It was this close to being a contender for being Lam's best film. It had most of the necessary ingredients; social commentary, great gritty action scenes, and an ending that will almost certainly stay in your head.
And Ringo certainly had a lot to think about and say through this, it's not like the movie is subtle about it. It's hard to not notice the anger and terror prevalent with the Handover looming upon Hong Kong at the time.
Which…
I don't know if this was because I saw this half dozed off, but I find myself feeling oddly endearing to this film. I won't simply give such a high rating to a situation of circumstance, there was a lot of stuff about it that I genuinely enjoyed, both objectively and internally. As a Malaysian-Chinese that also went to a Chinese primary school with a younger brother, it hit that personal nostalgic part of me just about head on, and…
When talking about films involving blue space people, we all know which is the obvious better film.
Kiss Daft Punk's asses, James Cameron.
2020 edit: Why is this my most liked post oh god
2021 edit: Rest in peace to one of the greatest duos in music history.
So much potential in so little a running time. It really is a shame that this couldn't be a miniseries or a David Lean-esque 3 hours epic, because the production design and character development are certainly rife enough for one. They did the best they could to get in every little bit of what they wanted to show in there, and unfortunately the pacing had to be sacrificed for that, causing the entire experience to feel pretty rushed and hectic.
Still, what they have there is really good. Ah well.
