Ye shou xing jing

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?

Anyone who didn't like this film must've come to the table with expectations. It does not cascade from one tightly-choreographed action scene to the next like the John Woo classics, which as good as they are to watch, are still played more for bullets and explosions than for story or characters. This is a totally different kind of film, with casual, believable dialogue, some great acting, and its "cowboys" and "indians" not so clearly defined.

Not that it isn't high on stylish shot-framing, editing and dynamite costume design; this is, after all, still a Hong Kong production. But I saw flashes of Cassavettes and Pedro Almodovar-less homage to Ringo Lam or Ronny Yu. Anthony Wong's character, "Brother Tung" still gets to go crazy at the end and spill a lot of blood, in a gritty hand-to-hand fight scene. What more could one ask? I've seen more than my share of slow-motion shootouts. This film is something more: a drama, at times a comedy, with cops and triads as its milieu, rather than its reason for being. An easy five stars.

This one is currently in the running for Best Movie Ever. Anthony Wong gives what is probably his best performance; Michael Wong isn't annoying at all for once, and the supporting cast is generally good. There basically isn't a boring scene in the whole movie. While it's not really an action movie, there are a fair number of chaotic violent scenes... Sometimes the camerawork is a little TOO chaotic. It might seem pretentious in other movies, but this one has a such a "what the hell" attitude I'm inclined to overlook some erratic storytelling and pointlessly strange cinematography. It's hard to explain just what's so great about this movie, but I've seen it three times and liked it more each time... That should say something.

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.