BA_Harrison
Tough cop Tong Fei (Nicholas Tse) seeks redemption for his accidental shooting of a little girl by trying to rescue her sister Ling (Suet-yin Wong) from the clutches of a desperate kidnapper/killer for hire (Nick Cheung).Dante Lam's crime thriller Beast Stalker offers up some superbly handled sequences, including an exciting car chase that culminates in a show-stopper of a slow-motion crash, several effective emotionally wrought scenes, and a real nail-biter of a finale. The characters are well drawn, with both cop and killer presented as real people rather than two dimensional caricatures.But as commendable as all of this is, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed by the plot, which does little to elevate itself from countless other HK cop thrillers—I have the feeling that as much as I liked the film as it unfolded, it won't be long before I will have forgotten all about it. Lam's use of shaky cam can also get a little irritating at times, and the twist at the end (which reveals cop and killer to have crossed paths years before) is extremely contrived.
Greg Hine
I was surprised at the lowish rating of 6.8 with all of the reviews being complimentary.I thought it was gritty and realistic throughout, the car chase at the beginning a little over top, and there were some chilling and tense moments.The linking together full circle was great, and surprisingly there was also some empathy for the main 'baddie'.Tse's performance near the end was heart wrenching and emotional.Lets put it this way, I will watch it again, and my family will be watching this tomorrow. 3:30 in the morning as I couldn't stop watching. Awesome
webmaster-3017
Tagline: Dante Lam is back in form… Review by Neo: Ever since directing Beast Cop, Dante Lam seems to have gone brainless, but with exactly a decade onwards, Lam is finally delivering in Beast Stalker. Although the material does not bombard anything about freshness, there is no reason to be negative, as there are plenty of moments of reasonable excitement to make it one of the better lights of 2008 HK Cinema. While Beast Stalker is by all means dark, it is also lighter than Beast Cops, especially when taken into account of the somewhat redeeming finale. A good film by all means, but on the scale of Lam's best efforts (Neo mentioning Beast Cop for X number of times), it pales. Luckily, the above is more of a positive comment than negative, as any film worthy of comparison with the aforementioned flick cannot be too bad.Even the current reviewer is annoyed by how many times, Neo have somewhat mentioned the word, Beast Cop. For god sake, this is not a promotional fest of former great movies, but rather looking at the future of HK cinema, with a view of the past. Years, ago back in Tiramisu, Nicholas Tse portrayed himself as a somewhat capable actor and from there, he has gone from worst to bad. Luckily, Tse has finally come of age and the result is showing in a somewhat pleasing display of serious acting chops. Still, there are a lot of cons that would require mentioning, like moments of Tse being angry or frustrated comes of more laughable than convincing. Without being a pessimist there is a lot to cheer about Tse's latest display and Neo can safely claim it as one of his best display since Goddess of Mercy.There is no question that Nick Cheung is one heck of an actor and his steer away from comedy is certainly one of the best career moves for Cheung. It has been noted, that Neo first realise his potential as a serious actor way back in 1998, when he was actively involved in TVB. His role as a good guy turned villain was menacing and in recent years, Cheung has shown that Neo was right about him. Here, his villainous turn is by no means the typical carbon copy, but rather multi-dimensional and the result is menacing, interesting and absolutely captivating. Cheung has come a long way and perhaps award recognition is just around the corner.There is a saying when all actors are in their best form, the film usually works. Well, to be honest, there is no such saying, but it does rings quite true. Luckily, good things usually come in three and surely one of the better actresses in recent years, Zhang Jing Chu (The Protégé), can do no wrong. After Neo acclaiming her as Best Actress for her immensely scene stealing role as a junkie mother in Protégé, Zhang does not disappoint and she handles her role with ease, While by no means on the same class as her performance in Protégé, it is still more than adequate enough to allow the audience to relate to her character. An actress to watch in years to come and the scene when she realise she has indirectly caused the death of her own child is just captivating to endure.Director Dante Lam loves brutal straight forward, fist to fist fights and he makes good use of this to further enhance the realism of the work. Beast Stalker works because; Dante Lam tries hard to focus on the characters and allows them to flourish. All in all, Beast Stalker is suitably dark, filled with three capable performances and a redeeming finale to round it out. While it is true that the film falls short of reaching the dazzling heights in Beast Cop, it is great news to announce that director Lam is back to what he does best and finally approaching the sort of form that seem to have eluded from his wane, for the last decade. Basically, cutting all the above crap, it really just requires the following line: a film that Neo recommends viewing … (Neo 2009) I rate it 8/10www.thehkneo.com
edchin2006
A better than average H.K. thriller - even with the "Over the top" acting and special effects.With the usual convoluted plot and moral high ground for the "good guys", it seemed it might be a tight squeeze to tie up all the loose ends by the end of the picture. But, in the end, everything is nicely bundled and the emotional resolution is accompanied by the satisfaction of knowing how all the principals fit together.There may be a remake by Tarentino, but he'll be hard pressed to find a kid as cute as the one in this flick. (All the kids are cute in this one!)
