I heard of this movie through the 'coming attractions' list on the end of the new Director's Cut DVD of 'Drive' by Steve Wang (Region 2 only, sorry!). Get ready - a Hong Kong movie that has good plot, great characters and depth. It's the perfect antidote to overblown, over-hyped American/British films that take 3 hours and $3million to make a lot of noise about nothing. Chiu Man Chuk (his Cantonese name) is Officer Dong, transferred to the (fictional) Russian state of Lavernia for disobeying orders while rescuing hostages. He meets up with his best mate Andrew who takes life a little less seriously than he does. Dong is there five minutes and manages to arrest the leading criminal in the subway, featuring the first of many amazing fight sequences between the two. What follows is a passionate tale of second chances, betrayal, heroes and friendship. A quietly amazing film. The Honk Kong Legends Region 2 DVD has some real goodies too - an interview with Chiu Man Chuk, his Wu Shu demonstration, photo galleries, a music promo for the release, more coming attractions from the distribution company, biographies and audio options. A few scenes are grainy but it doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the film,and the sound is obviously great. It only comes in 2CH not 5.1 Dolby sound, but hey, it still beats a VHS! WATCH THIS IN CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES! If you choose the dubbed version Officer Dong is American and it ruins the whole style of the film. Don't miss Chiu Man Chuk's performance - be ready to put him on your list of top ten actors. What about the fact he doesn't speak English? Well I don't speak Cantonese but there are less people in the English-speaking world than there are in the Chinese dialects region! Rent it, buy it, just get hold of it! At 87 minutes its well worth the investment!
