An
old Japanese underworld kingpin is assassinated
and one of the provisions in his will is a hundred
million dollar reward to catch his killer. Fu
(Li) is a poor student at some boy’s assassin
school (go figure) and hears about the outrageously
large monetary offer.
Deciding that he wants the job, Fu (who isn’t
given much respect) has trouble getting his foot
in the door until he runs into Lo (Tsang), a conman
who helps him get into the meeting of assassins.
They, along with several other wanna-be killers,
are given instructions by Martin, the dead kingpin’s
executor, and who has ridiculous girly-man hair.
Also at the meeting is the grandson of the dead
man and boy is he pissed!
All right, so the game is on. In order to get
the reward, the assassins have to not only find
the killer but also find out who hired him. In
the meantime, HK detective Kwan (the suave Yam)
is monitoring the various assassins’ moves
– including Lo and Fu – and trying
to figure out who the original killer is himself.
Add to the mix Lo’s daughter Kiki (Leung)
who really has nothing to do but look cute, scold
her father and get Fu all worked up.
I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would,
despite the plot holes and Tsang’s annoying
character. The story, in general, made sense and
followed through and the characters (again with
the exception of Lo) were believable. There was
even an enjoyable twist at the end that, perhaps,
other viewers will catch but surprised me.
My one main problem, as stated above, is with
Lo. He is an important character but, played for
laughs as he is, doesn’t work within the
constructs of this particular crime thriller (imagine
if Jerry Lewis played the Jean Reno role in RONIN
and you have the general idea). Plus there is
some unnecessary early sap-character-development
(again involving Lo) that only slows the film
down. Other than these problems, the action is
decent if not totally *wow* and the movie as a
whole was an enjoyable experience. Check it out. |