Just not my cup of tea. Feeling disappointed. Ruinned my evening.
12 Reviews
A boring award winning movie again
madbird-612437 April 2019
Try it and judge for yourself ( C+Movie ) My Ratings 8/10
THE-BEACON-OF-MOVIES-RAFA10 February 2020
The film is a fictionalized story about three real-life notorious Hong Kong mobsters, Kwai Ping-hung , Yip Kai Foon and Cheung Tze-keung, who are portrayed in the film by Gordon Lam, Richie Jen and Jordan Chan respectively
Noir Styled Thriller - less Action than usual
jimniexperience28 December 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Gritty Johnnie To inspired gangster film following three criminals, The Kings of Thieves, passed their prime wanting to relive their glory days with one final heist after a rumor spreads in the underworld about their fated reunion .
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Kwai , an identity thief, lives his life under multiple aliases and is wanted for the murder of three officers three years ago . He camps out at his old partners house and plots on robbing a Gold Shop when he catches wind of the rumor ..
Yip , and his band of bandits , have been in hiding since a bank robbery turned shootout with police . He and his boys have gone legit and sell cheap electronics when they catch wind of the rumor ..
Cheuk is a loud and brazen mobster who kidnaps high-power people and holds them for ransom . He grows bored of his mundane criminal life and wishes for new excitement , when he catches wind of the rumor ..
Cheuk put the word out in the street he's looking for Yip and Kwai , and he pays for information . Kwai, realizing petty robberies will get him nowhere , he decides to get in contact with Cheuk and accept his offer . Yip , after being disrespected by multiple groups of authority who are unaware of his dark past , decides to pick up the AK once again ..
Yip , and his band of bandits , have been in hiding since a bank robbery turned shootout with police . He and his boys have gone legit and sell cheap electronics when they catch wind of the rumor ..
Cheuk is a loud and brazen mobster who kidnaps high-power people and holds them for ransom . He grows bored of his mundane criminal life and wishes for new excitement , when he catches wind of the rumor ..
Cheuk put the word out in the street he's looking for Yip and Kwai , and he pays for information . Kwai, realizing petty robberies will get him nowhere , he decides to get in contact with Cheuk and accept his offer . Yip , after being disrespected by multiple groups of authority who are unaware of his dark past , decides to pick up the AK once again ..
Are you sure
MovieIQTest18 July 2016
You've actually watched this film before putting up a hollow review that got nothing to do with this film itself but generally accuse Chinese movies released online for your piracy? Because if those movies were released on the big screen in the cinema in the US region, they'd definitely have English subtitles ready for the viewers who paid for the viewing. So it's obviously that you are just a freebie who kept downloading from those torrent websites, sometimes even before those movies have not been officially released yet to the theaters. It seems that you've downloaded this film without knowing it's still too early to have some understandable English subtitles available for freebies, yet you just attacked in the general direction to complain films from China, Korea, south Asian countries, or India simply because they didn't provide you with English subtitles and, just for this reason, you gave a low rating for this film for lacking of English subtitles. Give me a break, will you? Beggars can't be choosers, you don't have to download movies from foreign countries without English subtitles for free then complain about it. You can always buy a ticket to enjoy foreign movies with subtitles on the big screen or streamline from Amazon.com ready for you to understand and appreciate.
You're not rating this film with justifiable Stars as the first viewer's review because you didn't really view it, nor you have the right or the privilege to complain for a free chow. I don't view this film yet, so I'd not give any star to rate this film either; Cantonese or Mandarin, whatever.
UPDATE:
One of the VERY BEST CRIME FILMS ever coming out of H.K./China. The screenplay is very well thought through, a very matured one that rarely seen in recent years. The scenario and the plot are both top-drawer stuff. We've got three directors seamlessly directed from different angles and well synchronized. Three of the major leading crime bosses are also a perfect casting job. Richie Jen did a break-through performance. I used to consider this guy is a very bad actor, but not in this film, he's aged and totally grasped the role as a real deal. Congrats, Richie, you've finally arrived to become a better actor! Jordan Chan also did a fair job as the crazy, arrogant and out-of-control crime boss, a bit exaggerated in acting but quite matched being such a role. Ka Tung Lam played the hidden and mysterious chameleon, heartless but at the same time still got a tender corner in his heart to his old buddy. These three big criminals tried to meet up and do a crime of the century. They never met before only by their notorious names. There's a scene at the ending, they actually met face to face in a restaurant before. That scene is just such a nice high point of the whole movie, it also shows the crafty screenplay, the subtle and smart directing technique. All the supporting actors are also nice casting jobs. A very interesting story about how these three big criminals ended facing the music.
