Gong woo

I find this movie to be very cleverly written and directed. IMDb has the wrong names however. Jacky Cheung's character is called Mr. Left not Left Hand and Shawn Yue's characters name is Yik. All that aside, I really liked this movie. It's not your typical triad movie with lots of fighting and no character development. Don't get me wrong there is some action in this movie but unlike most triad movies you actually care what happens to the characters. I loved the dinner scene where Hung and Lefty are talking and the room behind them seems to be moving in an odd fashion, maybe it was a play off their emotions but I thought it looked really cool.

I was a bit surprised by what this movie really was about. Because as you are watching it you think you know exactly what the movie is about and where its going, but the last 15-20 minutes gets you. You realize that you don't really know anything, everything you thought you knew is wrong.

Style, class, intensity, mystery - loyalty?/betrayal? love for the art of film ...Jiang Hu is without a doubt a Simply TERRIFIC and ORIGINAL film! For those who have not seen this I will just say.. be Not critical of the film until you have reached the MAGNIFICENT ending!! At first the acting might seem poor from a few characters but it is the correct method to enhance the plot! You Will understand after - Promise!! Second of all this has to be one of the few rare movies to create such Depth in a single film, that will make you enjoy re-watching the film ..Straight after!! Even the credits show more depth to the film! Thirdly this shows the revival of consistency in great Hong Kong films! Like Infernal Affairs, there has not been a movie like Gong Wu (Cantonese title!) There is a SUPERB Twist at the end of this film, Andy Lau is Class! (The triads mole in Infernal Affairs!) In fact the whole cast is BRILLIANT! From the new talent to the veterans. I almost did not see this film because of the poor reviews given to it.. This is why i feel the need to have registered on this site (yes i'm a IMDb virgin) and tell the world how JIANG HU is simply another Amazing, Original/Anti Hollywood Triad film! I can Easily turn this review into a thesaurus of Compliments .... WATCH IT!

Jiang Hu seems to have met with surprisingly negative reviews for a new, all-star very slick gangster movie out of Hong Kong. Not too long, most fans were complaining that HK seemed to have stopped making this type of film altogether (and swearing that if they saw another romcom with Sammi Cheng they'd kill someone) - then we get one of the most interesting gangster films for years and everybody bitches. Go figure :p

Anyway, I thought the film was very enjoyable, with buckets of style and an above-average focus on character development. It suffers in places from trying to be too clever/cool for its own good (the moving table cam near the end was just ridiculous), and there's some awful acting (Chapman To especially), but there was also a lot to like (Jacky and Andy's performances for instance) and I found it compelling and entertaining to watch.

It should be noted that the film apparently ran into some trouble with the censors, and was substantially cut prior to release. There's a bunch of deleted scenes on the 2nd disc in the Mei Ah DVD, but unfortunately without subtitles. There was one particular scene, with Edison Chen and a dog, that isn't listed in the deleted scenes menu. However, if you choose "Play All" and skip to the end, you can see the scene. It's actually very short and I don't think it needed to be cut, and it does significantly hurt the plot development.

Anyway, if you miss the stylish HK gangster films of yore, be sure to check out Jiang Hu. It may not be the best of them, but it's definitely worth your time.

I was very excited about this film when it was first introduced and had been dying to see it. There was a lot of hype surrounding the film, as the last time Andy Liu and Jacky Cheung, two of the most popular figures in Hong Kong pop culture, collaborated before was sixteen years ago, and the media kept reporting the effort and time the actors put into the film. However, just as the reports were on mundane details such as the hairstyles and the time put into the hairstyles, the movie was mundane at best.

