Wei xian qing ren

This is a Hong Kong action flick starring Aaron Kwok as rookie cop Wang Chia-Hui, who got himself in hot water loosing a suspect in an armored car robbery. Chia-Hui then joins forces with cops Liu (Ching Wan Lau) and Ma (Ka-Yan Leung) to go after gang leader Han (Elvis Tsui).

The movie is not bad - there's some nice action sequences and some suspense involving villain Han's girlfriend, Min (Fennie Yuen), whose caught between justice and crime. Aaron Kwok makes an OK male lead, while the other actors in the film had better acting. The plot was fast-paced enough to make the flick at least mildly entertaining.

Grade B-

Why this film is called "The Shootout" eludes me. There is a final shoot out but its so unremarkable that calling a film "The Shootout" on the basis of it is just asking for trouble (and is probably the reason this film has fallen through the cracks and seems to be out of circulation via home video) The plot of the film concerns a heist of an armored car. It goes kind of wrong and one of the robbers is caught. Only he's shot in police custody and the cop who was with him is in trouble. He's sent out for food where he meets a beautiful girl whom he them pursues (leaving the robbery as a secondary plot line). Thankfully(no not really) the girl is actually the girl friend of the robbery's mastermind and wouldn't you know it she's not that bad a girl after all.It all ends in the title event.

Those expecting an action packed film will be disappointed. Outside of the excellent opening robbery and a merely adequate finale this is a dull film. I completely understand why there were a couple of copies in the dump bin in Chinatown, basically one can't watch this and not be disappointed. Its okay I suppose, I mean I stayed to the end, but at the same time I was waiting for an actual shoot out...

Take a pass.