Sat sat yan, tiu tiu mo

I am not quite sure what the reason is for the harsh criticism that the film is receiving by commentators here on IMDb. "Ballistic Kiss" is one of those rare times that a film fuses together mass entertainment with personalized artistry, albeit not entirely successfully but to a greater degree than other film of its ilk.

Donnie Yen directors this film with surprising visual flair. The cinematography is slick with lighting that is very noir-ish in nature. Yen utilizes different color filters and shifts to B&W occasionally to formulate a distinct mood that reflects the situation of the scene or the emotions of the characters.

The editing, admittedly, is slightly rough. During action scenes this adds a feeling of gritter intensity, but during dramatic and emotional scenes, the editing can be jarring.

Yen, being an action legend, does not disappoint in the film's action sequences. He carefully choreographs gun fights that are balletic and poetic in nature. The most notable scene is a sequence within the apartment where Yen and a hit-man shoot at one another at extreme close ranges, encircling a sofa and sliding along the ground in effortless motion.

The acting, however, is a mixed bag. The performances of the Yen and his female captors are near perfect. The relationship between the two is entirely believable and we become involved with them, investing our own emotions into the film.

However, some supporting characters do give rather over the top performances, such as the two villains near the end of the film. Fortuantely, there isn't a high degree of theses occurrences so we are able to forgive them of these mistakes.

The narrative is rather typical of the genre, yet it is told in a fresh way. The artistry of the visuals really add depth to the standard story and the strong character development makes what would have been flat characters into full bodied, three dimensional figures.

The narrative does, however, have issues of coherency. The film often presses too hard for aesthetic scenes rather than scenes which are story driven which creates some moments of confusion, though the attentive viewer will easily be able to place the events together.

In conclusion, this is one of the better thrillers to come out of Hong Kong. It is a fine example of the Heroic Bloodshed and should be viewed by anyone remotely interested in the genre or Asian thrillers in general. For the average film viewer, however, I would suggest a rental or, better yet, see some of the classic examples of the genre such as "The Killer" or "Hard Boiled". If you like those films, then give this a try.

Sorry Donnie, but this is a rather feeble attempt to one up John Woo in the action/shooter genre. While not a terrible film, I have to say that Ballistic Kiss fails to live up to the promise of great gun or hand to hand fight scenes. With a villain that would make Dirty Harry envious (Seven bullets in a six shooter? Ha, Try thirty seven!), and a camera so kinetic that it renders the 1 1/2 fight scenes nearly unwatchable, it's hard to find a lot to like about this. It's so sad, since I watched both The New Fist of Fury and this after seeing Iron Monkey. Go back to Yuen Woo Ping, Donnie. For the sake of all of us.

Having spent 6 years in an American prison for a crime he did not commit, a former police officer named "Cat Lee" (Donnie Yen) travels to Hong Kong where he has taken up a new vocation as an assassin in which his targets are known gangsters. Needless to say, the police don't take kindly to the number of dead bodies he leaves in his wake and fearing an all-out war between rival gangs they immediately begin an investigation to find out the identity of this lone hit-man. Among those given this assignment is a young female police agent by the name of "Carrie" (Annie Wu) who desperately tries to figure him out. What she doesn't know is that Cat has an attraction for her and the closer she gets the more dangerous it becomes for the both of them. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this had all the basic ingredients necessary for a good crime-action movie with solid acting and an intricate plot. Unfortunately, the almost complete lack of character development made the film difficult to comprehend at times while the over-the-top action scenes were simply too unrealistic to be taken seriously. Likewise, I didn't especially care for the ending either. In any case, while not necessarily a bad film by any means, I honestly thought the flaws were too obvious to be ignored and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

Wow, this film is utterly UNFORGIVABLE.

Donnie Yen is an incredible martial-arts talent who should utterly claim this film as his alan smithee masterpiece. God knows he couldn't be bothered to remove hisself as the film's lead. Usually, when watching an HK actioner you should suspend your disbelief to an unbearable degree. John Woo's HK films made this easy and fun to watch. But here the viewer is utterly dragged kicking and screaming into utter garbage. The acting was top notch, for most HK flicks, and thought he story was essentially striving to free itself there was no resurrection. Instead what we have here is a failure to entertain as we are subjected to uninspired fights, mingled with shameful gunplay, and some bad guys/heavies that are so happy go lucky that I'd probably play "Yut, Yee, Sum!" drinking games with 'til dawn. THESE BAD GUYS WERE SO UNTHREATENING THAT TRIX BUNNY ON MY TV RIGHT NOW LOOKS LIKE CHARLIE MANSON, IN COMPARISON.

Did I come into this flick wanting to hate it? HELL NO! Donnie Yen is cool, he's cooler than cool. This guy is action nitro glycerine times a thousand plus infinity. But here, in a film he directed no less, it's a heartbreaking waste. I encourage those who get caught up with the flashy title to instead search for something meaningful, like John Woo's earlier films. Hell, even Mission Impossible 2 was better than this. Yowza!

Donnie, let other people direct. I have only so much respect for you, buddy. Don't make me lose any more.

Not since John Woo left Hong Kong has the once very popular genre of the Professional Killer seen such an explosion of style and action. The guns never empty and the camera never stops in this killer-loves-cop action drama. Don't miss it!