The first time I saw this movie was on a bad tape copy with minute subs, so I gave it a second try. And though my impression is slightly more positive than before, I still count this as one of Tsui Hark's biggest failures. It seems like his wilderness years with Van Damme have made him lose sight of everything that makes for good filmmaking. Little things such as a plot that makes sense, characters with understandable motivations that the audience becomes emotionally involved with, and camerawork and editing that enhances the story and action instead of rendering it a total incomprehensible mess. I still thin Nick Tse is going to be a very good actor one day, but that day hasn't yet come (but then again, he is very young and has a whole lifetime ahead of him to grow and mature - Leslie Cheung was also pretty weak in most of his early films, yet has become a truly excellent thespian). Anthony Wong is criminally wasted. The female roles are mere cyphers, totally unappealing and uninvolving. The bad guys have no relationship to Nick Tse, only to Wu Bai (who looks a lot like chief Venom Kuo Choi), and Tse's involvement with them during the whole final Forty minutes shootout is based on pure accident. There is a lot of action, but most of it is shot in such a self-conscious and hyperactive way that it diminishes what is on screen which is a real pity. I can't find the name of the action director on the web, but he put together some 'different' hand-to-hand action and some high-rise stuntwork that is actually quite dangerous and impressive yet comes across as far less stunning than it should be, simply because of how it is filmed.
Tsui Hark has said he wanted to explore a new way of storytelling with this film. All the more power to him, but I cannot make heads or tails of this film, both on the overall plot level and on the level of individual moments within scenes. Maybe when one tries to implement a new way of storytelling one should first make sure there is a story to tell? It's a great pity that all this effort has gone to waste on a loud, dizzying but pointless and disappointing movie.
Tsui Hark has said he wanted to explore a new way of storytelling with this film. All the more power to him, but I cannot make heads or tails of this film, both on the overall plot level and on the level of individual moments within scenes. Maybe when one tries to implement a new way of storytelling one should first make sure there is a story to tell? It's a great pity that all this effort has gone to waste on a loud, dizzying but pointless and disappointing movie.