Chinese action film isn't quite as good as the start promises, but it still a good way to spend time in the dark. The plot has a young cop recruited by the Hong Kong Police for their sniper corps after remaining cool under fire in the films opening set piece. From there the plot spins out as the young turk is trained, chafes at the by the book methods and flirts briefly with the dark side, in the form of an ex-sniper who wants revenge on the sniper corps. The action scenes are well done (especially considering there is only so much you can do with sniper rifles) and are the sort of thing that you really wouldn't mind seeing again (because you'd be surprised what you can do with sniper rifles). When the film is on it really works well. The problem is that the stuff away from the action or training sequences aren't as good as the rest of the film. Part of the problem is that there seems to be too many little side bits going on for an 85 minute movie. Things seem to be brought up and then are done away with and characters seem to come and go. Of course this being an action movie thats not why you're watching the film, however it would have been nice if the non-shooting bits hung together better so they film had more weight and didn't seem do breezy. Action film fans of all stripes will want to take a look.
9 Reviews
Outside of the action set pieces the film feels thin, but when the film is on its great
dbborroughs19 April 2009
Warning: Spoilers
A Nutshell Review: The Sniper
DICK STEEL9 April 2009
If not for the picture scandal, this film would have been released about a year ago, and would likely have solidified Edison Chen's position as box office draw given his stellar performance in crime-action flicks like Dog Eat Dog and Blood Brothers, and pop idol fare such as Initial D. But we know what had happened over the span of a year, though I suppose the decision to hold this film back would have helped it in increasing the curiosity surrounding this, given his last / first performance since the scandal. After all, the producers have to make the best out of the situation.
His character in Sniper is a typical Edison Chen persona – young, brash and impatient, toeing the line of the good and possessing that streak of arrogance. As OJ, he aspires to be the top shooter amongst the SDU Sniper Unit, and is mentored by the team leader Hartman (Richie Jen, who also starred as a sharpshooter in Johnnie To's Exiled) who discovered him during a mission, and is impressed by the upstart. Given the attributes of a sniper – confidence, decisiveness and ruthlessly accurate, egos are swelled and clashes are part of the game, where while it's a team effort, you can't deny those strong individual desire to excel above the rest.
The unfinished business of the earlier generation comes back to haunt the team in the form of the disgraced, and once top shooter Lincoln (Huang Xiaoming), who in a rash, negligent act gets sentenced to imprisonment, and upon release swears revenge on his once buddies. For a moment there was a tussle for the apprentice ala Star Wars style, where the young one found his training under his mentor too stifling and never appreciative of his abilities, and on the other, darker side, becomes seduced by sexier techniques which seem to be the path toward instant results and glory.
But alas the story unfortunately becomes quite fluffy, with the dramatic moments just excuses to string the action sequences together. The runtime under 90 minutes also provided a feeling that the film has been super summarized, given a lot of sub plots being introduced briefly, but never really reaching second base, especially with the relationships of the snipers and the opposite sex. You would wonder why they had even bothered to devote time to this aspect, just to know that the crazed nut Lincoln is terribly infatuated with his girlfriend, OJ's girlfriend is a one scene wonder, and Hartman's estranged wife lies comatose most of the time, waking only to shed tears and raise her voice. I guess in a sniper's life, the only "wife" they take care of, as in the prologue, is their rifles, to protect it with their life or professionally, they're screwed.
Dante Lam's star has been shining rather brightly, and I have enjoyed his recent effort in Beast Stalker. Here, he crafted some wonderful sniper action scenes without resorting too much on the looking-through-the-scope syndrome, striking a balance in being instructional, yet adequately paced to be tension-filled. What I appreciated is his fusion of that psychological element a sniper brings to the table, of the ability of how one man well hidden, and well trained, can take out a platoon or company, because of that element of fear that is introduced. Too bad for the many cardboard supporting villains and victims though, and that strange need to CG some dark clouds and fake lightning to drape many scenes.
