Also known as Saat Po Long and, due to the Weinstein's work, the awful English title "Kill Zone", I've seen reviews claiming that this film is the revival of Hong Kong cinema. Well, I can safely say that the cinema has climbed out of the grave and with it, some good things. But like any zombie clawing its way out of the ground, it brought back some bad with it too. And I'm not talking about a thirst for brains.
What can certainly be praised in this film is the cinematography and the action direction. The entire film is shot in such a way that almost every shot is framed memorably. Almost every picture is beautiful. That's pretty amazing. And then there's the action. There are not many sequences and the film's action doesn't really pick up until the last third of the film, but when the action sequences show up, they are exhilarating and impressive. Certainly some of the most wonderfully choreographed and shot fighting sequences I've seen in almost any picture recently.
And unfortunately, the string that ties those two praiseworthy elements together is a poorly shaped story and an element of the old HK pictures that should've stayed dead: repeated overblown melodrama. First of all, the story has to do with cops trying to take down robbers. That's fine in itself. It worked amazingly well in the Hong Kong crime drama Infernal Affairs. In Sha Po Lang, it doesn't work.
One of the primary problems is that the film doesn't seem to be sure what kind of film it wants to be. It's story is too complicated to make for a good action film, evidenced by its lack of action for the majority of the film's running time. The characters are all too simple to make for a good drama (one-note characterizations are what differentiate the different cops). And so instead of melting two worlds together effectively, the film just throws melodrama at us to convince us that the story is worthwhile and the characters are worth caring about.
It's fine that the one-note characters all have their little issues, but since the film doesn't care enough about the characters to spend any more time on them, when "dramatic conflict" strikes, the melodramatic direction the film has at those moments seems over-the-top. What's worse is that these overblown moments happen over and over to major and minor character alike, so when I got to the end melodramatic moments, I was completely desensitized to it and was annoyed that every minor and major character got treated with the same ridiculousness over-the-top direction. I say, if a minor character bites the dust or has something else bad happen to them, don't dwell on it too long--the director needs to focus on the primary characters and the story! This is further taken to the realm of madness by the hyper-dramatic score, which has to swell up with its strings every few minutes (yes, that's the frequency of "dramatic events" in this film--it's exhausting). This is another aspect of old school HK cinema that couldn't been learned from. Just because the music is overly dramatic doesn't make the situation or the story any more dramatic. Music shouldn't lead the audience, it should support the moment in the film! Argh!
All this lead up to one of the most frustrating viewings I've had recently. There was enough good about the film that I wished that the rest was a whole lot better. But waffling back and forth between things done really well and things done really poorly just frustrated me. I was very satisfied by the kinetic action sequences and nearly driven to madness by the poorly realized "drama". So I can't give this film a high score or a low score. In the end, I have to say that this film has some merit, but it would need a whole lot of work to be good. If you do watch it, don't feel too bad for fast forwarding 2/3 of the movie to get to the action. You aren't missing a whole lot. 6/10.
What can certainly be praised in this film is the cinematography and the action direction. The entire film is shot in such a way that almost every shot is framed memorably. Almost every picture is beautiful. That's pretty amazing. And then there's the action. There are not many sequences and the film's action doesn't really pick up until the last third of the film, but when the action sequences show up, they are exhilarating and impressive. Certainly some of the most wonderfully choreographed and shot fighting sequences I've seen in almost any picture recently.
And unfortunately, the string that ties those two praiseworthy elements together is a poorly shaped story and an element of the old HK pictures that should've stayed dead: repeated overblown melodrama. First of all, the story has to do with cops trying to take down robbers. That's fine in itself. It worked amazingly well in the Hong Kong crime drama Infernal Affairs. In Sha Po Lang, it doesn't work.
One of the primary problems is that the film doesn't seem to be sure what kind of film it wants to be. It's story is too complicated to make for a good action film, evidenced by its lack of action for the majority of the film's running time. The characters are all too simple to make for a good drama (one-note characterizations are what differentiate the different cops). And so instead of melting two worlds together effectively, the film just throws melodrama at us to convince us that the story is worthwhile and the characters are worth caring about.
It's fine that the one-note characters all have their little issues, but since the film doesn't care enough about the characters to spend any more time on them, when "dramatic conflict" strikes, the melodramatic direction the film has at those moments seems over-the-top. What's worse is that these overblown moments happen over and over to major and minor character alike, so when I got to the end melodramatic moments, I was completely desensitized to it and was annoyed that every minor and major character got treated with the same ridiculousness over-the-top direction. I say, if a minor character bites the dust or has something else bad happen to them, don't dwell on it too long--the director needs to focus on the primary characters and the story! This is further taken to the realm of madness by the hyper-dramatic score, which has to swell up with its strings every few minutes (yes, that's the frequency of "dramatic events" in this film--it's exhausting). This is another aspect of old school HK cinema that couldn't been learned from. Just because the music is overly dramatic doesn't make the situation or the story any more dramatic. Music shouldn't lead the audience, it should support the moment in the film! Argh!
All this lead up to one of the most frustrating viewings I've had recently. There was enough good about the film that I wished that the rest was a whole lot better. But waffling back and forth between things done really well and things done really poorly just frustrated me. I was very satisfied by the kinetic action sequences and nearly driven to madness by the poorly realized "drama". So I can't give this film a high score or a low score. In the end, I have to say that this film has some merit, but it would need a whole lot of work to be good. If you do watch it, don't feel too bad for fast forwarding 2/3 of the movie to get to the action. You aren't missing a whole lot. 6/10.