I won't reiterate the plot, as you probably already know by now (or by reading the plot synopsis above) what the story is all about.
Yes, the fights are pretty violent (when there are fights), but I think what disappointed me was the characters. In essence, everyone is literally a punk and has a $h1tty attitude and not much of a character (unless you consider being horny or a generic thug to be character).
The editing is choppy, and there are some pretty big dead spaces in the middle as the movie attempts to build the characters. The problem is: we've seen the "deal gone wrong, now presumed dead character wants revenge" thing done before and better. I will give the movie some credit, in that it did the "bullet time" effect (sorta) 6 years before BLADE and 7 before THE MATRIX. Even so, I would say just watch HARD BOILED, THE KILLER or any of the BETTER TOMORROW movies instead.
BTW, other than the occasional '80's music (especially the REALLY cheesy stuff in the night club), did anyone else notice how poor the sound design was, much less the complete lack of a soundtrack? Now I did listen to the original Cantonese audio, and I know that a lot of Hong Kong movies just have poor sound design (especially the stuff from the early 1990's to early 2000), so maybe I should try to watch the English dub to see if it is any better....
Yes, the fights are pretty violent (when there are fights), but I think what disappointed me was the characters. In essence, everyone is literally a punk and has a $h1tty attitude and not much of a character (unless you consider being horny or a generic thug to be character).
The editing is choppy, and there are some pretty big dead spaces in the middle as the movie attempts to build the characters. The problem is: we've seen the "deal gone wrong, now presumed dead character wants revenge" thing done before and better. I will give the movie some credit, in that it did the "bullet time" effect (sorta) 6 years before BLADE and 7 before THE MATRIX. Even so, I would say just watch HARD BOILED, THE KILLER or any of the BETTER TOMORROW movies instead.
BTW, other than the occasional '80's music (especially the REALLY cheesy stuff in the night club), did anyone else notice how poor the sound design was, much less the complete lack of a soundtrack? Now I did listen to the original Cantonese audio, and I know that a lot of Hong Kong movies just have poor sound design (especially the stuff from the early 1990's to early 2000), so maybe I should try to watch the English dub to see if it is any better....