WhatnotStudios.com

Directed by Andrew Lau & Alan Mak. Written by Alan Mak & Felix Chong. 2002.

This film is slick. If features slick commercial stars that have ruled the Hong Kong box office for about two decades, ageless Andy Lau and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai. It features a slick directing team that has brought us such slick films as the Young & Dangerous series. It’s got Chris Doyle’s slick and beautiful cinematography. It’s got a slick, tightly written script. And it’s got a slick, misleading American DVD cover. Damn, this film’s slick.

It’s very likely you’ve seen Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, which was a pretty faithful remake of this film. However, I’d happily contend that what that film does, this film does pithier, with more resonance (compare the emotional weight of Sheen’s disposition to that of Wong’s), and, yes, slicker. It’s interesting to watch both films deal with the same plot elements and introduce a lot of similar themes, but to read entirely different in its view on those themes. Strangely, the Hong Kong incarnation comes off as much bleaker, not indulging in such luxuries as moral justice. That this is the territory of a wildly successful (speaking financially, now) motion picture is a nice thematic callback to the heroic bloodshed films of John Woo (a scene atop a roof is even quoted directly from Hard Boiled, giving Little Tony much the same role) of old, with high tension and mistrust taking the place of the high octane gun battles.

The individual elements of filmmaking really all come together for this one to sing. Doyle’s cinematography is claustrophobic and desolate at once. I’ve never seen the Lau and Mak team so on their game. There are several action pieces (particularly the warehouse scene) that rank with the best ever shot.