Running time: 105 minutes
Rating: PG
Opens: 18 October 2007, Now Showing
Quite an impressive cast, considering many of them are well-known figures in their own right. I guess that’s one of the main selling points of this movie. Anyway, this movie is another of those with its opening scene as something that’s kind of near the “conclusive” scenes of the movie. Noticed quite a few movies with Raintree Pictures involved being like that (eg Protege, coincidentaly Andy Lau was in that one too).
Surprisingly, Andy Lau isn’t playing a very central role in this movie as I thought he’d be. Of course, his role as the leader of the investigation team is still a somewhat important one, the focus is definitely not on his character, though there are still some areas where you can try to understand his character a bit more.
The story’s about these 2 brothers, and how a “prediction” by some fortune teller comes true in the very end through all the events that take place etc. Each of the main characters are given chance to develop and portray their characters on-screen, and given some of the veterans in there you can expect some decent acting and drama in the movie.
Some of the violent scenes seem quite unreal. Like in the beginning part of the movie where a finger is cut off, the finger looks amazingly plastic and un-human like. And of course the wounds and bleeding seem a little suspicious. Haha. Another thing would be the dubbing. I still don’t really like the way HK movies are being dubbed. Lol, but it’s not like there’s much that can be done about it. Bear with it I guess.
As for mistakes, I didn’t manage to spot very much, probably cos I was quite tired already while trying to remember stuff to review for Stardust as well. Anyway, the ending scene didn’t really correspond to the opening scene. I remember the elder brother lying face down in the opening, but is face up in the ending (probably more dramatic that way), and Andy Lau seemed to have bled more in the opening scene. Not sure if I’m right about this one, but the gun Eason is holding is also different (sorry lah, really tired liao =_=). Oh ya, there’s one more. A pregnant lady was supposed to have been shot dead, but when lying on the ground, her eyes blinked once! (spooky!!) and her breathing is still quite obvious. Lol. Even Clarence spotted that, so you can just imagine how obvious it is.
As for “easter eggs”, I’m not sure it was done on purpose or what, but towards the end of the movie, Andy Lau walks past this stall hanging a signboard with a 字谜 on it. Too bad the lighting and angle isn’t really that good for me to be able to read the traditional chinese characters fast enough and to think of an answer to that. I wonder if anyone can tell me the question and answer siah. Haha. I wonder if that has any significance in the movie. Hehz.
My take: 6.5/10. Pretty good acting by the cast. Has some twists, though it isn’t very much. Decent storyline considering it’s set in yet another triad based plot, and of course the idea of Brothers is put across in the story. It’s imo better than Stardust though I think some people may think otherwise.
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