BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

eidolonse As it is often the case, the impressive and explosive trailers of Asian films add up to nothing more than lackluster stories. Similar to Unleashed (which was great,) Dog Bite Dog tells a story where men are raised as ferocious savage dogs that carry out their master's bidding. The main characters, an emotionally undeveloped, amoral killer who is matched against an equally unstable police officer, are far from the common heroes and villains we often see. In fact, by the end, you lose track of who you're supposed to empathize with, failing to feel even the slightest emotion for either of the men – whether that was the failure of the director or perhaps the underlining message he was trying to tell is up to you to decide.Although the beginning of the film was filled with intrigue and unpredictability, by the half-way point it slopped down to a humdrum story of survival and revenge. The suspense which was evident at first soon disappeared because of a grossly mismatched music score which brought down the potentially effective story telling. And in the end, you were left feeling that all that detailed background information and introspection of the main characters was somehow very unnecessary.On the plus side, the transition in story from point a to point b was quite atypical compared to US movies – so those who aren't familiar with Asian films and are tired of Hollywood's predictability should check it out.The white balance seemed off throughout most of the film. It was like looking into a picture shot on fluorescent when it was supposed to be set on tungsten. Maybe I'm the only one, but it strained my eyes.The movie also enjoyed playing tricks on you – an interesting build-up gave me hope for the slow moving story until it was diverted to a low budget, low speed chase scene. And just when you think you were going to get an unanswered indie ending with a mix of Shakespearean tragedy, you realize that it's not an ending at all, but rather a transition into a wacky country-music montage about peace and serenity.Throw in some grisly from-behind choke scenes, a moment of redemption unexpectedly brought back into savagery and back again the other way, Asians' fascination with bodily fluids and a horrible music score that didn't match the film, and you get the average bland Asian thriller.I just don't get why every fight scene was overlaid with clips of roaring lions …I thought they were supposed to symbolize dogs? Ultimately, in the end, we are reminded about a true killer that still lurks amongst us – tetanus.4/10