A great film hard-coded with Chinese subtitles. Highly recommended if this film could be released in the U.S., of course, English subtitles should become available then.
You're not rating this film with justifiable Stars as the first viewer's review because you didn't really view it, nor you have the right or the privilege to complain for a free chow. I don't view this film yet, so I'd not give any star to rate this film either; Cantonese or Mandarin, whatever.
UPDATE:
One of the VERY BEST CRIME FILMS ever coming out of H.K./China. The screenplay is very well thought through, a very matured one that rarely seen in recent years. The scenario and the plot are both top-drawer stuff. We've got three directors seamlessly directed from different angles and well synchronized. Three of the major leading crime bosses are also a perfect casting job. Richie Jen did a break-through performance. I used to consider this guy is a very bad actor, but not in this film, he's aged and totally grasped the role as a real deal. Congrats, Richie, you've finally arrived to become a better actor! Jordan Chan also did a fair job as the crazy, arrogant and out-of-control crime boss, a bit exaggerated in acting but quite matched being such a role. Ka Tung Lam played the hidden and mysterious chameleon, heartless but at the same time still got a tender corner in his heart to his old buddy. These three big criminals tried to meet up and do a crime of the century. They never met before only by their notorious names. There's a scene at the ending, they actually met face to face in a restaurant before. That scene is just such a nice high point of the whole movie, it also shows the crafty screenplay, the subtle and smart directing technique. All the supporting actors are also nice casting jobs. A very interesting story about how these three big criminals ended facing the music.
A great film hard-coded with Chinese subtitles. Highly recommended if this film could be released in the U.S., of course, English subtitles should become available then.
Entertaining enough to give it a try
qeter27 October 2016
Seen at the Viennale 2016: Three different directors make three independent gangster movies shown parallel in Chu Tai Chiu Fung. But all 3 plots have a common aim: the possible meeting of the 3 to join forces as some sort of super crime power, because all 3 of them have already robbed, kidnapped, murdered, and done black business up to the point that any done crime in the past is nearly impossible to top by one alone. It is interesting how different the 3 directors develop their main characters. One gangster is shrill, the other like an accountant, the third is always restrained. And the viewer gets the feeling a joined crime would never work out positively - to different are the 3 gangsters. The three plots are entertaining and quite good interwoven to get a movie with one single impact. But towards the end all three plots get lost somehow and also my interest on the outcome. A pity, because the final scene is fantastic. But too late. Anyway, good crime movie based on the state of Honkgong before its "independence".
Best Hong Kong film in the first eight months of 2016
yoggwork19 February 2019
Best Hong Kong film in the first eight months of 2016. Three actors, three stories, all have a slight taste of old Hong Kong films. It seems that if you want to inherit the tradition of Hong Kong Film, you can't think about the trial! The shortcomings are that the whole is not bold and somewhat shrunken. The portrayal of the ugly faces of mainland officials is also a bright spot.
For crime cinema connoisseurs
Manton2927 August 2016
A mature, beautifully executed slow burn crime flick with strong characters, a complex story, and plenty of reflection space ruptured by explosions of unglamourised violent action. Basically, the film depicts a mess of corruption and crime in the build up to Hong Kong's handover from Britain to China, as in Infernal Affairs II, focusing on three veteran gangsters in converging lines of action. Despite getting quite lost with some key aspects of the plot (watched on a plane, so small screen, and I imagine the English subtitles could have been improved upon) I generally felt solidly in touch with the three protagonists and their immediate short term goals, and remained secure that I was in the hands of highly competent filmmakers on both sides of the camera - some superb performances and very strong cinematography. Pardon the lack of polish here, but sometimes it's either that way or not posting at all, and I wanted to add some favourable comments to what little there is on here for this film. In the same ball park as the aforementioned Infernal Affairs II and maybe A Most Dangerous Year, maybe Black Mass. Quality cinema and a real discovery.
An unexpected and completely original tour-de-force..
jorgebenavides-9573619 April 2022
Such an impressive piece of filmmaking. Shrewd plot line never overshadows the carefully delineated characters and their occasionally unsettling and in a few instances poignantly relatable lives. The cynic in me suspects, perhaps a bit unfairly, many will approach this film anticipating and maybe even hoping for yet another one-dimensional, albeit slickly well-crafted Hong Kong action flick, and with the renowned names synonymous with brilliant shoot-em-ups attached who would blame them? And yet, if you're like me and greedily ingest your South East Asian films only when piled on with some explosively creative and original flavor, then this one is for you, my friend.
1997,Great winds blow upon high hills .
g-8962210 October 2021
Warning: Spoilers
At the end of the film, "Let everything follow the wind" is simply a stroke of god, rendering all the historic heaviness and fatalistic sadness to the extreme. The film is written about the trivial life of three bandits, as well as the repressed, unwilling and eager heart. This is by no means a gangster film that celebrates loyalty or pleasure. It is more like an ambitious historical documentary that maps the grandest historical transformation of 1997 with stories in the underground world.