Undoubtedly the show belongs to the ensemble cast in oozing machismo as they do battle, but you can't help but to feel that it is Edison who's pulling in the crowds in what could be his last hurrah. In a cruel twist of irony, his character here can't wait to talk to and provide snide remarks to the media, which is a far cry in the real situation he's in now. One can only wonder how things would have turned out if not for that moment of accidental folly.
His character in Sniper is a typical Edison Chen persona – young, brash and impatient, toeing the line of the good and possessing that streak of arrogance. As OJ, he aspires to be the top shooter amongst the SDU Sniper Unit, and is mentored by the team leader Hartman (Richie Jen, who also starred as a sharpshooter in Johnnie To's Exiled) who discovered him during a mission, and is impressed by the upstart. Given the attributes of a sniper – confidence, decisiveness and ruthlessly accurate, egos are swelled and clashes are part of the game, where while it's a team effort, you can't deny those strong individual desire to excel above the rest.
The unfinished business of the earlier generation comes back to haunt the team in the form of the disgraced, and once top shooter Lincoln (Huang Xiaoming), who in a rash, negligent act gets sentenced to imprisonment, and upon release swears revenge on his once buddies. For a moment there was a tussle for the apprentice ala Star Wars style, where the young one found his training under his mentor too stifling and never appreciative of his abilities, and on the other, darker side, becomes seduced by sexier techniques which seem to be the path toward instant results and glory.
But alas the story unfortunately becomes quite fluffy, with the dramatic moments just excuses to string the action sequences together. The runtime under 90 minutes also provided a feeling that the film has been super summarized, given a lot of sub plots being introduced briefly, but never really reaching second base, especially with the relationships of the snipers and the opposite sex. You would wonder why they had even bothered to devote time to this aspect, just to know that the crazed nut Lincoln is terribly infatuated with his girlfriend, OJ's girlfriend is a one scene wonder, and Hartman's estranged wife lies comatose most of the time, waking only to shed tears and raise her voice. I guess in a sniper's life, the only "wife" they take care of, as in the prologue, is their rifles, to protect it with their life or professionally, they're screwed.
Dante Lam's star has been shining rather brightly, and I have enjoyed his recent effort in Beast Stalker. Here, he crafted some wonderful sniper action scenes without resorting too much on the looking-through-the-scope syndrome, striking a balance in being instructional, yet adequately paced to be tension-filled. What I appreciated is his fusion of that psychological element a sniper brings to the table, of the ability of how one man well hidden, and well trained, can take out a platoon or company, because of that element of fear that is introduced. Too bad for the many cardboard supporting villains and victims though, and that strange need to CG some dark clouds and fake lightning to drape many scenes.
Undoubtedly the show belongs to the ensemble cast in oozing machismo as they do battle, but you can't help but to feel that it is Edison who's pulling in the crowds in what could be his last hurrah. In a cruel twist of irony, his character here can't wait to talk to and provide snide remarks to the media, which is a far cry in the real situation he's in now. One can only wonder how things would have turned out if not for that moment of accidental folly.
HK Action in the Noughties?
kosmasp29 October 2009
I'm an avid fan of HK action in general. There are many great HK action movies. And even after John Woo went Hollywood (although he went back, his recent movie being Red Cliff, which was produced in Asia) there was someone (Johnnie To) who filled in his shoes. And he did a great job in doing so.
But this is a completely different "beast" we get here. This is obviously very "Hollywood"-style, very fast and unfortunately not very good. It has some good action scenes and the intentions of it's filmmaker is noble, but unfortunately it takes too long to get to places, which makes it drag a little. Not bad by any means, but not really what you could/would expect from a good HK Action movie either.
But this is a completely different "beast" we get here. This is obviously very "Hollywood"-style, very fast and unfortunately not very good. It has some good action scenes and the intentions of it's filmmaker is noble, but unfortunately it takes too long to get to places, which makes it drag a little. Not bad by any means, but not really what you could/would expect from a good HK Action movie either.
