Immediately one of my favorite movies. Excellent action, great use of CGI, a few jarring "impossibilities", but overall an excellent action-thriller.
Here's the thing: I didn't know who Vicki Zhao was, so she didn't impress or disappoint me. I had seen Shu Qi in "Gorgeous" and didn't like her much in that, so she impressed me with her range of acting in this movie, to tell the truth. In fact, all three female leads were impressive in some of the thoughts and emotions they communicated in nothing more than a quirk of an eyebrow or a twitch of the lips. But I came away totally impressed with Karen Mok. I know her as a singer, and have always considered her a little arrogant or conceited. I don't consider her half as sexy as she seems to be generally considered. But I *liked* her character in this movie, and that must be largely attributed to her acting and scene presence.
I think they played up the "sexy" angle of the girls too much. They are all quite attractive, yes, but the attempts to take advantage of that sometimes distracted the movie...to me, inadvertent sexiness has far more impact than when it is shoved in your face. Still, an excellent movie. Well worth seeing.
...and for what it's worth, I liked the sound-mixing on the gunshots. Excellent heavy/punchy sound that really communicated what it might feel like to get shot.
Here's the thing: I didn't know who Vicki Zhao was, so she didn't impress or disappoint me. I had seen Shu Qi in "Gorgeous" and didn't like her much in that, so she impressed me with her range of acting in this movie, to tell the truth. In fact, all three female leads were impressive in some of the thoughts and emotions they communicated in nothing more than a quirk of an eyebrow or a twitch of the lips. But I came away totally impressed with Karen Mok. I know her as a singer, and have always considered her a little arrogant or conceited. I don't consider her half as sexy as she seems to be generally considered. But I *liked* her character in this movie, and that must be largely attributed to her acting and scene presence.
I think they played up the "sexy" angle of the girls too much. They are all quite attractive, yes, but the attempts to take advantage of that sometimes distracted the movie...to me, inadvertent sexiness has far more impact than when it is shoved in your face. Still, an excellent movie. Well worth seeing.
...and for what it's worth, I liked the sound-mixing on the gunshots. Excellent heavy/punchy sound that really communicated what it might feel like to get shot.