Jack (Leon Lai from Going Home) and Martin (Lau Ching Wan from Full Alert) are two professional killers on opposite sides of a rival triad gangs-war. This conflict between the two is about to be turned around when they're both betrayed at the hands of their respective bosses...

The above plot synopsis probably won't give you a feeling of the feeling director Johnnie To projects through his film. In his first directed Milkyway production, To take it upon himself to resurrect themes John Woo injected into his gunplay films back in the 80s and 90s. The results is one of the few very good heroic bloodshed entries from latter half of the 1990s.

Nowadays we know what To does best in moviemaking, namely employing a distinct visual style and great subtlety. In other words, not conveying much. That is evident in A Hero Never Dies but in this one he divides his time between that and making a, what you can almost call, straight forward crime-thriller. To has never been interested in following a blueprint or audiences expectations and here he takes his time to truly get off the launchpad story-wise. Not every viewer have expressed appreciation in the sometimes quirky visual style of To's but I've always been fascinated by his approach. Daring but then again, to the best of my knowledge, To hasn't exactly lit up the box office with this style of his. There's not much said but the basic conflict plot between gangs and killers is set up. Check. Now, To goes into a scene like the wine/coin one and delights in letting it run for a long time. It's wonderfully edgy and hard boiled, which may be seen as parody but I'm more in the camp perceiving it as another take on a genre convention. The honorable confrontation between opposing forces.

Really what A Hero Never Dies does well is brining back the coolness in heroes of Hong Kong cinema. Gun-toting, honorable killers there have not been any memorable examples of since Chow Yun-Fat and John Woo collaborations. While To does not and probably isn't out to match that, his stylistic touch would be hard for most Hong Kong directors to duplicate. A camera that almost constantly moving, dramatic lighting in both action and dialogue scenes in combination with the Hanz Zimmer-esque heroic score by Raymond Wong (one aspect I think doesn't quite match the on screen quality) creates a thrilling atmosphere that would've been nice to experience, with Hong Kong films decline in mind, when A Hero Never Dies opened. It sure was missed.

To hasn't always directed melodrama well but he strikes a good balance with it here. At the halfway point, more weight is put on the characters relationships with their women and I was ready to criticize To for downplaying it too much. Not enough emotional weight I thought but then you realize certain key lines are enough set up for these long relationships and it certainly comes through in the performances from the leading ladies (Fiona Leung deserves an extra nod for her work). To chooses melodramatic moments of greater outbursts but overall remains low-key, at times dialogue is replaced by lingering on characters who's minds are in tragedy. In particular very true for Lau Ching Wan's Martin.

After the fire action design in Lifeline, Yuen Bun was again brought in to realize Johnnie To's vision of heroic bloodshed in 1997. Within the distinguishable cinematography by Cheng Siu-Keung, Yuen brings both straightforward action design and the ballistic kind, the Johnnie To ballistic kind I should mention. We're not talking action akin to the one in The Mission but To does, at this point two years before that film, likes his heroes to remain on the calmer side when in gunfight situations. As the movie progresses, the ballistic nature of the action design does increase (even get snippets of two gun action and the inn shoot-out really is an accomplishment by the entire crew) but it's all residing within a soothing atmosphere somewhat. It's, and it deserves to be mentioned again, Johnnie To after all. Hong Kong cinema seems to have forgotten about some of it's greatest assets such as action but Johnnie hasn't let his unique vision die , as seen in the recent PTU.