A Good movie
ebiros221 November 2011
Good HK action film about HK police snipers.
The story is about a new recruit into HK police sniper team. He has a mentor that teaches him the ropes of the trade. In the mean time, an ex-sniper from his squad has gone rogue and killing his members. The new recruit must take on the challenge, and hunt down his ex colleague.
This is a quality movie that is entertaining. The mood, the suspense, all adds to the story. Location scenes are also great in this movie. It's adds fresh perspective to Hong Kong movies. It's also one of Edison Chen's best performances.
The movie has cool looks, good action, and good acting. It's also one of a kind movie that's about snipers in Hong King, and was a good movie to watch.
7.5/10
The story is about a new recruit into HK police sniper team. He has a mentor that teaches him the ropes of the trade. In the mean time, an ex-sniper from his squad has gone rogue and killing his members. The new recruit must take on the challenge, and hunt down his ex colleague.
This is a quality movie that is entertaining. The mood, the suspense, all adds to the story. Location scenes are also great in this movie. It's adds fresh perspective to Hong Kong movies. It's also one of Edison Chen's best performances.
The movie has cool looks, good action, and good acting. It's also one of a kind movie that's about snipers in Hong King, and was a good movie to watch.
7.5/10
Adrenaline-rush Tactical Warfare Just Keeps You the Suspense All the Way!!
jordiojoystar22 January 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Two policemen found a car stranded by the roadside and they received a message from their radio transmitter on a runaway car which is right in from of their eyes. Soon, they found the criminals hideout and caught in the middle of the shootout. One of the policemen OJ (Edison Chen), who manages to stay calm and double kill the criminals. Special Duties Unit (SDU) who was present is Hartman Fong (Richie Ren) sees his potential and recruited him.
At the academy, OJ spoke to Shane (Bowie Lam) about the best sniper and he sees Lincoln's name in the academy board but he is nowhere to be found. Shane explains that Lincoln has been expelled from the academy due to an incident.
A couple of days later, Lincoln Ching (Huang Xiaoming) has been released from prison after four years and is greeted by fellow officer and friend, Shane, who treats him to some dinner and sending him home. When Lincoln returns to his apartment, he stares at the aquarium and his wife, Crystal (Mango Wong) appears and they are reunited again.
In a flashback, Hartman succeeds Shane as the new leader of Hong Kong's Special Duties Unit Sniper Team. The best sniper was Hartman's former teammate Lincoln, whose unorthodox methods and confidence makes him arrogant and disdainful of authority. Hartman and Lincoln are two alpha males with a long-running rivalry, with only room at the top for one sharpshooter.
One night, an incident at a bank robbery goes wrong when crime boss Tao (Jack Kao) was holding the son of bank chairman as hostage, Lincoln saw an opportunity for headshot because he wants to rescue everyone when he witness Tao has pulled out the grenade pin in his hand. Lincoln was testified but no one else on the Sniper Team support his story, indeed there is a feeling that Hartman (who was the only other person who could have been in a position to see Tao with the grenade).
Within days Lincoln has purchased an illegal sniper rifle. Lincoln helps crime boss Tao escape prisoner transfer convoy. An off-duty Hartman witnessed the incident, killing several of Tao's men but unable to prevent them from breaking their boss free. OJ, the hot-headed rookie on the team, surprises everyone by accurately replicating the suspect's impossible shots. He manages to do this because of advice from Lincoln when they were at a bar.
As Hartman investigates the suspect, he inadvertently runs into crime boss Tao and his henchmen in the elevator of an apartment building. Hartman manages to kill one of the criminals but while chasing after Tao, he is covered by Lincoln. Hartman pursues Lincoln to the roof and Lincoln loses his grip on a rope and falls down. Tao escapes but his right-hand man is cornered by police, so he flees into a restaurant and takes hostages.
