SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Joseph_Gillis Is Johnnie To the best visual storyteller working in cinema today - or for that matter, during the past 20 years, plus. Is The Pope Catholic?Funnily enough, the story - as in who's doing what to whom and what eventually happens to each of them - doesn't matter, especially. Well it does, in the sense that we're interested in knowing that the police are looking to infiltrate and eventually defeat the drug syndicate that has been doing such damage to both the local Chinese populace, and their counterparts in neighbouring Asian countries; but there really would be no point in trying to track, minutely, the evolution and construction of that story. The best way - maybe the only way, in Drug War's case - to enjoy Johnnie To is to just sit back and watch the knitting together of a story through immaculately-chosen visuals, and a succession of frequently rapidly-edited images, viewed from a wide variety of perspectives. If you focus on one character and try to follow his or her story arc you will probably quickly throw up your hands in exasperation.I got the plot, and I loved the resolution, and I enjoyed the thrill- ride. I thrilled at the editing, and the choreography and recognised that this story just couldn't have been told better, if you ditched 70% of the characters, and scenes - to make it more easily-digestible. There were some great characters, action scenes, charismatic acting, and great support bits. Have I covered everything you need in a great film? Pacing: top-notch; the rapid switches of perspectives to show how the relevant characters were reacting had me drooling. Technology is used, but not abused.Masterpiece. And there was me thinking that by 2012, Johnnie To had most likely lost the plot, given his age. Not a bit of it.I've just ordered the DVD (Saturday night's viewing was a late-night TV broadcast). I can't wait!

Uriah43 This movie begins with a man named "Timmy Choi" (Louis Koo) driving erratically down the street in a frantic effort to get to a hospital. Unfortunately, he crashes prior to reaching his destination and upon being admitted is subsequently put under police guard under suspicion of operating a meth lab nearby that exploded and left several people dead. Realizing that if he is found guilty of distributing illegal drugs he could get the death penalty, he quickly pleads for the opportunity to turn state's evidence and help them apprehend several key players in the drug racket. Intrigued by this rare opportunity but extremely suspicious of Timmy, "Captain Zhang Lei" (Honglei Sun) reluctantly agrees. From then on the stakes become much higher as both of them wend their way through the various levels of organized crime in search of the underworld kingpins. Now without giving away any more of this movie let me just say that this turned out to be one of the better drug movies of late with an interesting plot and several suspenseful scenes which kept my interest throughout. Accordingly, I rate this movie as above average and recommend it to those who might enjoy a film of this type.

keeganfd The "Captain's" reaction to blowing a couples line of cocaine in the hotel room and having a panic attack where he jumps into a ice bath is beyond ridiculous. Then the final scene he gets caught because the Captain cuffs himself to his leg, this is right after he was able to escape the handcuffs by breaking his own hand, you think he might try the same technique to the hand of the captain. Overall, I thought the acting was pretty shoddy, there is no sense of realism. Obviously the director has no understanding of the illegal drug industry, and is expecting the Chinese population doesn't either. There is one clear message from the film, if you take or are involved in the drug industry you will get the lethal injection. This is a Chinese propaganda film aimed at scaring people away from drug use and in that sense I guess it is successful. Not something I am really interested in watching though.

cadillac20 I'm not terribly familiar with Johnnie To's work, though I know he is one of China's biggest directors. Drug War is his latest film, a critically hailed masterpiece, so to speak, that rivals some of the best American crime films. And for the most part, it is a very good film. Gripping, with a tight rope plot written like a maze, Drug War very rarely lets up as it navigates from one stage of the plot to the other.The film opens with Timmy Choi, a drug manufacturer, driving erratically until he runs through the entrance of a restaurant until he ends up in the hands of Captain Zhang. For dealing the amount of drugs that Choi is responsible for, the penalty is death, but Choi cuts a deal to help the police bring down a drug lord responsible for the sale of the narcotics. What follows is a near non-stop mission to get into the heart of the drug dealers and bring them down.Drug War is the kind of crime action thriller that is very audience pleasing. There is plenty of suspense and mystery, as you're always on the edge of your seat in anticipation of what will happen next. It doesn't help that you're never quite sure who to trust or who will do what, especially Choi, who remains shifty and unsure. Sun Honglei is especially entertaining as the no nonsense Zhang, whose smart and constantly does his best to stay one step ahead of all those he's trying to bring down, including Choi. The writing for the film is very intricate and full of surprises. Coupling this are several action set pieces, the highlight of which are a middle section involving the police and two very capable partners of Choi and the ending, which is an absolutely crazy finale for this film.If I have one real complaint about the film, it's the lack of depth. For all the technical skill and excellent writing and plot, we really don't get to know any of our characters. There is an attempt to make Choi somewhat sympathetic through a plot point about his wife, but Choi himself never really does much to make us like him or get us on his side. The same can be said about Zhang, who is little more than a hard nose cop trying to catch the criminals. There's never any real insight into either of these men, let alone the rest of the cast. It's a very basic and shallow cops and criminals tale, albeit, a very well written and produced one.But these are minor complaints in the face of the entertainment at hand. This is arguably one of the best films of 2013, even at it's rating, and I urge anyone looking for to make up for some theatrical thuds to check this out. It's well worth it.