Those ridiculous and shallow Chinese farces. This one is serious. We have three heavy weight, very popular, reputed actors, Koo, Wu and Tony Jaa, in this action packed thriller. Koo looked quite matured in this film, he performed a believable father missing his rebellious daughter in Pattaya, Thailand. Wu played a straight hardworking local detective with his detective friend Jaa. The three musketeers all showed great choreographic yet quite believable fighting skills and seamless sequences designed by Sammo Hung. The soundtrack is good, subtle and not annoying or bothering. The sound effect of the fightings also not exaggerated and feel real. Very good editing.
The constant flashbacks are little bit over the top, but it's a necessary evil to show how the father, played by Koo, cared about his daughter. There's one scene that showed how Koo performed such a great role as a father: When he was told there was a female corpse on the beach. His face showed what a father would have reacted before went down to see if the corpse was his daughter, the anxiety, the fear, the hesitant, the trembling of his lips, the fierce eyes mixed with fear and fatal recognition....And then at the end, when he finally found his daughter, his performance was at the top of Oscar Award Best Actor level and above. Yes, these scenes of both moments just told us Koo is indeed a great actor.
We saw a group of Hong Kong movie production team now like to choose Southeast Asia as their films localities, away from the pretentious and formatted Chinese cities and people there. It's a good trendy choice, the only problem is the languages. Chinese overseas or the Chinese immigrants become Thai cops, so they are all bilingual? And Wu's native Thai wife not only is bilingual, not just speaking Cantonese, but also singing Chinese love song. : )
The constant flashbacks are little bit over the top, but it's a necessary evil to show how the father, played by Koo, cared about his daughter. There's one scene that showed how Koo performed such a great role as a father: When he was told there was a female corpse on the beach. His face showed what a father would have reacted before went down to see if the corpse was his daughter, the anxiety, the fear, the hesitant, the trembling of his lips, the fierce eyes mixed with fear and fatal recognition....And then at the end, when he finally found his daughter, his performance was at the top of Oscar Award Best Actor level and above. Yes, these scenes of both moments just told us Koo is indeed a great actor.
We saw a group of Hong Kong movie production team now like to choose Southeast Asia as their films localities, away from the pretentious and formatted Chinese cities and people there. It's a good trendy choice, the only problem is the languages. Chinese overseas or the Chinese immigrants become Thai cops, so they are all bilingual? And Wu's native Thai wife not only is bilingual, not just speaking Cantonese, but also singing Chinese love song. : )