Chu tai chiu fung

A mature, beautifully executed slow burn crime flick with strong characters, a complex story, and plenty of reflection space ruptured by explosions of unglamourised violent action. Basically, the film depicts a mess of corruption and crime in the build up to Hong Kong's handover from Britain to China, as in Infernal Affairs II, focusing on three veteran gangsters in converging lines of action. Despite getting quite lost with some key aspects of the plot (watched on a plane, so small screen, and I imagine the English subtitles could have been improved upon) I generally felt solidly in touch with the three protagonists and their immediate short term goals, and remained secure that I was in the hands of highly competent filmmakers on both sides of the camera - some superb performances and very strong cinematography. Pardon the lack of polish here, but sometimes it's either that way or not posting at all, and I wanted to add some favourable comments to what little there is on here for this film. In the same ball park as the aforementioned Infernal Affairs II and maybe A Most Dangerous Year, maybe Black Mass. Quality cinema and a real discovery.

The film is a fictionalized story about three real-life notorious Hong Kong mobsters, Kwai Ping-hung , Yip Kai Foon and Cheung Tze-keung, who are portrayed in the film by Gordon Lam, Richie Jen and Jordan Chan respectively

Kudos to the trailer for selling me something that definitely is not to be found. Mildly interesting but ultimately an entire waste of time. The middle is entirely bloated and not worth enduring for the complete lack of anything that is the final 10 minutes. In retrospect its closing "reveal" is pretty pretentious in what it took just under 2 hrs to set up. Prior review of being blue balled is pretty sumacious. There is far vetter Asian cinema and entertainment to be had. That said it isn't really bad but it's certainly not good. An ultimate waste of time but I've wasted it on worse, hence a neutral (for me) 5/10, not warranting a "+1" or 6 nor a "-1" or 4. Make what you will though just my take.

Such an impressive piece of filmmaking. Shrewd plot line never overshadows the carefully delineated characters and their occasionally unsettling and in a few instances poignantly relatable lives. The cynic in me suspects, perhaps a bit unfairly, many will approach this film anticipating and maybe even hoping for yet another one-dimensional, albeit slickly well-crafted Hong Kong action flick, and with the renowned names synonymous with brilliant shoot-em-ups attached who would blame them? And yet, if you're like me and greedily ingest your South East Asian films only when piled on with some explosively creative and original flavor, then this one is for you, my friend.

Just not my cup of tea. Feeling disappointed. Ruinned my evening.