Directed by Daniel Lee
Written by Teddy Chan, Ann Hui, Joe Ma & Hark Tsui
Starring Jet Li, Ching Wan Lau, Karen Mok, Françoise Yip, Patrick Lung
My Advice: Matinee.
Tsui (Li) believes that he is most likely the only survivor of a secret government project gone awry, that of the 701's--essentially unstoppable super soldiers who feel neither fear nor pain. Oh, and they have superhuman asskicking abilities, don't you know. He takes on a new life as a librarian once he blasts his way to freedom, and becomes a pacifist. However, when local drug lords begin turning up murdered in new and interesting ways, Tsui becomes certain it's his old pals, the 701's--and he has to stop them.
Okay, let's get one thing out of the way up front--this is bubble gum martial arts comic book super hero nonsense on the Nth level. But you saw the trailers, you knew this going in. Having accepted this, if you were smart, you enjoyed the hell out of it. And am I the only one who thought about Chuck Norris in Silent Rage while watching this? Just wondering. It's kind of like that film, hero vs. virtually unstoppable villain(s) and lots of ass-kicking, albeit a lot faster. Like that film, the dialogue (here done in English overdubbing) is average at best. Here, the story is almost trite, and the super hero schtick is in abundance. However, the action sequences, hyperkinetic almost to a fault, make you forget they're saying really cheesy things that you hope were mistranslated. And the script has its smart moments, such as using the Kato reference in Tsui's choice of costuming.
And it's not just gratuitous dismemberment, explosions, and wounds of all shapes and sizes that make the film enjoyable, though you know that the right film with these ingredients can really please the Widgeman. It's the fact that it's all done in such imaginative ways. Death by compact disc and the like. All in all, I'd say if you like Hong Kong cinema or you just like kick ass action, do go indulge yourself. Otherwise, you might want to catch it on video.