Hartman coordinates his sniper team but only OJ has a good shot. Although Hartman's order is "shoot to kill", OJ instead wounds the criminal in the arm holding the gun. Although the hostage situation has been resolved without loss of innocent life, Hartman and OJ have a heated argument over his given order.
Lincoln survived the fall with no major injuries and continues his plan of revenge and kidnaps Shane, who is Lincoln's last friend and supporter from the SDU. While Lincoln and Crystal make conversation, Shane regains consciousness and reminds him that Crystal is dead and it is revealed that Lincoln has been hallucinating all this time. In a fit of rage, Lincoln takes his rifle and fires at the ghosts of Hartman and the bank chairman's son, before realizing that he has unintentionally killed Shane.
A flashback shows Crystal visiting Lincoln in prison, but he tells he to go away. Crystal then returns home and drops the wedding ring into the aquarium. Standing out on the balcony of her apartment looking at a photo of them in happier times, a wind blows away the photo, and as she lunges for it she tumbles over the railing and falls to her death.
In the end, Lincoln decides to lure Hartman and the SDU sniper team into a trap at a auto scrap warehouse, leading to the ultimate showdown amongst three expert snipers. First, Lincoln forces the crime boss Tao reenact the bank robbery hostage taking, and unlike four years ago, this time Lincoln successfully kills Tao and saves the hostage. In the final gun battle, most of Hartman's team is wounded or killed, and Hartman volunteers to sacrifice himself and draw Lincoln's attention, allowing OJ to kill Lincoln and become the best sniper in the SDU.
--
The Sniper revolves around with a rookie cop turn professional sniper in the Special Duties Unite (SDU) and recently released from prison, an ex- sniper seeks revenge against his former squad because no one support his testimonial when he fires the shot at crime boss Tao, when he really saw him releasing the grenade pin.
Nothing much about it. It's just exciting to see their breathing precision in while sniping with accuracy.
At the academy, OJ spoke to Shane (Bowie Lam) about the best sniper and he sees Lincoln's name in the academy board but he is nowhere to be found. Shane explains that Lincoln has been expelled from the academy due to an incident.
A couple of days later, Lincoln Ching (Huang Xiaoming) has been released from prison after four years and is greeted by fellow officer and friend, Shane, who treats him to some dinner and sending him home. When Lincoln returns to his apartment, he stares at the aquarium and his wife, Crystal (Mango Wong) appears and they are reunited again.
In a flashback, Hartman succeeds Shane as the new leader of Hong Kong's Special Duties Unit Sniper Team. The best sniper was Hartman's former teammate Lincoln, whose unorthodox methods and confidence makes him arrogant and disdainful of authority. Hartman and Lincoln are two alpha males with a long-running rivalry, with only room at the top for one sharpshooter.
One night, an incident at a bank robbery goes wrong when crime boss Tao (Jack Kao) was holding the son of bank chairman as hostage, Lincoln saw an opportunity for headshot because he wants to rescue everyone when he witness Tao has pulled out the grenade pin in his hand. Lincoln was testified but no one else on the Sniper Team support his story, indeed there is a feeling that Hartman (who was the only other person who could have been in a position to see Tao with the grenade).
Within days Lincoln has purchased an illegal sniper rifle. Lincoln helps crime boss Tao escape prisoner transfer convoy. An off-duty Hartman witnessed the incident, killing several of Tao's men but unable to prevent them from breaking their boss free. OJ, the hot-headed rookie on the team, surprises everyone by accurately replicating the suspect's impossible shots. He manages to do this because of advice from Lincoln when they were at a bar.
As Hartman investigates the suspect, he inadvertently runs into crime boss Tao and his henchmen in the elevator of an apartment building. Hartman manages to kill one of the criminals but while chasing after Tao, he is covered by Lincoln. Hartman pursues Lincoln to the roof and Lincoln loses his grip on a rope and falls down. Tao escapes but his right-hand man is cornered by police, so he flees into a restaurant and takes hostages.
