital preventing further attacks so the Red Army go after the donors until they have killed all but one (hence the title), the hapless Eric Tsang. Andy Lau and cop Alan Tam, although driven by different motives, join together to find the last donor and escort him safely to the hospital. Like I said, absolutely ridiculous.

Wong Jing manages to create some excellent gunplay scenes not too far removed from the John Woo style. This film was actually in production at the same time as 'Hard Boiled' but it looks as if Wong Jing might have got wind of what Woo was doing as there is much use of gunmen on motorbikes and the climax actually takes place in a hospital. It seems too close to be a coincidence to me.

Where the film really wins though is in the sharp dialogue. The interplay between Eric Tsang and Andy Lau is excellent with Alan Tam almost being pushed into the sidelines. Leung Kar Yan appears in a supporting role but isn't really given much to do.

So its silly but if you just want to switch off and watch lots of people shoot each other in ways that could be described as 'balletic' then this would do the job.

Not surprisingly, the folks at Eastern Heroes have repackaged and marketed this film as "Hard-Boiled 2". Maybe because the final shootout takes place at a hospital? Or maybe just because it has a bunch of guys shooting at each other. Who knows?