Hak yuk duen cheung goh: Chai sang jue yuk

I ordered this movie on Hong kong disc for a couple of British pounds so i wasn't expecting much. Needless to say i was pleasantly surprised, cause it was quite good. What i expected to be just another prison movie turned out to be a well acted drama with a few tender scenes. The film deals with police corruption inside and outside prison and how this affects the lives of the prisoners and their loved ones. The prison scenes are filmed in washed out colours as we are shown the cruelty and sadism of life inside, whilst the family scenes are shown in vibrant colours especially the nightclub scenes The story is your standard one of a man falsely accused trying to survive amongst the dregs of society. There are some comic scenes that are sort of hit and miss but thats HK movie humour, you either love it or hate it. The movie reminded me of Ringo Lams 'Prison On Fire' films and was well made without being fantastic. A movie that i would recommend to anyone who likes Wong Kar Wei's early films. Just don't expect a sleazy violent Cat III shocker. I will be watching this again soon.

No, I don't have much of opinion about this flick and my point is completely different. Supposedly this story is about regular citizens and government officials, right? That's maybe main problem. I visit Hong Kong every year for fun and try not to be involved in anything beyond normal touristic stuff and later on compare what I see with my experience in US and I see there is no difference at all. Both countries claim they are democracies and in my book they both are regular dictatorships. Why? Precisely because their government officials are not elected and their laws are not approved by citizens, yes, exactly as in Cuba or Korea. Have a nice day everybody and think--its not illegal yet.

"Chinese Midnight Express" isn't really a bad movie - but it's far from being a keeper neither. Actually, I'm writing this review a couple of days after viewing the feature and have already forgotten most of it. Tony Leung is solid as always. Not many complaints in the acting department - except for the comic inserts. I have a problem with those comedy moments in Hong Kong (Action)thrillers anyway.

As for the story, it is your typical prison flick. Nothing special there neither - but all the known ingredients are present: Male rape, shower scenes, violence against newcomers, violence by guards etc. Only that some acts are way more humilating than I've expected. As for the violence, it is rather tame, so don't be scared by the DVD cover.

Would I recommend it? No. Again, it's a solid movie - but not worth your time. There's more funny / disgusting / suspenseful / entertaining (whatever you desire) Asian films around. Try those instead.

Rating: 4/10