The story takes place in Hong Kong in the early 90's, and what does that mean? The mutha fuckin Triads are out running the streets that's what, and they be up to no good shenanigans of course. These Triads are especially nasty weapons smugglers who just don't give a fart and will kill anyone in their way innocent or not. Hot on their tail from killing his partner in the first scene is clarinet playing police Officer "Tequila" Yuen played by Chow Yun-Fat. Tony Leung Chiu-Wai plays the other main character Alan who is an undercover cop deep within the Triad gang Tequila is tracking down. Thus....complications/oodles of bullets and explosions.
The two hours of havoc that unfolds on screen is some of the best captured on celluloid. With a body count of 307 I'm pretty positive more bullets were fired here than in Operation Desert Storm. What really ups the ante in the shootout scenes is the acrobatics by the main characters who are constantly jumping, sliding, ducking, weaving, dodging, and maneuvering through the given location. The physical locations are used like jungle gyms. It's over the top but in a realistic "people could actually do this shit" kind of way. There aren't matrix style stuff or even some of the extreme things Jackie Chan has been known to do. The level of reality to the stunts was kept consistent throughout which kept the film grounded and the suspension of disbelief not far to hold on to. I really enjoy this level of stunt work as a early twenty something viewer cuz in my mind I'm like "yeah, I could totally do that if I was in that situation, jump over that bar, shoot around the corner then run and slide across the floor while dual wielding shooting two dudes in opposite directions, totally, yeah!".
The other high point represented by the action is the beautiful use of practical effects; fiery explosions, squibs, gun shots and breaking glass. Everything used here looks a million times better than the CGI-filled action extravaganzas of today (lookin at you Stallone). The stuff that goes down is really a sight to be seen as it really is incredible how they filmed it. Numerous times actors are inches away from the fire of explosions or in many cases hit by the shrapnel of exploding walls and set pieces. The infamous hospital hallway shot is just fantastic. It's a 3 and a half minute single take of our two hero's blasting bad guys and dodging live explosions the whole way and interrupted in the middle by a clever elevator ride. The sense of danger is thick and tangible from the beginning tea house shoot out to the chaotic climax at the hospital.
Beyond all the action there are actually characters and pretty decent ones to boot. Both Tequila and Alan are quite charismatic and interesting to watch especially together. It's fun to watch Tequila go from thinking he's one of the bad guys, to being totally confused to eventually trusting him and working together. The supporting cast are all cop movie archetypes that transcend cultures and time. The mob boss who doesn't give a fuck, the hard ass police chief, and the innocent girl friend who wants her cop boy friend to settle down and retire from all the danger. They do their job fine and don't detract from the action and story. The only character I had a major problem with was the Bartender played by the Director John Woo. It was a lame attempt at putting in some philosophy and getting Tequila to talk about his feelings. I've grown to dislike the use of directors in cameo roles more and more in films, especially like here when they are the "voice of reason" or explain some essential aspect to the plot (also looking at you Shamylamy). I know you want to be "involved in the whole process of filmmaking" or whatever but common, just cast someone else. It's pretty simple, craigslist it if you need to. (Yes I admit I'm being hypocritical since I acted in my last film but that is something I'm definitely not going to do for a long time.)
Is this all gratuitous violence you ask? Maybe, maybe not. I've never been to Hong Kong though its on my list of places to go (very gorgeous setting with the glass towers next to the mountains surrounded by the sea, kind of like an Asian Rio de Janeiro...but i digress). This could very well be a true to life depiction of how conflicts roll over there between the Police and Triad. Why else would everyone learn martial arts? Tis a dangerous place and the only logical explanation. But beyond my silliness is all the violence in this film for the sake of being violent? Well lets just take into fact the incredibly high body count of 307. Now that's 307 confirmed kills from the good people over at Movie Body Counts dot com. In order to make it to that list you gotta be confirmed to be waiting for your toe tag not just a punch in the face. Thus many more people simply come away with flesh wounds and broken arms and such leading to about 200 more or so. One might say this is quite a lot, and that one would be perfectly justifiable in saying that but the point I'm trying to make is that Hong Kong had a population of 5.8 million people at the time of 1992 and one of the largest networks of gangs if not the highest at that particular time in the entire world THUS there would be A LOT of people involved in any big conflict between cops and the Triad. If this movie was set in backwoods Wyoming yeah it would be ridiculous, but here in Hong Kong it makes sense. Nevertheless is this gratuitous though? Without a doubt. Did all these people have to get mowed down in this film? No of course not. But with that, it would have been a very different film. I was going to say boring but retracted because with the same story with the two cops, one seeking revenge and the other deep undercover they could have crafted a nice little tale with lots of intricate tension. The bottom line is this film knows what it is and does gratuitous action and violence the best I've ever seen and asks for no apologies. It is what it is. And it is awesome.
I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of action films and over the top cinema. Definitely do not watch if you dislike violence/blood/subtitles.
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