Chik yeung tin si

"So Close" is a terribly unremarkable and uncharismatic title for a movie that should have been called, simply, "Sexy Action Chicks!". There's a lot of cool action and style, mostly to do with wire-aided martial arts and the three immensely appealing leading ladies, who were obviously having fun doing this. So if you like Asian action and kick-ass heroines, this is a must-see.

The premise with two girls being an action team, one a computer whiz and the other a field agent, is extremely similar to the comic book "Birds of Prey", which was also a short-lived (but abominably bad) TV series recently. Being martial arts assassins, the characters can also be compared with other comic book action chicks like Elektra or Lady Shiva, or, for that matter, Danger Girl. This movie seems very comics inspired.

Unfortunately, there is also some bad news: the story is pretty awful. In fact, you hardly notice it. The film-makers almost appear to have forgotten about it. Once again Asian producers do not realize the importance of having a proper plot. This is formulaic assassin/police/revenge clichés ad nauseam, with nothing even remotely original or surprising. One of the girls has a crush on the female police officer, and while that's sure-fire fodder for male fantasies, it's also gratuitously voyeuristic. Oh well, peace be with that - I admit I enjoyed it! Also, this was the first time I saw Karen Mok (outside of cameos), and she made a great impression. She's not drop-dead gorgeous, but she makes what she has go a long way! And she's a very sympathetic kind of person.

The CG effects were a little grating, esp. all the smashing glass. You'd think it would have been cheaper to just use real glass - but I guess they didn't wanna clean up afterward! Some of the other effects, like the elevators and many of the shots of the office building, were very well made.

I would have liked to rate this movie very highly, but at the end of the day it doesn't have much substance. It does however have beautiful women, some cool fight scenes, and great style. The entertainment value is definitely not bad, but I can't rate it higher than a 7 out of 10.

(Edit: Actually, yes I can! In hindsight I think it has enough intriguing elements, also story-wise, to warrant an 8 rating, and that is what I have now revised my rating to.)

This could have been awesome. And at times, it gets there. This is basically a Hong-Kong Charlie's Angels. Usually I avoid making statements like this, but it's hard not to since Charlie's Angels does seem to be a major point of reference. It is based around two young, attractive women with an expanse of gadgetry at there disposal, whose work gets in the way of their love life and who get to kick major ass. The only difference is that the women are hired assassins, rather than hired crime fighters. The film makers seem to openly acknowledge where they stole their ideas from, giving Lynn's character the codename of 'The Computer Angel'.

The plot is non-sensical, the script wooden and the characters basically huge cardboard cut-outs. But then, this is a Hong-Kong action movie after all, and the plot is really just an vague structure to link together the visually arresting action sequences. And the action sequences, on a whole, are very well executed. At times they stretch too far. They try and acheive the visual trickery of Charlie's Angels, The Matrix, Crouching Tiger et all, but, due to the smaller budget, don't always pull it off sucsessfully.

The idea of women rolling about in t-shirts and tiny shorts by day, and kicking ass by night, is either hugely empowering or deeply degrading to women everywhere, depending on which side of the fence you are on. And the plot development of the criminal and the police officer earning new respect for each other by joining forces seems to be the blueprint for all H-K action flicks.

At the end of the day, if you like your movies big, dumb and action packed, this is really good fun. It's just been done a lot better. The film does get one superlative though, gaining the title of "most blatant product placement ever".

Despite the fact that this is a super-slick action thriller with guns, swords, cars and martial arts, So Close is a refreshing and unusual movie. It's NICE, to put it simply. Lovely girls, dressed in white much of the time, hanging around their picturesque house messing around and eating cakes and having baths. Despite all the asses they kick, they actually behave like young women and not ultra-agressive 'I-want-to-be-a-man' type female heroes, like Xena or Sarah Connor.

The action is sleek and graceful - feminine. It's also rather slow and lo-key compared to most films of this nature. The real action doesn't come until the climax, but when it does, director Corey Yuen pulls out all the stops, climaxing in a two-against-one sword fight that ranks alongside that of The Phantom Menace.

Despite how it's advertised, So Close is not a skinflick. The women are certainly not sex objects. They are sexy, but in a wholesome way. It's their natural beauty rather than their sex appeal that is most noticable.

So Close is a great movie, and should entertain any mainstream audience regardless of their farmiliarity of Asian films.

I found this film wildly implausible but hugely entertaining. It's no masterpiece but surely an excellent piece of popcorn cinema from Hong Kong. The martial arts make the movie. Without these high-caliber stunts, the film wouldn't work. Some of these are cheesy and over the top. Yet they are performed with energy and I can see why this film is liked by fans of martial arts. The storyline sags a bit in the mid-section but makes up for it with a slightly overlong but exciting climax. Worth seeing if you are a fan of Hong Kong cinema or just enjoy martial arts.

Overall 7/10

Lynn and Sue are sisters whose father developed a cutting edge global surveillance tool before he and his wife were murdered for it. As a result of this the sisters became hired killers, with Lynn doing the killing and Sue guiding and advising remotely. When they complete a major job it leads to two events - firstly, their employer looks to silence them by killing them, and second, a driven cop, Hong, picks up their trail and begins to hunt them down.

As many of the audience for this film likely were, I was attracted to this film by the beautiful women on the dvd cover just as much as I was by the promise of martial arts action. The plot starts out as the standard thing with hired killers and `tough cops who are out to get them but also admire/relate to them', so nothing new there. Meanwhile the action is good but it will be standard fare for HK fans (in fact, for most of the world now thanks to Hollywood embracing it's style), although, having said that it is still entertaining even if I always find the very unnatural looking wire work to be a bit offputting.

The opening scene, where Lynn expertly moves through an office block to the strains of `why do birds etc' easily marks out the style of the film (not original, but fun) and the fights are good and have a good dramatic sense to them. The plot may well be seen elsewhere but it still has good touches and twists that will come as a surprise to many despite the familiarity of the plot basics. The cast are pretty good. The two lead actresses, Qi and Zhao, both play their roles with confidence and, needless to say, they are both very easy on the eye (and then some!). Mok is pretty but looks ugly next to these two - however she has a good character and has a fun, tough attitude. The support cast are evil bad guys and comedy sidekick cops, they all do what they are supposed to do, but to be honest the focus is always going to be the main women.

Overall, this film is not anything original or special but it is still quite good fun with plenty of stylish action. The plot has just enough going for it to carry it off, while the leads' good looks and appealing characters are a draw in themselves. Fans of the genre should enjoy it even if it doesn't stand out.