A fairly well organised and well executed robbery on the Trans-Siberian railway embarrasses and infuriates the Chinese authorities and so they assemble a team of crack police investigators to work with their Russian counterparts to track down and apprehend these brutal felons. Soon, their investigations are immersing them in a Moscow underworld that is ruthless and sophisticated - and they soon encounter their quarry who now have a far bigger target in mind - one that will imperil anyone who tries to stand in their way. What's interesting here, is that we know pretty much from the start who the protagonists are and so we can follow both as one plots and schemes and the other tries to capture them. The lead acting (especially from Andy Lau) is maybe not the best, but the writing and the direction from Herman Yau deliver an action adventure film that is easily as good as the recently released "Expend4bles" effort. There are plenty of action scenarios, car chases, gun-fights and the denouement reminded me a little of "The Italian Job" meets "Mission: Impossible". Maybe a little long, but it doesn't hang about and I quite enjoyed it.
3 Reviews
Opposite example about story telling and character building
EasonVonn9 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
An experience of being on pins and needles in a movie theater, a film that can't find a balance between characterization and narrative of events. It seems that only Andy Lau is considered a living, breathing human being in it, and everyone else looks like robots molded for the sake of the plot.
But while this wouldn't be a problem in a story-driven film, at some point a trend in Chinese cinema turned all historical films into a series of brainless director's fast-paced pastiches that no longer seem to be able to carry out a normal narrative with the kind of finesse that makes a weak narrative even more insufferable. In the end, it's reduced to a downright action-packed movie that avoids the narrative, and ends with a forced positive meaning that lacks the inherent political and social critique.
Female characterization is always the subject of Chinese cinema in this era, and women in this movie have become completely one-sided and thin vases, who can be slaughtered and manipulated at will with no thinking power. They can be slaughtered at will and manipulated without thinking power. They are always pursuing a romantic image, a soulless image, and are finally killed alive.
And that little couple, I wondered if I was watching a children's movie!
But while this wouldn't be a problem in a story-driven film, at some point a trend in Chinese cinema turned all historical films into a series of brainless director's fast-paced pastiches that no longer seem to be able to carry out a normal narrative with the kind of finesse that makes a weak narrative even more insufferable. In the end, it's reduced to a downright action-packed movie that avoids the narrative, and ends with a forced positive meaning that lacks the inherent political and social critique.
Female characterization is always the subject of Chinese cinema in this era, and women in this movie have become completely one-sided and thin vases, who can be slaughtered and manipulated at will with no thinking power. They can be slaughtered at will and manipulated without thinking power. They are always pursuing a romantic image, a soulless image, and are finally killed alive.
And that little couple, I wondered if I was watching a children's movie!
Hits all the right notes.
sonnygoten18 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
This action-packed crime movie hits all the right notes. It was suspenseful when it needed to be, of course also action-packed when it needed to be, but it also hit the right emotional cues when it had to. Even the music used was on point.
This story is loosely based on the real history of the infamous Trans-Siberian train robberies and rapes of 1993, and I loved the 90s vibe of this movie. How they dressed and the make-up was pretty nostalgic for me, but the socio-economic feeling (horrible for Russia after the USSR collapse; a wild, wild east for China, which was extremely poor, but had crazy economic growth rates), which we got glimpses from was also on point.
Hanyu Zhang as a veteran actor as usual did great as the righteous cop team leader. Huang Xuan was charismatically evil as the train gang leader. And Andy Lau did well pushing the emotional beats as a bad guy whose daughter was taken from him by Huang Xuan's character - plus, I also liked the nice little detail of how the parents from Andy's character had to return from Indonesia to China in the 60s (everyone who knows their history would understand WHY his parents had to flee Indonesia back then).
Good movie. Would recommend to anyone who likes a good action-packed crime thriller.
This story is loosely based on the real history of the infamous Trans-Siberian train robberies and rapes of 1993, and I loved the 90s vibe of this movie. How they dressed and the make-up was pretty nostalgic for me, but the socio-economic feeling (horrible for Russia after the USSR collapse; a wild, wild east for China, which was extremely poor, but had crazy economic growth rates), which we got glimpses from was also on point.
Hanyu Zhang as a veteran actor as usual did great as the righteous cop team leader. Huang Xuan was charismatically evil as the train gang leader. And Andy Lau did well pushing the emotional beats as a bad guy whose daughter was taken from him by Huang Xuan's character - plus, I also liked the nice little detail of how the parents from Andy's character had to return from Indonesia to China in the 60s (everyone who knows their history would understand WHY his parents had to flee Indonesia back then).
Good movie. Would recommend to anyone who likes a good action-packed crime thriller.
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