Hartman coordinates his sniper team but only OJ has a good shot. Although Hartman's order is "shoot to kill", OJ instead wounds the criminal in the arm holding the gun. Although the hostage situation has been resolved without loss of innocent life, Hartman and OJ have a heated argument over his given order.
Lincoln survived the fall with no major injuries and continues his plan of revenge and kidnaps Shane, who is Lincoln's last friend and supporter from the SDU. While Lincoln and Crystal make conversation, Shane regains consciousness and reminds him that Crystal is dead and it is revealed that Lincoln has been hallucinating all this time. In a fit of rage, Lincoln takes his rifle and fires at the ghosts of Hartman and the bank chairman's son, before realizing that he has unintentionally killed Shane.
A flashback shows Crystal visiting Lincoln in prison, but he tells he to go away. Crystal then returns home and drops the wedding ring into the aquarium. Standing out on the balcony of her apartment looking at a photo of them in happier times, a wind blows away the photo, and as she lunges for it she tumbles over the railing and falls to her death.
In the end, Lincoln decides to lure Hartman and the SDU sniper team into a trap at a auto scrap warehouse, leading to the ultimate showdown amongst three expert snipers. First, Lincoln forces the crime boss Tao reenact the bank robbery hostage taking, and unlike four years ago, this time Lincoln successfully kills Tao and saves the hostage. In the final gun battle, most of Hartman's team is wounded or killed, and Hartman volunteers to sacrifice himself and draw Lincoln's attention, allowing OJ to kill Lincoln and become the best sniper in the SDU.
--
The Sniper revolves around with a rookie cop turn professional sniper in the Special Duties Unite (SDU) and recently released from prison, an ex- sniper seeks revenge against his former squad because no one support his testimonial when he fires the shot at crime boss Tao, when he really saw him releasing the grenade pin.
Nothing much about it. It's just exciting to see their breathing precision in while sniping with accuracy.
HK Neo Reviews: The Sniper
webmaster-30177 June 2009
Tagline: More like a video game than an actual movie
Review by Neo: For whatever reason, The Sniper does not seem like a movie, but rather like a kid playing the latest shooting video game. The effect certainly oozed everything that is cool and nothing else. Maybe it is because of the producer cutting and chopping every possible scenes of the notorious Edison Chen, The Sniper just never seems to care about the characters or the story for that matter. The film is ultimately uneven, makes next to no sense and rather like a mindless action flick, with zero substance.
The movie is basically about sniper cops fighting criminals. Richie Ren is a top sniper cop and somehow recruits Edison Chen after witnessing his snipe-ring abilities. Huang Xiaoming used to be the very best sniper cop, but after an accidental killing in an hostage situation, Huang is jailed and subsequently dismissed from the force. As with all routine and cliché movies goes, Huang ends up moving on to the dark side and help the criminals to hunt down sniper cops...
Not a clever or intriguing story, especially one would expect more from the director of Beast Cops and Beast Stalker. Usually, it is safe to say that Dante Lam likes to focus on characters and a look at Anthony Wong, award winning display in Beast Cops and Nick Cheung in Beast Stalker, already provides adequate evidence. Here, director Lam forgets the need of a story, partly due to the relentless cutting of most of Edison's scenes. Unfortunately, the movie suffers and by the final showdown, there is no character for the audience to care about and no emotions to be felt by the awaiting audience.
Firstly the performance of Edison Chen is quite frankly uninteresting, bland and quite crap. It is perhaps a blessing in disguise for the cinema of Hong Kong to lose such a talentless actor. It goes without saying that Edison can't act and despite having praised his abilities to play a dog in Dog Bite Dog, there is no doubt within my mind that Edison still cannot act and thinks he is cool, when obviously he is not. Maybe, he can play another dog or mentally disturbed character, if he wants to prove me wrong. While cutting his scenes, makes the film uneven or even raising questions of making no senses, at the end of the day, the film is far better without Edison, than with it. So my advice to him, is stay away from Hong Kong for the better.
