Rating: *
Review Date: 2/2/03
Director: Andrew Lau
Cast: Leon Lai, Asaka Seto
Ugh. What a terrible waste of celluloid. Why is it that director Andrew Lau can't make an emotionally engaging and interesting film? This is his worst, though, and it's so clichéd, predictable, and poorly made that you'll be begging for it to end within the first ten minutes. Sam (Leon Lai) is a Hong Kong cop whose girlfriend (Japanese cutie Asaka Seto) is a criminal prosecutor. When Leon catches a nasty crook and his girlfriend puts him behind bars, it's only a matter of time before she dies at the hands of an assassin. A couple of years later, Leon is in hiding with a bunch of deadbeats when he runs into a Japanese woman with an uncanny resemblance to his dead fiancé. (again Asaka Seto, only much prettier this time) Any guesses who she might be? No surprises here... Then the next hour plays out as a warm and fuzzy romance that will have you screaming in anguish. The last ten minutes offers a little bit of action as Asaka's "secret" is revealed and tragedy ensues. There's lot of blood, but nothing else gives the action scenes any weight.
First of all, like many of Lau's films, the editing is HORRIBLE. He tries to be clever and cutting edge, but only succeeds in being annoying and looking unprofessional. In the first thirty seconds of the film, we're given a promise of some girls-with-guns action, but the promise is never fulfilled. The pacing is absolutely appalling, and you're constantly left wondering if the film can get any worse. Amazingly, it consistently does. The only bright spot worth mentioning is Asaka Seto, a pretty young Japanese actress doing her damnedest to look like Noriko Fujiwara. She's lovely to behold, but surprisingly has little to do other than be pretty. For an action film there's next to nothing in the action department, and for a romance, there's nothing even remotely sentimental. Leon Lai gives a solid and pained performance, but even he can't hold together the flimsy plot. A severe disappointment that ranks up there with the worst that American television has to offer.