The ensemble cast was great, gathering some of the most prominent figures in Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainment. In fact, the producers even convinced Wu Chien-Lien, who had not appeared in a Hong Kong produced film in a long time, to make a cameo to play Andy Liu's character's wife. However, it seemed that the movie planned to run on star power and paid little to no attention to the details. First of all, although the acting of the four main characters of the two different arcs were solid, Andy Liu and Jacky Cheung could be better, given their talents. Secondly, the supporting characters' acting were mediocre and even many were prominent names, they seemed to be misused and underutilized, thus making it feel like they were forgettable and unnecessary. For example, Eric Tsang, a very versatile actor who even won a Golden Horse Award (the equivalent to the Oscar in the Taiwan, Hong Kong and China sphere) and able to play many different characters while making them feel convincing, felt very one-dimensional here. In fact, he could be killed off and nobody would care. Next, the plot jumped from one story arc to another at what seemed to be the worst possible time, making the film feel confusing at times. Finally, the script, except the end and the restaurant scene where the mastermind of the whole plan was, was very formulaic and seemed like any other Hong Kong made crime thriller.

Still, compliments had to be given to the camera work and the ending. The camera work was excellent, giving the film a dark and mysterious aura that matched nicely with the plot and the tempo of the film. And the ending was excellent. It was very thought provoking and left the audience, if they still followed the film and did not get bored to death, something to think about. It gave the film a different perspective, which I personally appreciated, and made sense of the whole film. It was one of the best twists that I have seen in a while.

Overall, the film, until the ending, receives 5 out of 10. This maybe biased because I have seen too many films with the same kind of plots. With the ending, it is a 6 out of 10 film. Although the twist was great, it was just too late, as half of the audience probably would not care anymore. Watch it if you love Hong Kong produced crime thrillers and have the time. Otherwise, watch Infernal Affairs instead.

TRIAD UNDERWORLD is a little masterpiece of cinema. Though it was made in 2004 it is only now available in this country courtesy of Palisade Tartan Asia Extremes, but the wait was well worth it. Not only is the story (as written by Chi-Long To and Director Ching-Po Wong) mesmerizing through out the film, but the fact that it pulls a Guy de Maupassant-type ending that takes the audience by complete surprise. The aspect that makes this film an art work is the extraordinary creative cinematography by Charlie Lam and Kenny Lam: every frame of film is like a masterpiece of lighting and brilliant use of colors that give clues to the characters and the story - shots taken from beneath a glass floor during a fight, interludes of a near blank black screen except for windows of carefully suggestive color and luminous lighting, extensive use of slow motion photography during the very choreographed fight sequences all contribute to the mood of the Hong Kong underworld in the finest manner. The musical score by Mark Lui also deserves special recognition: often soundless mayhem is accompanied by ballades using both Eastern and Western thematic material.

The story seems rather straightforward: Triad leader Hung Yan-jau (Andy Lau)'s wife gives birth to a baby boy, and event that causes Hung to consider considers leaving the world of the gangsters. Hung's closest lifelong friend Left Hand AKA Lefty (Jacky Cheung) reminds Hung that Hung has always said he would leave the crime world if he had a wife and child. Lefty is more the playboy and both Hung and Lefty own spectacular restaurants. Should Hung decide to leave, taking his wife (Chien-lien Wu) and newborn son to New Zealand then the head of the Triad would pass to Lefty. Despite disagreements the two men stick together, especially when it becomes known that two young members of a rival gang Wing (Shawn Yue) and Turbo (Edison Chen) are out to become the next leaders of Hong Kong's famous 'jiang- hu' underworld and they are ordered by the competitive gang to Triad to kill Hung. There are brutal encounters and balletic street fights that take place outside the seeming quiet elegant restaurant dinner being observed by Hung and Lefty in honor of Hung's newborn boy. And at the denouement the roles of all concerned are revealed in a terrifically exciting manner! What had seemed to be action inside and outside is actually an amalgam of past and present!

The cast is uniformly excellent and the pace of direction is impeccable in arriving at the surprising ending. But the true glory of this film is the cinematic magic: a more artistic use of film would be difficult to imagine. This is one of those movies that should be part of the libraries of audiences who love fine thrillers and art lovers who are keen on performance art. Highly recommended.

Grady Harp