Jason Lee Note: This is more of a semi-review, so if you're still looking forward to seeing the movie, you might not want to read this. However if you wish to avoid a frustrating experience, then read on.Dog Bite Dog is a refreshing change in Hong Kong cinema. As the starting credits came on, I noticed that the movie was produced by a Japanese producer, and directed by Soi Cheaung whom I'm not familiar with. This was enough foreshadowing for me to be prepared for something different from your regular mainstream Hong Kong flick. But I was not prepared for over an hour and a half of disbelief.The movie starts out quite well, with maturing star Edison Chen playing the role of an assassin with the instincts of a killer canine. Gone are the days of the street kid rapper-wannabe, Edison has really come a long way and he plays a role similar to that of Jet Li in Danny the Dog (aka Unleashed). I like Edison, but personal preference could not save the unrealistic scenes in Dog Bite Dog. The storyline is decent, Sam Lee's character has a complex background that I won't spoil, and he's a "bad cop" which most of us would probably enjoy. But for some reason, Edison's character Pang is some kind of super human, he is just invincible to the point where you start to laugh in amusement. In the first encounter with the cops, Pang kills at least two innocent citizens before taking another hostage, while the cops panic and put down their guns. Obviously, Pang manages to escape, but not without killing a cop in the process, and the hostage as well. At this point you'd want to prepare yourself because this is going to happen very often. I think perhaps the director is trying to show the compassionate side of man, as the cops are constantly trying to stop Sam from being too brutal and sympathize for the hostages. This kind of attitude always gets themselves killed however.I didn't take a body count, but Pang must have killed over 50 people in the end. Basically when he needs a car, he goes in, kills the driver and takes the car. In one scene, he enters a fishing boat at night and kills an elderly couple just for fun, and leaves. Yes, director, I understand that he has no feelings. But what I don't understand is why the need to make a complete MOCKERY of the Hong Kong Police Force? In one shootout scene near the end, one of the cops finally snap and take the girl as hostage (Pang's girlfriend apparently) in order to get Pang to release his hostage, a cop. The superior officer tells the snapped cop to release the girl, but then suddenly Pang shoots the cop holding the girl right on the head. He then obviously kills his own hostage, and runs, while the cops stand in disbelief, and me staring in disbelief. Sorry guys, but if this was in America, Pang would probably have like 20 bullets in his body, hostage or not, and I refuse to believe Hong Kong police are stupid enough to stand and watch. When one citizen is killed, it gets blown to ridiculous proportions by the media, one death is a serious thing in HK. There is NO WAY they would deal with a mass murderer like this. There were so many times I was just laughing and shaking my head in sadness, and I found myself fast forwarding the "compassionate" moments of Pang because, I just could not relate with a mass killer no matter what excuse he has, or how he was brought up to be the way he is. In our society, killing people at will is simply unacceptable, no matter if it's your fault or not. Another strange concept was that all the cops, who are supposed to be I'm assuming either Homicide cops or CID, why are they all armed with six shooters? Even regular street uniformed cops are now switching to Glocks, I have no idea why the director and/or producer needed to "dumb down" the cops in order to make their point. The final half hour of the movie was so laughably pathetic, that I found myself telling the story ahead of the movie itself. The girl, whom I never got to know her name because she seems to have a kind of speech impediment, is newcomer Weiying Pei, 18 years of age from Mainland China and she gives a fantastic performance, as well as being naturally beautiful. But what I can't stand about her is the way her presence dumbs down the cops. I can understand them not paying too much attention to a weak and injured girl, but this girl has bashed Sam on the head before, it's obvious she's "with" the criminal. How she is so constantly ignored and underestimated is simply pathetic, predictable, and an insult to the viewers' intelligence.This movie would probably appeal to those who are a bored closet psycho who has dreamed of murdering people for fun after playing too many video games, or if you're simply too tired of the clichéd Hollywood movies. Or if you have a beef with the HKPF and would enjoy watching cops getting owned. It was refreshing, but I can't say I enjoyed it.

slake09 All the good reviews you're reading - those are from big HK cinema buffs, and they are correct from their point of view; it's a lot better than the majority of the cop/gangster films coming out of HK. The plot has already been reviewed, so I'll skip that. It's enough to say that this film does have a plot, much more so than I expected.On the other hand, this isn't some fine piece of film making compared to what's available from the rest of the world. The characters are so totally unbelievable it will make you cringe. Informers are always scared wimps to be slapped around, cops are tough guys who do the slapping and the hit man is a super tough bad guy who talks little and kills a lot. If informers were so easily intimidated, why would other criminals have anything to do with them? If cops were that uniformly brutal they'd be arresting each other, because no one else would live in such a society. The hit man in this case at least had an excuse for being taciturn and psychotic.If you really like Asian cinema, especially HK cinema, then you'll like this one a lot. If you're not a big fan, better go rent something else.

fertilecelluloid Ultra-grim crime drama from Pou-Soi Cheang, the director of "Home Sweet Home". Tonally, it reminded me of Billy Tang's "Run and Kill", although it's not as polished as that. Nevertheless, it's an engaging, flawed bit of mayhem about a Cambodian loner, Pang (Edison Chen), who arrives in Hong Kong to kill a lawyer. While fleeing the scene, he kills the partner of cop Sam Wai, who, to add insult to injury, is in the midst of dealing with his dying father, so Sam begins an insane, obsessive manhunt for Pang that results in close to a dozen dead bodies and relentless violence. There must be something in the air lately because I've never seen so many humans beating the pulp out of each other as I have lately. This is grim, nasty stuff, which is why I'm so partial to it, and I applaud its downbeat vibe. It's visually arresting and the sound design is very unique. Dramatically, everything spirals downwards until every character finds him- or herself in a world of screaming pain. A subplot involving Pang's attachment to a sexually abused girl adds depth to the story and spawns a surprise fourth act which boasts a fine act of grotesque surgery.