artemiofranchi

The very first time i heard about the plot, is was like WHOA!! It is one of those cleaver twist that i havent seen make into movie since face/off.

An undercover cop in triad, and an undercover triad as a cop. Tony Leung play the rookie cop send to join Hk triad as an undercover and the supposedly short assignment turns into a lifetime work. While Andy lau was the gangster sent to the police academy, and gradually becomes a high rating officer.

Acting wise it is very satisfying, considered this is not art house and not wong kar wai movie. i know Anthony wong and Eric tsang make lots of crap ( as tons of other talented Hk actors) but i always believe they are the real deal. In this movie they just prove it all. A solid performance in all department. maybe Sammy chen is a misscast, but she only appear about 10min, so it do no harm to this masterpiece. This is in no doubt the smartest movie come out of HK since Running out of time.

This is one of the highest rated Indonesian movie in recent year (or all time). Some said is was the first ever Indonesian movie to pass the first stage of Academy Award foreign language movie category selection. The story is supposedly a flashback of a Indonesian women adopted by a Dutch family live in Holland, she come back to Indonesia to find out everything about her biological parents. But the story line rather confusing, making audience cant really follow the flow of the story. not a good job in the editing room i would say. The main attraction in this picture is the art direction. the photography is surprisingly beautifull. I'm not sure about the budget but the way they create Indonesia in the early 30's till the 60's is amazing. I can't help but keep asking myself where did they find the old train. The acting is not spectacular but is above average. The film run too long and it make viewing boring in some part, but overall is was a decent piece of movie.

A new generation Bond, new generation Arnold. called it anything but it was not more than just another big budget action flick with muscle lead actor and sexy sidekick try to save the world with the help of...SFX. nothing special with the plot, just some bad guy trying to do something bad to the world and our hero have to stop him (what else?). Vin Diesel acting is nothing special and the usually reliable Sam Jackson do nothing worth to help the movie. Even the SFX was an awfull one considered the budget and the effort (to make as many cash as possible)they out into it. Its a quite good bet if you want to impress your next door neighbour with your state of the art sound system. If not, just say Pass.