Scanialara
You won't be disappointed!
Huievest
Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
Edwin
The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
Billy Ollie
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Yashua Kimbrough (jimniexperience)
Two Triad Leaders, Mr. K and Mr. Lung, control the underground of Macau .. The Old Triad Lord, Mr. Hung, is upset he's been left out .. He orders for both groups to pay dues but instead , they decide to join forces to maximize business ..Overnight , a rumor spreads Mr. K has ordered a hit on Mr. Lung for over 50 grand .. Negotiators from both sides have 24 hours to get to the bottom of this before things get ugly ..... Simultaneously a mysterious character arrives in town and is stirring up trouble everywhere he goes ..
Russell Brisson
At the expense of sounding a bit cliché, it wasn't on par with the best of the genre (Such as John Woo's better films), and in my opinion it wasn't quite on par with a more closely related title, The Big Heat. Why? The constant music was nothing special, and at it's worst, slightly annoying.There are a few somewhat wooden performances. Tony Leung Chiu Wai was far better in Hard Boiled. I don't think Tat-Chi Yau knew how to wring all of the potential Tony has out of him for this film, and it shows.There was a certain dynamic that's almost a staple of the HK action/crime genre missing... The power of the weapons wasn't conveyed as I've seen it numerous films over the years. What I mean is that the guns didn't truly seem as powerful as they should of. The shots, underpowered, and it's a bit underwhelming when I'm used to even pistols coming across as these loud, near deafening, definitive things. Small thing but it ran through the entire film and I think it's worth mentioning.Could of been about 20 minutes longer, with more characters being fleshed out a bit more. Film could of benefited a lot from that.Bad subtitles. Quite a few misspelled words and I'm sure I missed the gist of multiple things because of the poor subs. Ah well.Those are all relatively small issues I had with though, and on the flip side it's got a lot more positive things going for it. A great build-up of suspense at multiple times through the film, a pretty complex interweaving plot, two very interesting, I might dare say original action scenes which made me grin...To boot, it was brutal and uncompromising. No humor (Though the random, unexplained vomiting kind of teetered on it) A few nice, brutal for this kind of film scenes that pleased the inner gore hound in me. The coloring throughout the film, as mentioned by others, was nice and added a nice dynamic to the film.Hehhehehee, the movie also stars, without a doubt, the most unrelentingly sweaty character in the history of film. Tony Leung literally wipes his face down with a towel every few moments for almost the entire film. Hey, it's the little things that I get a kick out of. He kept washing his hands and what not too. I think he had some kind of sanitation issue.Overall, a 7.5 out of 10 in my very personal opinion. Well worth hunting down and adding to your collection, as it's a very solid entry in a sadly still declining genre.
ChWasser
Of all the great Johnny To / Lau Ching Wan collaborations this is my favourite. Reason: Patrick Yau directs and Tony Leung Chiu Wai co-stars with a performance that gives many academy award winners a run for the money. Think of "The Usual Suspects" set in Macao and you get an impression of the tense atmosphere in this film. It's a violent world where nobody can be sure to survive the next day. Although Leung's character is quite clever and unscrupulous for a cop he's just not clever enough for the intricate set-up that he is pushed into by a mysterious man in the background. The plot-twist at the end is even more surprising IMO than the end of "Expect The Unexpected", Yau's other great film.A must see for all fans of hardboiled crime stories (and for all people with good eyes, because the Milkyway- subtitles are tiny!)
lyle-5
The psychological complex about "the end" is still in full force. But the script is more rational and integral than Intruder. The mysterious set-up is a spin-off from Lost Highway. Pic's strength is setting the action in Macao in turbulent times (thus setting it up as a metaphor of Hongkong), and giving full vent to Wai Ka-fai's pessimistic world view of inexorable doom. Yau Tat-chi shows impressive improvement with images: the confrontation in the cell, the chase at the pier and the duel in the hall of mirrors are all totally self-sufficient set pieces. A director to watch out for.