Nowhere to Hide

I really enjoyed watching this film, I was on the edge of my seat most of the time.It's great to watch a film where the director is in love with the possibilities of film, making use of every trick in the cinematic book. This everything-and-the-kitchen-sink style seems popular in Asia as Tears of the Black Tiger had used a similar approach. Sure, the detective's are made out to be as vicious as the criminals they're chasing but I can't think of too many films that portrayed the police in a positive light (ok, I'll let you have 'Police Academy'). The only problems for me were the somewhat plodding pace between the action sequences and that the audience never got to know anything about Sungmin.

I saw a trailer on an obscure DVD (don't remember which though) half a year ago. The trailer made use of the Bee Gee's song that's in two of the scenes in the movie. Then I read most of this IMDb comments.

A month ago I found the DVD (I'm always searching secondhand stores) and yesterday I put in in my DVD-player. Watched the trailer on the DVD again. It was a different one. Not as catchy as the one I saw earlier that made me want to see (want to have) this film. Then I watched the opening scene/titles and the 40 steps scene. My wife and I where about to start watching another film (Wanted, 2008). I asked for her patience and showed her the 40 steps scene first. She agreed with me that that was a beautiful scene and she was positively surprised by it hypnotic style. Then we watched Wanted. (Which had cool special effects but didn't convince me in any way: could have skipped that one...) Half an hour ago I finished watching Nowhere to Hide.

I think it is a fascinating movie. Storywise it's not very deep or wide, but that's alright with me. The acting, the photography, the directing and so forth I find very very good. The 40 steps scene reminded me very much of the better Miami Vice (televisionseries) episodes: music framing something horrible, continuing through the whole scene (not fading right after the dramatic climax, but going on for minutes and breathing out inevitability).

Now (while writing) I am playing the movie again.

One could say I really like it. I agree with most of the very enthusiastic reactions I read on IMDb.

Nowhere to hide has to be one of the most perfectly made cop/villain thrillers i have ever seen. The movie has such a a great, yet tense feel to it and is so determined to blow the audiences minds away. The groundbreaking camera-work, beautiful cinematography, tense and violent action (featuring some of the coolest fight scenes i have ever seen) and a to die for soundtrack make this film in my opinion one of the greatest cop thrillers that has been made today. Laying right up there with 'Heat' and 'Infernal Affairs'. This film i think is not only a must see for Asian extreme fans, but for any one a fan of thrillers. 9 out of 10.

Cinema is images, usually 24 frames per second. Sometimes the story is predominant, sometimes not. What will I remember of this film in 10 years? Probably not much of the story line. But I'll remember: the super-saturated yellow of the autumn leaves; the rain falling on the 40 Steps during the murder scene; the starburst "wipe" in the first reel (I've seen iris shots, and Kurosawa wipes from left to right & right to left, I've seen wipes spiralling from a center point out,I may have seen top to bottom and/or bottom to top wipes - but never one like this); the inserts of what appeared to be color sketchings of characters inbetween live-action shots near the film's beginning; the strobe-like black & white shots at the disco and the balletic brawl on the rooftop among the billowing sheets.

Style over substance? Perhaps. But mighty impressive style.

"Stylistic" is inevitably the word that comes to mind watching this film. Lee pulls out all the cinematic weapons in his arsenal in this humorous, almost deconstructionist romp through Hong Kong action cinema, film noir, comic books, and more. There are more homages, visual tricks, and musical gags than in almost any film I've seen. And that's a good thing because plot wise this is very generic. Some people are sure to decry the supposed glorification of police brutality. An alternate interpretation that is criticizing the police by showing their basic similarity to the bad guys is too facile to be taken seriously. But despite any possible qualms one might have with any messages being delivered, this film is just plain too fun and funny to not like.