Best fights ever.

One of the best, if not the best, martial arts film ever made. Jackie Chan's skills, both at physicall comedy and of course at martial arts, are displayed here in full glory. Some of the best fights ever recorded on film, the teahouse brawl and the final duel are stuff to make legends from.

Ken Lo kicks a lot of ass too as the villian, wish he would had better roles (these days he usually appears as a mere extra in Jackie's films) and Anita Mui is very fun to watch. Lau Kar Leung direction is good, but credits for Jackie in that final segment, which he directed. Seems LKL didn't want it to be like that, and i seriously can't see the reason.

Go watch this if you haven't done yet, Jackie might had reach his peak with this ,but damn, what a way to reach it.

Cinematic greatness, the last film from Alexander Fu Sheng. That last fight scene is the greatest thing since the invention of porn.

Rad-tastic and fun as hell old school wuxia that goes straight to the point. Typicall plot about secret papers, your usual tournament or the like and what not. It's still a fun ride from beginning to end, never getting dull and with some of the most creative and delirious sword fight sequences that has been put into film. Heck, even with all the sillyness going around, the main focus of the story is quite well told, showing the motivations of the two main characters in a very convincing way. You will go for the ninjas, but you will stay for the story...and the ninjas.

Hardly the resurrection of HK gritty action films, as many have call it. Certainly a much better turn than most HK "action" films these days where teen idols take the leads instead of real action pros like the ones in this cast.

The cast certainly helps to mantain the almost invisible plot here, Sammo Hung turns out as a very solid villian, Simon Yam is good as usual and Wu Jing (Jacky Wu/the guy with the knife) more or less steals the whole thing.

Recommended for action fans and HK aficionados. This is hardly the next Hard Boiled, or anything like that, but it's not a bad choice compaired with most american (and as i said already, HK) so called action films. Heck, i'm giving the 3 stars mostly based on that fight between Donnie Yen and Wu Jing, one of the most intense fight sequences i have seen since the hall fight in Oldboy (totally different style of course)

Bruce Lee beats the crap out of evil japanese guys. Fun times.

While some days i can say that the first movie is the best of the series, others i re-watch that Donnie Yen/ Jet Li fight of this one and totally change my mind.

Tsui Hark is a bit of a hack, but he made this and The Blade, compensating all the crap he has done.

I can see why many people would dismiss a film like a Bittersweet Life so easilly in a first view. Claiming is nothing but a recopilation of cliches from everything to John Woo to Tarantino to Scarface and back. A Pure "style over substance" in the worst possibly way, etc etc. After all, there are dozens of crime/gangster films that are made every year that follow that path in the laziest way possibly.

Thankfully, A Bittersweet Life is the exact opposite of cheap knock off in the crime/gangster genre. The film that mostly resambles in terms of mood and character would be Jean Pierre Melville's "Le Samourai". Just like Alain Deloin's silent killer, Kim Sun-Woo is a hard faced-cold-as-ice tough guy that seems to be devoid of any emotion. He works as a hotel manager, but at the same time, as the right hand of an important mobster.

His boss gives him a task, to watch over a young mistress he jealously treasures. If Sun Woo happens to catch her with another guy he must kill both in the act. Sun Woo starts following the girl, but something starts to happen. Little by little he begins to feel something, is not love, after all he has never experienced that. What he starts to experiment is a feeling of comfort, of inner peace. The girl lives a normal and simple life. She likes to go to discos, to decorate her house with colorfull stuff. She enjoys life in a way Sun Woo has never enjoyed his own, even while having plenty of luxuries.

Sun Woo decides to hide from his boss that the girl was having an affair with another guy, and that he spared her life. After all, in his mind, he did the right thing, like his boss told him earlier, she was different from men like them. Neverless, this decision proofs to be fatal for Sun Woo, but for his boss as well.

Another user here, Jundaman, say it well, of course ABL touches familiar film-territory, but is the "how" and not the "what" that makes the whole difference here. The way the movie truly dedicates time to develop the main character, how we see a transformation in him, sets ABL way apart from other entries in the genre. When the action occurs it actually has a meaning, it feels like a consequence of the acts of the characters and not just like mindless thrill fillers to distract the audience.

ABL deserves every bit of praise it can get. This is the type of films that define genres and create tendencies, it might be too soon to see that, but the sooner you know, there will be other crime films trying to emulate the mood of this film.

Finally saw this, expectations? mostly fullfilled, but like SPL, it could have been a lot better. Action junkies shouldn't worrie, the final act pays off quite nicely, Donnie Yen delivers solid fights, same with Collin Chou. The Yip/Yen duo still could improve, they have the style, they have the action, they just need for once a plot that actually is something more than just a very ellaborated setup for a big final fight towards the end.

Curious enough, i ended up liking SPL a lot more after watching this. Heck, both films have more or less the same plot, but SPL had a more dark and gritty edge. Also, while Louis Koo and Collin Chou are not badly casted at all, the late fiting very good on the villian role, they are still far from having Sammo's and Simon Yam screen persona, or even Wu Jing.

And for a visual extra, Fan Bing Bing is too damn lovely to be true. Another reason to say "screw Zhang Ziyi".