Guerres de l'ombre

UNDECLARED WAR is a really nice action thriller from Ringo Lam and I have to say I'm surprised that I'd never heard of it before watching. Why? It's easily of the same quality as anything Hollywood was making during this era. The film stars Danny Lee and Tommy Wong as a couple of Special Branch cops who get involved in a plot when international terrorists arrive in Hong Kong. Their Western counterparts are negligible, but it's great to see Vernon Wells and Olivia Hussey (!) as the villains. The real star is the choreography, with a wealth of high profile shoot-outs, fights and stunts. Poor old Lee and his cohorts really get put through the winger in this one, believe me!

This movie is not a good enough! But frankly said, I like Ringo Lam. some of his movie is Not Good. such as Ko dou gai bei! I hate that movie. Whatever, maybe this movie can be a killing time movie. action is good. and story is easy going. I mean not a tedious.

I remember when I saw this earlier on in the beginning of my deep dive into HK cinema(probably around the late 90'sor immediately after). I definitely didn't like it. I saw that Vinegar Syndrome gave it a re releases, so I decided to give it another chance. Undeclared War is a somewhat offbeat action thriller dealing with international terrorism towards the end of The Cold War. A eclectic international cast that has Danny Lee, Rosamond Kwan and Vernon Wells(from Commando, Road Warrior) in multiple uncanny roles here. The film is very dark in tone and actually has a lot of relentless action. I think this was done well, but feels a little uneven as film. I think Undeclared War has it's flaws. I don't think this is close to as good as something like City On Fire, but it easily is as good as a JCVD vehicles like Maximum Risk or Replicant. Undeclared War is a bit more unpolished and gritty than that and that's a part of it's charm.