Member DiP Posted July 27, 2013 Author Member Share Posted July 27, 2013 Glad you liked it. Definitely the best film of the year so far imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted July 27, 2013 Member Share Posted July 27, 2013 Glad you liked it. Definitely the best film of the year so far imo. The way it went down like that, I did not expect that at all. The two main leads, main cop and main villain did a marvelous job, I mean that whole exchange between HaHa and the gang had me on the edge of my seat!!! This movie is like election + Exiled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Superfly Posted July 28, 2013 Member Share Posted July 28, 2013 I saw this at the NYAFF to a packed house.(Didn't see you this year, Kung Fu Bob) Of the 7 screenings I went to this was easily the best. Not Mr To's best but considering what he went thru to get this past censors. Which from what I heard gave him trouble at every turn. Its a stroke of genius on his part. What some may not know the film was a metaphor for his dealings with China's censorship. All the police were cast with Mainland actors. All the "villains" were HK actors. The way Louis Koo was treated by the police is a metaphor for how To was treated by China. Word is he may have some "heat" with them over this. Not sure but that was told to me by one of the festivals producers. Regardless I highly recommend this movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted July 28, 2013 Member Share Posted July 28, 2013 I have a feeling, Hollywood will remake this in the same way Infernal Affairs was remade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted July 28, 2013 Author Member Share Posted July 28, 2013 This movie is like election + Exiled. I regarded it as Expect the Unexpected meets The French Connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted July 28, 2013 Member Share Posted July 28, 2013 I regarded it as Expect the Unexpected meets The French Connection. Expect the Unexpected, I need to find this movie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted July 28, 2013 Member Share Posted July 28, 2013 $37 for this?????? Okay time to ADC!!!! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Expect-the-Unexpected-Neo-Noir-Thriller-Hong-Kong-DVD-1999-OOP-DVD-RARE-/160993714040?pt=US_DVD_HD_DVD_Blu_ray&hash=item257bf91f78 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted July 28, 2013 Administrator Share Posted July 28, 2013 I saw this at the NYAFF to a packed house.(Didn't see you this year, Kung Fu Bob. I wasn't able to attend this year. A huge disappointment. Glad you got to go though. Of the 7 screenings I went to this was easily the best. Not Mr To's best but considering what he went thru to get this past censors. Which from what I heard gave him trouble at every turn. Its a stroke of genius on his part. What some may not know the film was a metaphor for his dealings with China's censorship. All the police were cast with Mainland actors. All the "villains" were HK actors. The way Louis Koo was treated by the police is a metaphor for how To was treated by China. Word is he may have some "heat" with them over this. Not sure but that was told to me by one of the festivals producers. Interesting stuff. Thanks for that info. I regarded it as Expect the Unexpected meets The French Connection. Great description DiP. That's pretty much on the nose. Expect the Unexpected, I need to find this movie!!! PM sent OpiumKungFuCracker. I enjoyed this film thoroughly. It's definitely one of Johnny To's high points as a director. Though I did not think it was his best. The whole thing just seemed to fly by. During a big action scene I thought "Geez, how's the climax going to top this?", but then it became obvious it was the end, and the credits started rolling. For me, it felt like the film was super high quality in every aspect. Definitely recommended. 9.0/10.0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Sheng Posted July 29, 2013 Member Share Posted July 29, 2013 Just finished watching it for the second time and, yes, it is a masterstroke! Not quite in the same league as his ELECTION films, EXILED or his ultra-dark late 90s classics, but a masterstroke nevertheless if you consider the restrictions imposed by the SARFT (or SAPPRFT as they’re called since their merger with GAPP, General Administration of Press and Publications) that Messieurs To and Wai Ka Fai had to work with. Thought it was interesting that the restriction not to mention the city where most of the action took place - Tianjin - was already sabotaged by the English subtitles that gave the name away (in Chinese everyone refered to the fictitious city of 'Jinhai'). You need to pay close attention to the dialogue and character development to fully realize just how creatively To managed to manipulate and subvert the watchdog’s prescriptions and that he actually got away with a last act this dark and desperate and that supercop Sun Honglei and all the pricipal law enforcers ended up bullet-riddled is nothing less than amazing. The bizarrely intense final shoot-out did resemble the one in EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED somewhat, but the totally unpredictable insanity was staged even more effectively and Dave Richardson’s editing was simply mind-blowing! Anybody who cares about Asian cinema should own a copy of this film! And talkin’ about owning, the HK Media Asia blu ray is the way to go, excellent PQ and almost flawless subs, properly timed ones as well! No excuse in other words to wait for an R1 or R2 issue. The ol’ argument about supporting homegrown distributors doesn’t hold much water either since its unlikely that anything in the way of extra features is guaranteed nowadays. The only guarantee you’re getting is that you’ll wait half a year or longer for the disc to finally show up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted July 29, 2013 Member Share Posted July 29, 2013 I'll be seeing this film again in theaters this August!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted July 29, 2013 Administrator Share Posted July 29, 2013 To managed to manipulate and subvert the watchdog’s prescriptions and that he actually got away with a last act this dark and... Sheng, I think your little write-up really nails it. Well said. Just one thing- any chance you would edit your post and add a "SPOILER ALERT" for readers that haven't seen it yet? The ending is too cool to be spoiled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted July 31, 2013 Author Member Share Posted July 31, 2013 Just finished watching it for the second time and, yes, it is a masterstroke! Not quite in the same league as his ELECTION films, EXILED or his ultra-dark late 90s classics, but a masterstroke nevertheless if you consider the restrictions imposed by the SARFT (or SAPPRFT as they’re called since their merger with GAPP, General Administration of Press and Publications) that Messieurs To and Wai Ka Fai had to work with. Thought it was interesting that the restriction not to mention the city where most of the action took place - Tianjin - was already sabotaged by the English subtitles that gave the name away (in Chinese everyone refered to the fictitious city of 'Jinhai'). You need to pay close attention to the dialogue and character development to fully realize just how creatively To managed to manipulate and subvert the watchdog’s prescriptions and that he actually got away with a last act this dark and desperate and that supercop Sun Honglei and all the pricipal law enforcers ended up bullet-riddled is nothing less than amazing. The bizarrely intense final shoot-out did resemble the one in EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED somewhat, but the totally unpredictable insanity was staged even more effectively and Dave Richardson’s editing was simply mind-blowing! Anybody who cares about Asian cinema should own a copy of this film! And talkin’ about owning, the HK Media Asia blu ray is the way to go, excellent PQ and almost flawless subs, properly timed ones as well! No excuse in other words to wait for an R1 or R2 issue. The ol’ argument about supporting homegrown distributors doesn’t hold much water either since its unlikely that anything in the way of extra features is guaranteed nowadays. The only guarantee you’re getting is that you’ll wait half a year or longer for the disc to finally show up! Great retro. Now that's what I call a movie analasys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member QueMuchita Posted October 21, 2013 Member Share Posted October 21, 2013 I purchased this about 2 weeks ago on Blu-Ray, finally got around to watching it today and I thought it was great, I already want to re-watch it as to clear up a few things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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