No, it's not the saviour of a declining Hong Kong action cinema. No, it's not very good as a film but forget all about that and let Shu Qi, Zhao Wei and the under-appreciated Karen Mok be your companionship for 2 hours of Hong Kong action cinema the way it's done in 2003. Corey Yuen takes quite a huge leap forward in action directing compared to his Hollywood work and what's on display in So Close I would say is what you get out of main performers that aren't classically trained. You hide it with a frenetic camera language and quick-cuts but as the movie progresses, the action becomes quite a delight. The ladies perform as much as they can which I admired in the neat fight between Shu and Karen. Plus the movie is so stylistically over the top, practically a fashion showcase, that you can't help to be sucked into the outrageous action feats the women perform.

With a script that is overly melodramatic at times, the biggest surprise comes in the emotional punch the Shu Qi/Zhao Wei sister relationship packs. It's so much thanks to enough dedication from the bonafide moviestar Shu Qi and rising talent Zhao Wei that it's not a tedious wait between the action. Considering it's this genre, I was thoroughly surprised at what director Corey Yuen managed to do with this Columbia Asia financed project. Thumbs up believe it or not but again, Hong Kong action cinema hasn't been saved. So Close however is a standout, despite it being quite laughable, much like China Strike Force was.

Both Chinese language tracks have dubbing but I prefer the Mandarin track since it features Shu Qi and Vicky Zhao's sync sound performances as opposed to the Cantonese track where they're dubbed by someone else.