TheFilmGuy1

Less grounded and more over the top and silly compared to Black Storm (the first Qin Pengfei film I watched) which made me enjoy it a little bit less. That being said, this has some incredible fight scenes that make it still a must watch for action fans.

Qin Pengfei very clearly understands what makes a good action scene, beyond just the creativity he and his team have in filming these sequences. It's about the location the fight takes place in and what's in the environment to destroy/use in the fight. It's about the fighting styles of the characters. It's about the integration of weapons like knives or guns. It's about what the characters are wearing. I could go on, but these are the sorts of things that make for memorable action sequences, and it's all here and well thought out.

Not perfect, but a definite recommendation for action fans.

I have a feeling Qin Pengfei is gonna be a name I remember in the future.

This is such a breath of fresh air for Chinese cinema, considering the industry (in both China and Hong Kong) has been pumping out less interesting stuff than previous decades, at least for me. First off, the storyline and writing is actually pretty solid. A cop returns to his hometown to investigate a disappearance involving a rich and powerful criminal. There's a few surprises, and it's not afraid to get dark and violent. There's also some great characters and performances. Chinese cinema tends to be too melodramatic for me, but I found the acting here to be pretty great across the board. Ashton Chen as the lead plays a believably tough cop, putting in some amazing martial arts work. The same goes for Bei'er Bao who plays the perfectly maniacal lead bad guy. But how's the action? Luckily, it's absolutely fantastic. Qin Pengfei directs them so well, with lots of cool and passionate camerawork. Close-ups when you need them, pulling back when you need to see the big picture. Well thought out fight locations and usage of the environment. It really did remind me of a film from the glory days of Chinese cinema.

Qin Pengfei has a very impressive 9 films directed since 2019, 3 of which came out this year. That's a very impressive output. Hopefully he will be a name more people recognize soon.

While not as action packed as Qin Pengfei's other films that I have seen, I did actually find the story to be engaging, even when it gets a little derivative.

Bao Bei'er is a huge standout here playing the villian. He was also in Black Storm where he plays a similar sort of rich and evil character. He doesn't look intimidating per se, but he's so easy to hate and is ferocious when he has to fight. The spiritual element to his character really added an interesting and unique twist to his character, and those moments really stood out.

This leans a little more into the story than the action, but I didn't really have a problem with it. It tries to infuse some emotion into the fighting, and I think it does a solid job at that. Plus, the fight all rock, which is to be expected with a Qin Pengfei film.