Moving on to Richie Ren, it's been a while since Richie last made a decent movie with a decent enough role. Richie is a decent actor with decent presence, but it's been 3 yrs since Johnnie To's Exiled and to see him go further and further away from reaching his potential in useless flicks like Contract Lover and The Sniper, it is just frustrating. Sure, he has enough presence to carry the flick, but career-wise, Richie isn't heading the correct direction. As for Huang Xiao-Ming, his overacting is more frustrating to endure and quite frankly, his villainous turn fails to convince. The much missed Mango Wong (last seen at the cinemas with Ghost Office/ Conman 2002), is a welcome addition and instill some sparks in an otherwise rather dull flick with even duller characters.
All in all, The Sniper is simply a critical failure and a commercial failure. Whatever, Dante Lam's intention is, it will probably remain unclear. Maybe he turned into his Heat Team (2004) mode, but even that was funny and cool at the same time. Maybe he turned his head back in place, after this and churned out Beast Stalker. Needless to say, the sniper shooting is cool to watch, Richie Ren is cool dude and so is Huang Xiao Ming to a degree and of course, Edison is just plain crap. The main thing is that this is a movie, but it never seems to run like one. Like the failure of mindless action flicks in Hollywood, for example, Ballistic - Ecks vs. Sever. While The Sniper never seem to reach that height of disappointment, but when you are aiming for a target as low as this, the only loser that comes out of this is ultimately the paying public. For the last time, and hopefully will be, the film is a cool and bad, but nothing can be worst than Edison, himself (Neo 2009)
I rate it 3/10
Review by Neo: For whatever reason, The Sniper does not seem like a movie, but rather like a kid playing the latest shooting video game. The effect certainly oozed everything that is cool and nothing else. Maybe it is because of the producer cutting and chopping every possible scenes of the notorious Edison Chen, The Sniper just never seems to care about the characters or the story for that matter. The film is ultimately uneven, makes next to no sense and rather like a mindless action flick, with zero substance.
The movie is basically about sniper cops fighting criminals. Richie Ren is a top sniper cop and somehow recruits Edison Chen after witnessing his snipe-ring abilities. Huang Xiaoming used to be the very best sniper cop, but after an accidental killing in an hostage situation, Huang is jailed and subsequently dismissed from the force. As with all routine and cliché movies goes, Huang ends up moving on to the dark side and help the criminals to hunt down sniper cops...
Not a clever or intriguing story, especially one would expect more from the director of Beast Cops and Beast Stalker. Usually, it is safe to say that Dante Lam likes to focus on characters and a look at Anthony Wong, award winning display in Beast Cops and Nick Cheung in Beast Stalker, already provides adequate evidence. Here, director Lam forgets the need of a story, partly due to the relentless cutting of most of Edison's scenes. Unfortunately, the movie suffers and by the final showdown, there is no character for the audience to care about and no emotions to be felt by the awaiting audience.
Firstly the performance of Edison Chen is quite frankly uninteresting, bland and quite crap. It is perhaps a blessing in disguise for the cinema of Hong Kong to lose such a talentless actor. It goes without saying that Edison can't act and despite having praised his abilities to play a dog in Dog Bite Dog, there is no doubt within my mind that Edison still cannot act and thinks he is cool, when obviously he is not. Maybe, he can play another dog or mentally disturbed character, if he wants to prove me wrong. While cutting his scenes, makes the film uneven or even raising questions of making no senses, at the end of the day, the film is far better without Edison, than with it. So my advice to him, is stay away from Hong Kong for the better.
