Good concept, poorly executed.

An Exercise In Nonsense

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

I have several problems with this film. For one thing, I'm not sure the director (Max Makowski) had any definitive idea on what type of movie he was trying to create. At first it starts off as a comedy but then morphs into a crime-drama with elements of romance and then back to a serious drama. Further, he puts some scenes out front and then back-tracks on them only to come full circle toward the end. I found this technique initially confusing but later it seemed all too elementary after everything was said and done. Not only that, but I thought the outstanding performance of Francis Ng ("T") was downgraded to an extent by the attempted comedy all around him. And other than him I didn't see anybody else in the cast who was nearly as good by comparison. In short, this film features a complicated plot with ambivalent direction which utilizes a confusing technique that hampers an otherwise brilliant performance by the lead actor. I think that pretty much says it all.

One Last Dance is the story of T, a mysterious hit-man contracted by a local mob boss to kill the people responsible for the recent kidnapping and murder of said mob boss' son. However, things don't quite go according to plan, and as the bodies piles up, T finds himself questioning just how close to home his next target will be...Can you say cliché? Good, because that's what One Last Dance is almost exclusively made of. The characters are exaggerated types and the ordinary plot has delusions of grandeur. While the dialogue does have its moments, such as a particularly informative conversation on the finer points of making a cup of tea, most of it is faux-cool and decidedly average.The movie isn't helped by director Max Makowski either, with his unnecessary just-out-of-film-school camera tricks and gratuitous use of CGI for the smallest of things.Its saving grace is the performance of Francis Ng, who plays T with the right balance of world-weariness and romanticism essential for any hired killer, and when he's off-screen, you certainly notice his absence. Ng's T keeps holds your interest when the plot fails and keeps the film afloat.Good hit-man movies are stylish, smart, and cool, but for all its glossy trickery and pop-culture references, One Last Dance is not.

This was really the only movie at Sundance 2006 that I absolutely HAD to see. Many (American) audience members simply did not understand the humor in the more dramatic parts (very characteristic of Korean-style dramas) which simply is not seen much in American movies. Note: this movie is not Korean, but I draw from Korean movies as a reference.T, an experienced hit-man (Francis Ng) is forced to work with a group of young bumbling gangsters. T is more or less a "strong silent" honorable man (the irony being that he kills for a living) who is contracted to kill via names written in lai si packets (little red packets - commonly associated with gifts given during Chinese New Year). You, as a viewer, piece together the past and the present regarding T, the woman he has a crush on (Vivian Hsu), the idiotic gangsters T works with, an old detective T plays chess with (who is working on the some cases involving dead gangsters), and the rest of the gangster underground. Ultimately, T must protect the woman he loves, retain his honor as a man and fulfill his responsibilities as a professional hit-man.I am not big into HK/Singaporean movies, but my experience watching Korean dramas/comedies prepared me to understand much of the humor when it seemed to glaze over much of the rest of the American audience. I personally thought some moments were hysterical. The movie is more or less a crime-drama (I guess) but from my experience, Asian dramas don't like to restrain themselves to only one genre. I personally think that Max Makowski (writer/director) managed to minimize explanation of some parts, which gave the film a more adult/mature/lifelike quality (i.e. what was in the suitcase?).I don't think I could recommend a similar movie (few have managed to put together a quality script with rich characters), but the garbled time-line is similar to Memento (or Pulp Fiction for you main-streamers) and the main character is vaguely like Old Boy. I can't wait for One Last Dance to make it to DVD because it is already starting to fade from my memory and I do believe that this is one of my top 10 movies.

A very well written story. The film gives a kaleidoscopic view of the underground world with an emerging focus on the role and life of individuals. The film provides reflections on deepest human emotions portrayed in a world where one does not expect such feelings to exist nor the desire to right wrongs. The film is challenging and a puzzle which slowly unfolds. Overall an interesting movie showing the more than two faces of the crime world. What We see is a sobering and even tragic picture of the crime world. There is fine acting and good selection of locations. For English speakers who must follow the translation some of the impact of the film in Cantonese may, unfortunately, not be fully appreciated.