When the politicians gathered in the square and shook hands with each other under the salute, the thief king was killed, arrested, and encircled in the broken alley, accompanied by dull gunshots. The fate of the three of them is so kink together with the big time, vicissitudes of life mysterious beyond words. They have brought the curtain down on an era for themselves and for Hong Kong.
When the politicians gathered in the square and shook hands with each other under the salute, the thief king was killed, arrested, and encircled in the broken alley, accompanied by dull gunshots. The fate of the three of them is so kink together with the big time, vicissitudes of life mysterious beyond words. They have brought the curtain down on an era for themselves and for Hong Kong.
Blue Balled by This Movie
mikayakatnt4 November 2019
The trailer, plot, and characters leave you wanting more than what the film presents you.
There is a sense of irony as the characters seek a larger payout but never come to it... like how this story promises more but never achieves its goal.
Feels like the movie was good but misleading. Only last half of the film proved most interesting.
There is a sense of irony as the characters seek a larger payout but never come to it... like how this story promises more but never achieves its goal.
Feels like the movie was good but misleading. Only last half of the film proved most interesting.
That's it?
gressman078 October 2023
Kudos to the trailer for selling me something that definitely is not to be found. Mildly interesting but ultimately an entire waste of time. The middle is entirely bloated and not worth enduring for the complete lack of anything that is the final 10 minutes. In retrospect its closing "reveal" is pretty pretentious in what it took just under 2 hrs to set up. Prior review of being blue balled is pretty sumacious. There is far vetter Asian cinema and entertainment to be had. That said it isn't really bad but it's certainly not good. An ultimate waste of time but I've wasted it on worse, hence a neutral (for me) 5/10, not warranting a "+1" or 6 nor a "-1" or 4. Make what you will though just my take.
"We will be fatter than Chow Yun-Fat."
morrison-dylan-fan20 April 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Exploring Shudder's exclusive list during my free 30 day special offer on the site,I was intrigued to find in the middle of the Horror flick listings,a Hong Kong crime title. Having enjoyed producer Johnnie To's Mad Detective (2007-also reviewed) I handed over to a viewing.
View on the film:
Heading to 1997 from the opening clip of Thatcher presenting the one country, two systems deceleration, co-directors Jevons Au/Frank Hui and Vicky Wong impressively present a united vision in capturing underworld leaders feel the earth shaking beneath their feet in the run up to the Handover, via lean stilted wide-shots of gangs smuggling items to sell for huge profits on the mainland, returning to dusty, Neo-Noir neon-lit winding streets filled with a anxiety of the oncoming unknown.
Breaking away from the adrenaline rush of the Heroic Bloodshed genre, the directors give the action scenes a brittle chalky atmosphere of straight, by the book kill shots, reflecting the professional way the gangsters hold themselves in.
Altering the real names of gangster Kwai Ping-hung (one time Hong Kong's most wanted) bank robber Yip Kai-foon, and kidnapper Cheung Tze-keung for this fictional gathering of the trio, the screenplay by Thomas Ng/Tin Shu Mak and Man Hong Lung take a low-key Neo-Noir forensic approach to to their crime union, hanging low in the safe houses where Yip begins to make a boom on mobile phone sales,powered by the sly, underhanded identity changes of Kwai, all held together by slick Cheuk in a criminal handover
View on the film:
Heading to 1997 from the opening clip of Thatcher presenting the one country, two systems deceleration, co-directors Jevons Au/Frank Hui and Vicky Wong impressively present a united vision in capturing underworld leaders feel the earth shaking beneath their feet in the run up to the Handover, via lean stilted wide-shots of gangs smuggling items to sell for huge profits on the mainland, returning to dusty, Neo-Noir neon-lit winding streets filled with a anxiety of the oncoming unknown.
Breaking away from the adrenaline rush of the Heroic Bloodshed genre, the directors give the action scenes a brittle chalky atmosphere of straight, by the book kill shots, reflecting the professional way the gangsters hold themselves in.
Altering the real names of gangster Kwai Ping-hung (one time Hong Kong's most wanted) bank robber Yip Kai-foon, and kidnapper Cheung Tze-keung for this fictional gathering of the trio, the screenplay by Thomas Ng/Tin Shu Mak and Man Hong Lung take a low-key Neo-Noir forensic approach to to their crime union, hanging low in the safe houses where Yip begins to make a boom on mobile phone sales,powered by the sly, underhanded identity changes of Kwai, all held together by slick Cheuk in a criminal handover
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