Moving on to Richie Ren, it's been a while since Richie last made a decent movie with a decent enough role. Richie is a decent actor with decent presence, but it's been 3 yrs since Johnnie To's Exiled and to see him go further and further away from reaching his potential in useless flicks like Contract Lover and The Sniper, it is just frustrating. Sure, he has enough presence to carry the flick, but career-wise, Richie isn't heading the correct direction. As for Huang Xiao-Ming, his overacting is more frustrating to endure and quite frankly, his villainous turn fails to convince. The much missed Mango Wong (last seen at the cinemas with Ghost Office/ Conman 2002), is a welcome addition and instill some sparks in an otherwise rather dull flick with even duller characters.
All in all, The Sniper is simply a critical failure and a commercial failure. Whatever, Dante Lam's intention is, it will probably remain unclear. Maybe he turned into his Heat Team (2004) mode, but even that was funny and cool at the same time. Maybe he turned his head back in place, after this and churned out Beast Stalker. Needless to say, the sniper shooting is cool to watch, Richie Ren is cool dude and so is Huang Xiao Ming to a degree and of course, Edison is just plain crap. The main thing is that this is a movie, but it never seems to run like one. Like the failure of mindless action flicks in Hollywood, for example, Ballistic - Ecks vs. Sever. While The Sniper never seem to reach that height of disappointment, but when you are aiming for a target as low as this, the only loser that comes out of this is ultimately the paying public. For the last time, and hopefully will be, the film is a cool and bad, but nothing can be worst than Edison, himself (Neo 2009)
I rate it 3/10
- www.thehkneo.com
The Godly Gunslingers...
loogenhausen8 November 2011
The Sniper is not going to reinvent the wheel, but it does approach its plot with a certain snazz that you just can't help but smile at. The basic thrust of the film is that a Hong Kong police sniper team have just recruited a new hotshot shooter (Edison Chen) who is shaping up to be just as good as their last top shooter. Turns out, that last guy (Xiaoming Huang) went to prison for head-shotting a hostage during a cluster. Now he's out of prison and decides to go rogue. Uh-oh. Needless to say, the sniper scenes (both the action and training ones) are very cool. The rest? Not so much. One of the good guy snipers has a sub plot about his suicidal wife that goes absolutely nowhere. The villains of the film have nothing to do but serve as devices for the rogue sniper's plot arc. They could have been more important to the story and still have co-existed with Huang's character. Aside from the young hotshot and two other snipers (including Richie Ren as the team leader), the rest of the team remains virtually silent and unknown. They have cool code names like Forest King, Iceman and Rabbit - but no back story or anything memorable about them whatsoever. Again, The Sniper isn't doing anything new, but what it does do is entertaining enough to enjoy it. The English translation of the original title is Godly Gunslingers. How cool is that? Makes a nice double feature with Tom Berenger and Billy Zane's Sniper.
A testosterone-filled crime thriller...
paul_haakonsen19 June 2022
This movie was rather enjoyable. Sure, it wasn't a revolutionary movie in the Hong Kong cinema, but it was actually quite entertaining.
Writers Wai Lun Ng and Dante Lam managed to put together a storyline and script that proved entertaining from start to end. Sure, the movie was crammed with cliché characters, but it actually worked out well enough, given the concept of the story.
"San Cheung Sau" (aka "The Sniper") is an action- and adrenaline-driven crime thriller with an adequately written storyline that was predictable and generic at times, but was helped along nicely by the action. It should be said that while director Dante Lam is good at taking the audience from A to B throughout the movie, then there isn't room for surprises and twists to the storyline, so it was a somewhat predictable storyline.
The cast ensemble for the movie was good and there are some familiar faces on the cast list, if you are familiar with Hong Kong cinema. Edison Chen (playing OJ) and Richie Jen (playing Hartman) are in the leading roles, but the movie was actually carried mostly by Xiaoming Huang (playing Lincoln).
There is a good amount of action and shooting in the movie, and that is definitely something that gives the movie an injection and keeps it from falling into a slump.
My rating of "San Cheung Sau" lands on a six out of ten stars.
Writers Wai Lun Ng and Dante Lam managed to put together a storyline and script that proved entertaining from start to end. Sure, the movie was crammed with cliché characters, but it actually worked out well enough, given the concept of the story.
