Overrated and overhyped

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

....and a goofy, half-baked plot it is. When you set your movie in a fictional country named Lavernia (?) and expect people to take it seriously, you've definitely started off on the wrong foot. But when the film is not slowed down by its story, it does have some very good action scenes. It is mainly a showcase for Chiu Man Cheuk, who has a likable screen presence and is a graceful, impressive fighter; although he's not quite "the next Jet Li", why he never became a bigger star in the field is a minor mystery. The fight choreography is brutal and efficient, and the main villain (Andrew Lin) is impressive in his own right, but the final showdown goes too over-the-top for my tastes. The beautiful Shu Qi is mostly wasted, but she does have a great scene where she fiercely stabs a man to death. (**1/2)

This movie is just so brilliant. I have no idea how they created such an extraordinary action sequence. There's intense gun fighting, and my favorite..... Kung fu fighting. Qi Shu was just so superb doing this film.The story was a little bit hard for me to understand because there was some things that they talked about that I didn't get, but you'll probably understand later on in the ending.That Qi Shu is so cool, that he should be like the next Jet Li. I really enjoyed this movie, and I hope that I can get it. I recommend this movie to anyone who loves action.

Overall I would have to say that this film is good, although it could have been excellent. Great fight scenes, wonderful camera work, a reasonable plot and decent performances all round. However, there are a few unfortunate failings which I feel could have been avoided with little trouble.My major complaint with the version I own on DVD is the dubbing. While I make a point of always watching foreign films with subtitles it is impossible to avoid the voiceovers on the one because all of the Russian-speaking characters have been dubbed into English with varying degrees of success. Obviously this is a criticism of my version, not the film itself, but unless I learn to speak Cantonese I will not be able to enjoy the original version. Another problem is with the action scenes: while they are spectacular to say the least (as a martial artist myself I particularly enjoyed them) I cannot help thinking that they could have been a little more realistic. In the final showdown Chiu Man Chuk and Andrew Lin practically fly around the screen. This would not be so bad, but everything they touch shatters to pieces, be they tables or stone busts. As for the gunplay, a veritable army of terrorists with automatic weapons are almost completely unable to hit four soldiers standing still on an exposed bridge with no cover. My final complaint is the music in the romance scenes, which makes them seem a little slushy. Oh, and one misplaced blind guitar player in a subway showdown.Obviously, I have been highlighting the bad points, rather than good - but this is simply because I want to illustrate that aside from these quibbles there is nothing wrong with this picture, which is why it is one of my favourite Chinese action movies.

The is a great action movie. Ching Siu Tung furnishes some his best choreography and Zhao Wen Zhou gets to use a lot of good wushu. Full of gunplay, explosions, and kung fu. Don't miss the end sequence, it's a classic. My main problem is the excessive blood and brutality. I thought it undermines a lot of the action. Setting that aside, a good film for people who like HK action.