Ye shou xing jing

It's been sometime since I last watched Gordan Chan and Dante Lam's highly-regarded action-drama, and probably not since Hong Kong Legends released it on DVD way back in the early 2000's. With the bizarre casting of the fantastic Anthony Wong and (the just passable and unrelated) Michael Wong in the leads, I can remember thinking I wasn't going to enjoy this film at all...

Thankfully though, I was wrong. Beautifully shot, with stylish action scenes and brilliantly choreographed stunt-work, Beast Cops isn't as threatening as its title would suggest offering plenty of Hong Kong humour among its drama and violent action scenes. Anthony Wong is just brilliant as the out-of-shape and out-of-luck streetwise cop, and even Michael Wong is enjoyable as his uptight boss who has just been assigned to his unit.

The brilliant Roy Cheung and Sam Lee help fill out the main cast along with Patrick Tam, Kathy Chow and a host of familiar faces, all who give pretty damn good performances (including Michael Wong for a change). One such face is Arthur Wong, director of In The Line Of Duty 3 and cinematographer of many classics including My Lucky Stars, Eastern Heroes, and The Warlords. For this film though, Tony Cheung Tung Leung handles the films gorgeous cinematography. His work includes Jackie Chan's Dragon Blade, Black Mask, and 14 Blades to name but a few!

The gritty and often violent action is handled by the wonderful Yuen Tak, offering some painful looking stunt-work alongside brutal fights with blades, and gritty hand-to-hand brawls that quickly turn bloody. Although it doesn't come every 5 minutes, there's still plenty to enjoy, including a brutally violent finale when Anthony Wong channels his inner psycho...

Although it carries plenty of humour, Beast Cops is a pretty dark movie on the flip side. Far from your typical cops-n-robbers story, the directors try to bring an intense realism to the film showing their heroes to be 'emotional and flawed' as a fine-line is drawn between the world of law-and-order, and the that of its triad gangsters. Winner of 4 awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Film, Beast Cops does have its flaws, but is well worth the watch!

Overall: Wonderfully written, directed and acted, Beast Cops is a violent action-drama with plenty of laughs that highly entertains!

The cover of the BEAST COPS DVD makes it look like a cracking Hong Kong thriller with a dark edge; the involvement of Dante Lam led me to hope that it shared more than a few qualities with his excellent kidnapping story, BEAST STALKER.

Sadly, BEAST COPS turns out to be nothing like that movie; instead, it's a plot less film that flounders its way through an overlong running time while boring the viewer in the process. Don't get me wrong: the production values are faultless, the look and feel of the movie is right, and the characters are well drawn…it's just that everything exists apart from a storyline.

Anthony Wong and Michael Wong, playing a pair of tough cops, aimlessly wander from one scene to the next while the film struggles to find verve or momentum. There are a couple of decent sequences, with a chase about halfway through and a really killer ending, but these aren't enough to sit through the rest of the film for.

There's no faulting the performances – Anthony Wong has always delivered strong turns, and unlike many people, I don't have a problem with Michael Wong either; Sam Lee's comic supporting role is effective, too. But this film is just downright boring; it isn't about anything, and as an arty character study it lacks impetus and incident.

A gritty and beautifully shot Hong Kong action film, one that announces all is not lost in the post-Woo/Hark/Lam Hong Kong action genre. Anthony Wong gives an astonishing performance as a cop who walks the line between police officer and triad. Michael Wong is for once not completely bland, and even has a couple of wonderful comic moments. And the violence in this film is remarkably startling, which is not something I find too much in Hong Kong cinema. In most films, even in masterpieces like The Killer or City on Fire, the violence is relatively unsurprising. Here, perhaps because it's mostly committed with crude machetes, the violence is brutal and tough. And the way it's cut and edited makes it all the more effective. For fans of Hong Kong cinema, it's not to be missed. And even for people who aren't usual fans of that genre, this is an interesting film to check out. From me, this is easily a 9/10.

Beast Cops has got to be one of the most overrated movies ever made in Hong Kong. There are only a few elements that justify some praise. And that is Anthony Wong and the comedy. But an actioner this is not. Sure there are some violent scenes consisting of some sword fighting and occasional gun firing but just not enough to qualify it as hard hitting action, that you can expect from this type of Hong Kong film. And before you condemn me for being superficial or not open minded enough. This is advertised as a brilliant action film. You got to put the money where your mouth is. Plus when a film doesn't offer what is promised I will be the first one to embrace whatever goodness that is delivered.

Except there is none. Even for a triad film Beast Cops doesn't convince. Yes, there are gangsters and the usual betrayal shenanigans. But it hardly shows what the triads do or why they are so feared. Plot wise this seemed such an important factor since these triads were so friendly with the cops. With the lack of story and suspense I at least expected some interesting things to happen. I mean why else would so many praise the hell out of this.. Well, I kept waiting and waiting and it never came.

And what was Michael Wong doing in this? It seemed he was lost and on his way to the set of another crappy film he is featured in. Honestly, I do like the guy but let's face it he is one of the most boring actors in Hong Kong cinema. He didn't make much sense here. The only thing I could think of was that the director wanted to show some contrast between him and Anthony Wong's character. If that was the idea than he failed miserably. Compared to similar Hong Kong films Beast Cops doesn't add anything new other than humour, which in my book wasn't enough for me to truly enjoy this.

Ignore the fact that Beast Cops has won many awards and that it is praised. It is not deserving of that at all. Avoid!

This movie is a pretentious excuse to exploit the two lead actors and their fans. The script makes little sense, which is a bad filmmakers device to make you watch till the end so that you figure out eventually what's going on while this is definitely not the kind of a film that needs it. Acting is really uninspired from everybody, mainly because most of the time there's little to play with. Action is non-existent, people spend more time loitering, clubbing, eating out and in bed, than racing, shooting, fighting and chopping each other. When the action comes it is shot in a "can't see a thing it shakes so much"-vision and presented very badly to you, often employing speed-ups and various stylish editing techniques...badly! The trailer probably looked worthy of all the awards this movie got. Does it mean that there were no better films that year?