From Hong Kong comes a great martial arts crime thriller.... paving the way for modern Hong Kong cinema to fuse it very famous action genius with hard core and brilliant story telling.
In this case, its a story of one police seargant's tirless battle against the crime kingpin… More
From Hong Kong comes a great martial arts crime thriller.... paving the way for modern Hong Kong cinema to fuse it very famous action genius with hard core and brilliant story telling.
In this case, its a story of one police seargant's tirless battle against the crime kingpin who was responsible for killing his goddaughters parents. Driven by years of rage and frustration, he and his loyal squad finally decide to do anything to bring the gangster down, which ultimatley means crossing the fine line of police work into corruption in this war between worlds. But as the detective is on the verge of retirement, and his war seems all but lost, the new boss, a former street cop with a knack for violence and a moral consciene intervenes and also becomes entertwined in the dark war.
The keyword here is THRILLER - not action. Dont expect a Jackie Chan stunt fest every 5 minutes... this is a movie made with in the tradition of such thrillers like Infernal Affairs, New Police Story, The Corruptor and others.... though I would personally think SPL is much more classy and the action clearly is some of the best seen in a movie. And to top it off, veterans Donnie Yen, Simon Yam and HK legend Sammo Hung lead the way with a good cast, especially the psychotic killer in white.
Well, the most important thing: Action scenes. Some of the best ever. The climax fight scenes all star Donnie Yen, whom I think in martial arts ability matches the likes of Jet Li and Jackie - but Yen seems far more faster and skillfull - if you have seen Iron Monkey, then you would defintley have a new name added to your favourite martial arts stars. And Sammo Hung at old age still shows he's got the goods to whoop ass and plays the powerful gangster with an exuberance and protrays a very deadly character.
There are many scenes which show really good climaxes, from the beginning where Simon Yam and Sammo face off with golf clubs after batterring each others in their cars, to Donnie and Simon's confrontation with the 100 gangsters in the street, which really build up the tension and strength to the powerhouse ending fights.
Pretty nifty! And very bloody. The sound effects as knives enter the body and out..... woah! squish, and squash and blow flows....... graphic as hell. Marvelous!