El cerdo, la serpiente y la paloma

This extremely entertaining Taiwanese neo-noir works both as a pitch-black comedy and as a slick action thriller.

Lone hitman Chen Kui-lin, the film's protagonist, enters the scene with swaggering charisma, murders a gangster, then proceeds to daringly escape from policemen through buildings and rooftops. All of this shot with plenty of energy and bravado. And that's just the first 15-20 minutes of the film.

Soon he learns he's got stage four lung cancer, news that, understandably, put him in a depressive mood. But then he finds out he's only the third most wanted criminal in Taiwan, so he sets out to eliminate his competition before time runs out.

The premise is promising and lets you know you're in for some premium east Asian fatalism. You know that mix of melancholy and unpredictable, extreme violence that permeated the works of, say, Kim Jee-woon or Park Hoon-jung? Couple that with some twisted humor and you've got a winner.

In fact, I've mentioned those directors because this film has distinct two halves, and the first one resembles A Bittersweet Life or Night in Paradise somewhat. Until the second hour, it's a crime thriller with bursts of solid action, polished to a fault. Then it turns into a contemplative drama that reveals the film's more spiritual, reflective side. But surprises are still in store for the viewer.

I love tonally uneven genre films and this one sure fits the bill. Some might not like how it swerves into so many directions before settling down, but I felt like it only added to its charm. Director Wong Ching-Po isn't new to this type of film (if you've seen Revenge: A Love Story, you'll have some indication about how this one turned out), and his script extracts some great performances from the actors. Ethan Juan, as a homicidal protagonist, and Yi-wen Chen, very memorable as a spiritual leader, are standouts.

In all, this is a technically polished, fantastically shot and scored crime thriller which offers more than just surface-level genre pleasures. It's also got a deeply cynical worldview and an aura of eccentricism that work in its favor. Big recommendation.

I have ZERO expectation when I got into the theater, FULL of surprise when I left. Taiwan's movies are getting better and better.

The chase scenes are tense and the fight scenes are fiery, full of Taiwan's unique characteristics. There was one scene that I really want to scream at the theater, so good so good. (You know which scene I'm talking about if you watch the film, I give you 10 second to think or LEAVE)

The characters are well developed. Every actor did a great job, especially Ethan Juan, Ben Yuen and Yi-Wen Chen.

The story contains Buddhist principles, is meaningful and full of fun. The Chinese name 'Zhou chu chu san hai' has a inspiring story behind. If interested, you can go check it out.

Really worth seeing.

Wanted criminal Chen Guilin (played by Ruan Jingtian) is at the end of his life, only to find himself ranked third on the wanted list. He is determined to investigate the whereabouts of the top two wanted criminals and eliminate them one by one. Chen Guilin thought that he had become a contemporary elimination of the three evils in the world, but he did not expect that the never-ending greed, anger, and ignorance would be the sin and punishment that one must face in life.

Ruan Jingtian used violence to suppress violence, and Wang Jing made his debut on the mainland's big screen! It's not easy to introduce this movie from mainland China.

I rarely finished watching most of the Taiwanese movies due to their shallow, childish, naive screenplays, their bad acting with horrible dialogue deliveries in a complete unnatural and fake way of speaking by most of the actors and actresses. This movie, although still inevitably failed to improve the way of speaking the dialogue in Taiwanese Mandarin, at least it's bearable this time.

The cast of the No.1 and No. 2 villains when compared to the No.3, the leading actor who played the protagonist, were neither good enough nor appropriate, not even feasible or realistic. There's no way the No.2 villain, a murderous killer from Hong Kong, most of the time speaking Cantonese, could be so hard to catch. Besides, his physical strength based on his height and weight would not be able to cause so much damages to the protagonist.

The cast of the No.1 Villain is even worse than the No.2, a fragile, skinny con man, who could hide himself on the island and become the preacher and the cult leader. His illegal organization is somewhat copied from the Scientology cult that plagued America. The way he fools and cheats on those naive followers is just too shallow.

The actor who plays the die-hard cop is a great cast. He is also the second worthwhile element that has made this movie feel more humane and realistic.

The watchable value of this movie is completely relied on the leading actor, who indeed performed so believably well. The herb medicine woman cast is not bad, but her Taiwanese Mandarin is still felt a bit forced and unnatural, the formulaic way of speaking by almost all the Taiwanese actors, actresses in movies or in dramas. Their weird and unnatural way of speaking is the fatal weakness of all actors, actresses and even all of those reporters, news anchormen and anchorwomen on TV.

Oftentimes, I refer to IMDb for the reviews of the show before watching it.

True to its rating (7.5 at the time of writing), it's a show with depth. This is unlike other movies you've watched.

I liked that the synopsis provided an insight, yet not enough for you to expect what is to come for the show. I could not find any roles that had acted badly in the show, all the actors/actresses were befitting to their roles albeit small/big. Ethan has yet again showed that he's really the new blood.

The 140mins spent on the movie was really worth it. Catch it, you won't regret it.

It's laughable that someone had given 3/10.