Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

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

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Yazmin Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Leofwine_draca This Hong Kong/Japan co-production starts out as a traditional gangster thriller, as we meet our youthful hero and find himself caught between opposing sides: a violent criminal gang from Shanghai, who frequently employ torture and murder as their methods, and a lone gunman with psychotic tendencies. The first half hour follows this type of plot with some stylish direction and another solid performance from Takeshi Kaneshiro, who once again delivers a 'quiet but cool' type character with emotions bubbling just under the surface.Unfortunately, Kaneshiro's character then meets a girl, and the whole film falls flat. For the next hour we're treated to a lifeless romance with one of the most worthless female characters I've seen in a film. The pacing slows down to a snail's crawl while this romance is explored, and the filmmakers do attempt to generate some suspense by keeping their character motivations murky, but it doesn't work very well. Then things pick up in the last half hour, with lots of action and shoot-outs and more twists and turns than in five regular Hollywood movies. I found the last scene to be overlong and devoid of the badly needed emotion it sought to generate, but at least something's going on, unlike in the middle section.Kaneshiro is a good actor, but his character isn't given a great deal to do here and comes across as a little staid. Yamamoto fails to make her repulsive lead in the least bit likable and suffers because of that, while the excellent Eric Tsang is underused as the mob boss, appearing in all of three short scenes. A lengthy running time and derivative nature of the plot also work against this film, meaning that I didn't think much of it at all.

whatdoes1know I forgot how much I liked this movie. Excellent cinematography seldom satisfies without a cohesive plot e.g. Lost Souls. In addition to both, this beauty has a teen-idol popular in Eastern Asia, a gorgeous lead actress (Mirai Yamamoto--you may have seen her spinning a car laying flat on its side in Jackie Chan's "Who Am I?"), a strong supporting cast, twists and more twists, the ever great lyrics of B'Z, captivating story-telling methods, intricate character relationships, and realistic bilingualism. And I cannot emphasize how gorgeous the lead actress is.

xcver As usual for an asian movie the cinematography is superb, but that's not all. Teenie idol's Takeshi Kaneshiro's acting is subtle and very good. The movie draws a fine picture of the turmoil in underground Tokyo Shinjuku where the Chinese and Korean control the market. Violence is not overexaggerated as asian movies sometimes tend to and the soundtrack is more thematically linked as usual in this kind of movies.All in all a fine movie worth watching.

kutuhead A surprisingly good movie. Excellent cinematography and music supplemented by interesting story line made this movie a refreshing watch for an Asian produced film. Takeshi Kaneshiro gave a good outing in this movie but other supporting cast were equally excellent. The mixture of Mandarin/Fukien and Japanese language used gave this film a more realistic portrayal of Tokyo Chinatown. The only letdown are the gunfire scenes. Except for the shotgun, the other pistols looked kind of fake!