Sat sat yan, tiu tiu mo

Not since John Woo left Hong Kong has the once very popular genre of the Professional Killer seen such an explosion of style and action. The guns never empty and the camera never stops in this killer-loves-cop action drama. Don't miss it!

There's something about movies that are produced by, directed by, and staring the same person. Maybe it stifles the rest of the cast and crew from giving any honest input. It would have been helpful if someone would have spoke up and mentioned the totally unrealistic gun fights were a bit much. Gunfights can be cool, but please, even the most squeamish pacifist would understand guns need to be reloaded from time to time. Shotguns don't hold 100 shells nor do 9mm hand gun clips provide that kind of firepower. Also, bullets follow a straight trajectory and don't do their best to avoid the target.

This is the type of film that leaves one wondering if the producer-director-actor thinks the audience is so mental as to take the movie seriously. I ended up giving this film a 4/10 because it had it's moments. Annie Wu did a decent job with what was available. She was even able to sprint, without favoring her bad leg, minutes after being shot in the thigh. It could have been a decent film with a bit more character development and shorter, more realistic gun fights. I could only recommend viewing to have a few chuckles.

Having done his part as an action director, or uncredited director, in many films since the start of his career, the great Donnie Yen made a point of becoming a serious director around the late 90's, launching with the fantastic Legend Of The Wolf. It was a great debut, though not without its flaws, and following that came this and Shanghai Affairs a year later!

With beautiful cinematography by Wong Ka Fai, Ballistic Kiss is an art-house, martial arts thriller. Its important to know that before watching, as fans of Yen's work (both before and after SPL) may find it somewhat disappointing. It doesn't have explosive, powerhouse fight scenes every few minutes (although they do come about), nor does it have insane stunts and cop chases like his Yuen Woo PIng directed vehicles did. Instead, the Kiss has style, with stylish Hong Kong action - almost as if Wong Kar Wai had directed The Killer...

Donnie still gets to throw some amazing moves, and we get a good dose of gun-fu, but while it is far from being as amazing as the John Woo classic, Ballistic Kiss still makes for a damn good movie, and an important piece in Donnie's career. Although Bey Logan's script could have been refined somewhat, Yen works with what he has and delivers on the action and his performance in the role of a hitman with a heart, who falls for his hostage, played by the lovely Annie Wu.

Packed with visual flair and keeping a steady pace, Ballistic Kiss is accompanied by a memorable score that reminded me of a Studio Ghibli movie, some beautifully lit shots, and a great cast. Donnie's Shanghai Affairs co-star, the great Yu Rong Kwong, appears briefly for a great shoot-out against Yen, and it was nice to see big Mike Woods pop up for a bit in what would be his last role in a Hong Kong movie.

Overall: Heroic bloodshed at its most stylish, and an underrated Yen flick, Ballistic Kiss is pretty damn good and shows Donnie in a one-time-only role that doesn't disappoint!

I am not quite sure what the reason is for the harsh criticism that the film is receiving by commentators here on IMDb. "Ballistic Kiss" is one of those rare times that a film fuses together mass entertainment with personalized artistry, albeit not entirely successfully but to a greater degree than other film of its ilk.

Donnie Yen directors this film with surprising visual flair. The cinematography is slick with lighting that is very noir-ish in nature. Yen utilizes different color filters and shifts to B&W occasionally to formulate a distinct mood that reflects the situation of the scene or the emotions of the characters.

The editing, admittedly, is slightly rough. During action scenes this adds a feeling of gritter intensity, but during dramatic and emotional scenes, the editing can be jarring.

Yen, being an action legend, does not disappoint in the film's action sequences. He carefully choreographs gun fights that are balletic and poetic in nature. The most notable scene is a sequence within the apartment where Yen and a hit-man shoot at one another at extreme close ranges, encircling a sofa and sliding along the ground in effortless motion.

The acting, however, is a mixed bag. The performances of the Yen and his female captors are near perfect. The relationship between the two is entirely believable and we become involved with them, investing our own emotions into the film.

However, some supporting characters do give rather over the top performances, such as the two villains near the end of the film. Fortuantely, there isn't a high degree of theses occurrences so we are able to forgive them of these mistakes.

The narrative is rather typical of the genre, yet it is told in a fresh way. The artistry of the visuals really add depth to the standard story and the strong character development makes what would have been flat characters into full bodied, three dimensional figures.

The narrative does, however, have issues of coherency. The film often presses too hard for aesthetic scenes rather than scenes which are story driven which creates some moments of confusion, though the attentive viewer will easily be able to place the events together.

In conclusion, this is one of the better thrillers to come out of Hong Kong. It is a fine example of the Heroic Bloodshed and should be viewed by anyone remotely interested in the genre or Asian thrillers in general. For the average film viewer, however, I would suggest a rental or, better yet, see some of the classic examples of the genre such as "The Killer" or "Hard Boiled". If you like those films, then give this a try.

Wow, this film is utterly UNFORGIVABLE.

Donnie Yen is an incredible martial-arts talent who should utterly claim this film as his alan smithee masterpiece. God knows he couldn't be bothered to remove hisself as the film's lead. Usually, when watching an HK actioner you should suspend your disbelief to an unbearable degree. John Woo's HK films made this easy and fun to watch. But here the viewer is utterly dragged kicking and screaming into utter garbage. The acting was top notch, for most HK flicks, and thought he story was essentially striving to free itself there was no resurrection. Instead what we have here is a failure to entertain as we are subjected to uninspired fights, mingled with shameful gunplay, and some bad guys/heavies that are so happy go lucky that I'd probably play "Yut, Yee, Sum!" drinking games with 'til dawn. THESE BAD GUYS WERE SO UNTHREATENING THAT TRIX BUNNY ON MY TV RIGHT NOW LOOKS LIKE CHARLIE MANSON, IN COMPARISON.

Did I come into this flick wanting to hate it? HELL NO! Donnie Yen is cool, he's cooler than cool. This guy is action nitro glycerine times a thousand plus infinity. But here, in a film he directed no less, it's a heartbreaking waste. I encourage those who get caught up with the flashy title to instead search for something meaningful, like John Woo's earlier films. Hell, even Mission Impossible 2 was better than this. Yowza!

Donnie, let other people direct. I have only so much respect for you, buddy. Don't make me lose any more.