Le mystère des balles fantômes

I just finished watching this and I was quite impressed. Do yourself a favour and ignore the jaded, critical comments in the 1 or 2 other reviews which are completely unfounded.

I DO though fully agree with all the other 'GOOD' reviews here and their strong praise for this beautiful looking and engaging film! And, when I say 'Beautiful', I mean frigg'n BEAUTIFUL! The Blu-ray that I saw had a picture quality that was so stunning, it virtually leapt off the screen and was VERY 3 dimensional.

And YES it does very much bring to mind Guy Ritchie's recent 'SHERLOCK HOLMES' in the look and with the soundtrack. But, it is NOT as hyper stylized. The Mystery is very involving; the writing, direction, and acting is excellent. YES, the final twist at the end may or may not be completely necessary, but I personally do not think it detracts that much from the story and overall impact of the film.

So, if you DO happen to like Asian Action / Crime films that are sharply executed and very entertaining, not to mention beautiful looking, then you will indeed very much enjoy this movie!

Song Donglu is a prison police officer who is very friendly with all the Prisoners and also has a brilliant mind to solve cases. He got promoted as a detective and posted in a town where crimes are high. Donglu team up with a local cop Guo Zhui to solve the case of vanishing bullets. The victims were shot, but the bullets are missing from their body. Like Sherlock Holmes, the logic explanation scenes were very good and also some action scenes that come from nowhere. Apart from this, the film has good sound effects and gorgeous frames. The pace of this mystery movie was constant and visuals tells the remaining things. Both Ching-wan and Tse delivers a stylish performance and loved it. Overall, it's a good investigation movie even though some scenes were inspired from Sherlock Holmes movies.

"The Bullet Vanishes" is flawed, a mixed bag, but is filled with plenty of tense and suspenseful moments that makes the film worth taking a look at.

Director Lo Chi Leung ("Inner Senses" and "Koma") certainly have a hand in creating tense and suspenseful moments, which is vital in low budget thrillers. However, "The Bullet Vanishes" is budgeted at US$12 million, one must wonder, why producer Derek Yee is not directing instead. Lo lacks experience in directing anything outside the genre of thrillers and in most cases those films are carried by the ever wonderful Karena Lam ("Kidnap", "Koma" and "Inner Senses") or the late Leslie Cheung ("Double Tap" and "Inner Senses"). That's not to say that this film is without great actors, as the likes of newly crowned best actor Nicholas Tse, the ever versatile Lau Ching Wan, the always brilliant Liu Kai-Chi and rising Mainland actress Mini Yang, more than fill the acting dues. So what exactly went wrong? That is a question that kept me puzzled right from the moment the film finished. The film looks wonderful, credibly produced, expensive sets and contains some brilliant turns from Lau Ching Wan and Liu Kai-Chi, but somehow it feels like a mixed bag. It doesn't help when the film ends with one twist too many. Perhaps upon viewing the film, one just cannot stop themselves referencing to "Sherlock Holmes" In essence, it is still a relatively entertaining, suspenseful and gritty detective thriller, that just didn't quite cut it on an emotional and deeper level.

As usual, Lau Ching Wan is in his "Mad Detective" mode. Lau manages to carry the film once again and alongside the scene stealing villainous turn from Liu Kai-Chi ("The Viral Factor") are the highlights of the film. In those confrontation scenes, the interaction between Lau and Liu are simply priceless and oozes with screen presences. While reigning best actor Nicholas Tse ("Beast Stalker" and "The Stool Pigeon") is dependable without being stunning and lacks chemistry with Mini Yang ("Painted Skin: Resurrection"). At times, it seems as though Tse is going on auto-pilot and a far cry from his performance in "The Stool Pigeon". Yang is pretty much underused and under-explored and in many ways the film seems to be using her current hot streak in Mainland to sell more tickets. One must question what role she really plays in the film, other than exposing some skin and getting hot with her co-star Tse. Yumiko Cheng ("Heat Team") is Yumiko Cheng and despite having more screen time than Yang, she adds nothing to her role.

All in all, "The Bullet Vanishes" is at times suspenseful, gritty and even thrilling, but the film feels stretched and is filled with unnecessary scenes and characters that adds nothing to the overall storyline. While, Lo is probably trying to saying something noble or about the human condition, he is clearly constrained by filming for the Mainland market. Still, this is far from being a bad film, as there is really a lot to like about. In particular, it is always a joy to watch Lau Ching Wan going the distance and Liu Kai-Chi always surprises the audience with his performances. The film most certainly could've been done with tighter editing, but for what it is worth, "The Bullet Vanishes" remains a highly watchable detective thriller. Certainly worth a look, despite its flaws…(Neo 2012)

I rate it 7.5/10

-thehkneo.com/blog

How can a bullet vanish? Magic? Or is it something different and what would it be? Well where's Sherlock Holmes when you need him. All kidding aside, this is a really good detective story, with quite a few twists and turns. The actors are good, the action and stunt scenes are more than decent themselves.

It is not without fault, but it keeps the tension high and the technical aspect of it is also something to behold. If you don't mind Asian movies, this will float your boat

THE production design of The Bullet Vanishes is gorgeous, the actors are commendable, with a little bit of eye candy thrown in, but, unfortunately, the storyline is tedious and has been rehashed a million times.

Detective stories are nothing new and viewers would have seen two Sherlock Holmes movies and thousands of episodes of CSI over the past few years. Even the Russian roulette idea comes from The Deer Hunter.

Also, the pairing of an elderly, more experienced detective with a young handsome hotshot is blasé.

The movie's social critique, about the working class being under the thumb of a tyrannical rich guy, while praiseworthy, is also nothing new.

Two detectives, Song (Lau Ching Wan) and Guo (Nicholas Tse), probe a series of mysterious shooting deaths in a bullet factory in Shanghai in the 1930s. The workers blame this on the ghost of a young female worker wrongly accused of stealing and then killed while being forced to play Russian roulette.

The explanation is too complicated too reveal, but viewers get to visit a morgue headed by a pretty doctor and listen to vague theories on bone and ice bullets.

What about the eye candy, you ask. That comes in the form of China's Yang Mi, 25, who plays Guo's informant girlfriend called Little Lark. Viewers, be prepared for her languorous figure and stunning beauty.

As I said earlier, the sets and lighting are excellent, and credit goes to production designer Silver Cheung. The Silent War, starring Tony Leung and set in post-war China, also boasts terrific production sets and lighting.

As the movie winds down, viewers get to view a Russian roulette face off between the two detectives. I don't know the reason for director Lo Chi-leung using this method for both of them to extract the truth from each other, but it's uncalled for and contrived.

Finally, the flick is about good people doing bad things. Does this include the filmmaker and producers of The Bullet Vanishes?

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