Kap ba ba dik sung

I've seen quite a few of these "re-released in America" films lately. 95 percent were only worth watching because of the cool fight scenes, but The Enforcer adds drama and character development to make a well rounded experience. The two boys' friendship is a prime example and is quite touching. Some people complained about fight scenes being unrealistic (wire work). To that I say-every movie from this genre has the same problem, so don't criticize The Enforcer. For those of you who plan to watch this on DVD: I found the English dubbed version (Dimension Home Video) to be much better in quality than the imported Chinese/Mandarin version. Subtitles draw your eyes away so you miss certain things, and the video transfer was pretty bad on the imported version. Bottom line--add this to your collection, it's a keeper.

Interesting mix of family drama, crime thriller and kung fu as Jet Li plays a mainland Chinese cop going undercover to infiltrate a robbery gang in Hong Kong. His young son has been told his dad is a wanted criminal, but the son continues to have faith in him. When Jet's wife dies, a female HK cop (played by Anita Mui) enters the mix and brings the son to Hong Kong. While the plot is fairly engaging, it sometimes slows down the action, which is not as extensive here as it is in so many of Jet Li's Hong Kong films. However, the boy (played by Tze Miu) is a kung fu champ himself and contributes some clever fight scenes including a confrontation with taunting classmates. There's one mind-boggling action scene involving a garbage dump and a garbage truck, which finds Anita scurrying up a tall iron gate, shooting the truck driver as the truck barrels towards her, leaping from the top of the gate through the smashed windshield and into the passenger's seat, and commandeering the truck, all without a scratch. The big action finale takes place on a large yacht where an auction of illegal Chinese treasures is underway and Jet takes on all three bad guys, played by the formidable trio of Yu Rong Guang (IRON MONKEY), Ngai Sing (THE BODYGUARD FROM BEIJING, KUNG FU CULT MASTER), and Ken Lo (DRUNKEN MASTER II). Here Jet uses his son in a most ingenious (and impossible) manner to defeat the bad guys.

Jet Li is as usual good in action scenes but the surprising package is the boy who played his son. He is looking very good in action scenes. Overall a good movie if you like action with less story.

The general plot is quite standard: An undercover cop takes on one last dangerous assignment, relations involved, etc. There have been many, many films with the same type of plot.

However, this film manages to stand out on its own. The father-son combo of Jet Li and Tsu Miu works remarkably well (the 2nd time these two have been paired up). Anita Mui stars as a HK cop trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Throw in an over-acting (but still funny) villain (who incidentally played Iron Monkey), and we have an action-packed thriller to the end.

The emotional parts of the film may drag a bit, but it's not too excessive. Jet Li especially succeeds in this role... we can see the internal conflict and pains of emotion within. The scene where the villain tries to get his son to ID his undercover dad is very notable.

There may not be as much kung fu as most fans would like, but we do get to see Li wield a new type of weapon. Generally the kung fu serves to move the plot along, not to be specifically highlighted as the main attraction. That's okay, considering the movie is so well done....

I won't get into details and will just say that it's a worthwhile martial arts film; plenty of strong fighting that only people in truly top fitness, plus skill training, should ever consider being involved in or with. And, there's the warm family touch.

Johnny is quite a young lad in this film, his fighting and courage choreography being I guess top-notch. I don't know filmmaking from experience, so based on this, I think this youth is amazing. At one point, he's attacked by bully kids at his school and he pins the main bully to a wall, with his leg nicely lifted up so that his foot is pressing against the bottom of the chin of the main bully. I don't have such flexibility. If I tried anything of the like, then I'd surely be leaning the back backwards a lot more than Johnny did, for he was almost perfectly upright, except for the leg used to pin the main bully against the wall. I don't have that kind of flexibility and imagine that this Johnny lad does; choreographed, or not.

With that said, I think that anyone who likes martial arts films that have good morals against criminal ones, plus a touch of love, well, it's a worthwhile film.

It's interesting, is thriller for sure, well choreographed, and action, plus the touch of love.

Why this film has only 6.6/10 for average IMDb user rating is a little "beyond me". I'll give it 8/10 and am not sure that it shouldn't be more but 8/10 seems at least reasonable for a start, given that I'm not a film expert. One thing for sure is that I'd recommend this film to anyone I know to like martial arts with moral values and "a touch of love" or, if you prefer, romance.

As I said at the start, I won't get into details, meaning technical kind. This review is just a general kind or a "rough" overview, say. Were any mistakes made in any parts of the film? I don't know and also don't care about it, for this is just entertainment, or as is said in French, "divertissement".