"San Cheung Sau" (aka "The Sniper") is an action- and adrenaline-driven crime thriller with an adequately written storyline that was predictable and generic at times, but was helped along nicely by the action. It should be said that while director Dante Lam is good at taking the audience from A to B throughout the movie, then there isn't room for surprises and twists to the storyline, so it was a somewhat predictable storyline.
The cast ensemble for the movie was good and there are some familiar faces on the cast list, if you are familiar with Hong Kong cinema. Edison Chen (playing OJ) and Richie Jen (playing Hartman) are in the leading roles, but the movie was actually carried mostly by Xiaoming Huang (playing Lincoln).
There is a good amount of action and shooting in the movie, and that is definitely something that gives the movie an injection and keeps it from falling into a slump.
My rating of "San Cheung Sau" lands on a six out of ten stars.
Solid Hong Kong Action Cop & Robber Friends
chow9135 March 2012
Solid Hong Kong Action Cop & Robber Friends 'Sniper' provides the solid Hong Kong action you want. Stylish action, and the formulaic cop vs robber who are also best friends and torn by loyalties.
First off I don't speak a word of Cantonese and saw 'Sniper' without the benefit of subtitles, yet was still able to understand the plot.
As with most HK films, there is far more action than in real HK. Heavily armed gangs around every corner committing elaborate robberies that would put Dillinger to shame. Hence the HKPD needs a large expert sniper force armed (with airsoft guns) to the teeth to coordinate with their SWAT teams which also just happen to be right in the middle of the action.
Our tragic hero cop is Fang. A badass sniper.
Our sympathetic robber is Jing a former police sniper disgraced after a hostage rescue went wrong. Jing wants revenge on the police and the gangster would caused the whole hostage situation in the first place. Since no one here seems to agree on the gangster's name, I'll call him Ge.
Upon his release from prison Jing puts his elaborate and unique plans for revenge into action. Jing shadows Ge's gang and learns of their plan to rescue him during a prison transport.
As Ge's gang stages their elaborate armored car holdup rescue they face off against the ruthless Fang who kills 4 of them dead with one shot.
But Ge's gang receives unexpected tactical support when sniper fire erupts from Jing on a sky scrapper and the rescue succeeds. Jing has now earned his way inside Ge's gang for revenge.
From the incredible accuracy of the sniper shots, Fang realizes that Jing is back and he's play for the wrong side.
Never a dull moment. As I said you can follow the movie just fine without subtitles or dubbing. It's a great film that can break the language barrier.
First off I don't speak a word of Cantonese and saw 'Sniper' without the benefit of subtitles, yet was still able to understand the plot.
As with most HK films, there is far more action than in real HK. Heavily armed gangs around every corner committing elaborate robberies that would put Dillinger to shame. Hence the HKPD needs a large expert sniper force armed (with airsoft guns) to the teeth to coordinate with their SWAT teams which also just happen to be right in the middle of the action.
Our tragic hero cop is Fang. A badass sniper.
Our sympathetic robber is Jing a former police sniper disgraced after a hostage rescue went wrong. Jing wants revenge on the police and the gangster would caused the whole hostage situation in the first place. Since no one here seems to agree on the gangster's name, I'll call him Ge.
Upon his release from prison Jing puts his elaborate and unique plans for revenge into action. Jing shadows Ge's gang and learns of their plan to rescue him during a prison transport.
As Ge's gang stages their elaborate armored car holdup rescue they face off against the ruthless Fang who kills 4 of them dead with one shot.
But Ge's gang receives unexpected tactical support when sniper fire erupts from Jing on a sky scrapper and the rescue succeeds. Jing has now earned his way inside Ge's gang for revenge.
From the incredible accuracy of the sniper shots, Fang realizes that Jing is back and he's play for the wrong side.
Never a dull moment. As I said you can follow the movie just fine without subtitles or dubbing. It's a great film that can break the language barrier.
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