As his two heroes that never die (as per the genre requirements, get shot 5 times, you'll most definitely walk on) To cast Leon Lai and Lau Ching Wan. I will never consider Leon to be a promising or a favourite actor of mine but it has to be said he's been directed well by the likes of To and Peter Chan. Not a very expressive actor, director To uses that fact for the character of Jack, making it work very well. Who can rival Lau though? Lau Ching Wan, in one of his better performances as Jack. An ultra-cool killer, dressed in a cowboy hat and untouchable until the day he's robbed of most he took for granted in life. Lau's performance turns to largely wordless in the second half of the film but knowing the ever so professional Lau, he shines as great as ever before. He nails those requirements of having to convey the emotions of loss, sadness and the determination for revenge. There are criminally few real actors in Hong Kong today and like Johnnie To, I wish Lau will remain at home and even take part in the newly resurrected quality in Milkyway films. A familiar face from Once Upon A Time In China, Yam Sai Kwoon co-stars.

Hong Kong cinema can't afford to lose Johnnie To right now. A splendid visionary whose work work doesn't not allow itself to be created on a constant basis due to the filmmaking environment in Hong Kong. His Milkyway directing debut is a classy piece of work filled with content of the heroic bloodshed genre I first discovered during my first few steps into Hong Kong cinema. However, A Hero Never Dies is not John Woo nor Ringo Lam. Those directors had their vision, To has his and it works equally well. Milkyway came to be responsible for some of the best thought out crime thrillers of the late 90s and in my opinion I can easily say they established a genre classic with A Hero Never Dies.

Like many new HK gangster movies, A Hero Never Dies takes on a tired old plot and puts a contemporary spin on it. The emphasis here is not on guns or bloodshed (though there is plenty of it in the film), but rather on the relationships between the characters. But rather than pay homage to the "rules" of these relationships as set forth by the "old school" of movies done by directors like John Woo, A Hero Never Dies thumbs its nose at them. AHND points out the idiocy present in blind loyalty and the direct repercussions it can cause. Rather than becoming heroes through their actions, the characters keep digging themselves further into their own personal hell. Even though the ending is fairly upbeat, there is still no feeling that anyone has "won" in the traditional sense of the word. It is exactly this pessimistic (but still slightly hopeful) attitude -- coupled with some excellent directing, cinematography and acting from Lau Ching-Wan -- which makes A Hero Never Dies one of the best HK crime films of the '90s.

The gloves come off when the two gangs travel to Thailand. Jack and his men escort their boss to a meeting while Martin stalks them like prey. What comes next is a fantastically choreographed chaotic shoot out that leaves Martin crippled and Jack unconscious. The two gang bosses however are unhurt and manage to strike a deal. Jack and Martin are forgotten.

Jack and Martin finally make their separate ways back to Hong Kong, having both been abandoned in Thailand, but find that things have moved on and their former employers now see them as an embarrassment. When attempts are made by the triad bosses to dispose of them and remove traces of the past they realise that they have to fight back.

I was totally drawn into this within the first five minutes. The plot is imaginative and the two main characters are thoroughly believable. Lau Ching Wan especially looks the part with his cowboy style dress sense. The story seems to be more sympathetic to Leon's character in the first half of the movie but things become more balanced later on. Both actors look equally heroic in the film's many action scenes. The climax is particularly bullet ridden and while the film could definitely be pigeon holed as 'Heroic Bloodshed' there is a strong human element to the story to make it so much more than a shoot-em-up flick.

Both Leon Lai and Lau Ching Wan are right hand men for their rival Triad gang leaders, bitter enemies but with a lasting respect for each other.

After a long and bloody gun fight in Thailand, both men face each other in a tense and brutal scene. Having taken all to save there gang boss's they are both betrayed and left for dead.

They are rescued from death by there girlfriends but Lau Ching Wan's character has to have both legs amputated because of the severity of his wounds.

After more tragic events push them over the edge, they decide to bond together and get the ultimate revenge.

Lau Ching Wan fills the screen with a superb performance, swaggering around in a ten gallon cowboy hat and boots.

Leon Lai is understated but gives a subtle and brilliant performance. Fiona Leung and Yo Yo Mung also shine as the girlfriends of the 2 gangsters, but stick by them through everything.

I cannot reccomend this film enough, From the haunting soundtrack to the direction of Johnnie To this film deserves to become a cult classic.