| I saw this action packed film and I loved it! Definitely a five star drama. I knew this was an early Chow Yun Fat vehicle, so that meant that he was actually gonna be a co-star for the film. The actual star of this film is, Leung Kar Yan (a.k.a. Beardy, because of his bushy beard) who is also best known for movies like Knockabout with Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung and My Life's on the Line. In this drama, he plays Brother Ma, a humble courier who along with his pickpocket friend and explosives expert Bu are hired by a mysterious man named Hu to deliver a mysterious cargo that they must get to a warlord named Zhao Long.
Seems like a pretty simple mission except during this escapade in which conman Fu Jun (Chow Yun Fat) village girl Guiha (Cherie Chung), who is and the shady Miss Li, a woman that the team rescues from bandits earlier in the film accompanies them, they encounter a host of problems:
- They have seven days to reach their destination.
- They are prohibited from opening or tampering with the cases in anyway (so you know they're carrying something bad).
- The horde of bandits and revolutionaries who are determined to get in their way and keep them from delivering the cargo.
- A pair of ruthless assassins who are after Fu Jun, after a price is put on his head.
As the crew of couriers continue on their way through these phalanx of dangers, they begin to learn more about their part in this operation and how it relates to Zhao Long. The question is, will they turn back in time before they realize the terrible fate that might await them all?
This movie definitely has lots of character development and the fact that it was filmed in Korea makes it all the more interesting. Treading through open land with snow and ice all around, I was almost expecting the group to have a snowball fight! It's a shame that we don't get to learn more about Cherie Chung's character in this movie; I mean she's just labeled as a village girl who's going to buy back her sister who's been sold into slavery...though we never see her or who's clutches she has wound up in. Fu Jun is definitely a man of mystery, a con artist who has recurring nightmares about a past incident he was involved in. Again, they have a good plot device there for more character development, but it isn't used. Chow Yun's character is cocky and arrogant and believes that he's almost invincible to anything, but he's a team player and he manages to get along with explosives expert Bu. Earlier in the film, these two didn't exactly see eye to eye, but when their lives are on the line, they choose to work together, knowing their survival depends on it.
The ending to this great film is almost abrupt and it leaves certain questions hanging in the air, but overall, it is an entertaining drama. Watch it dubbed or subtitled and I guarantee, you'll enjoy it. |
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