Product Details

• Actors: Michael Wong, Gigi Leung, Damian Lau, Alex Cheung, Winston Ellis
• Directors: Gordon Chan
• Writers: Gordon Chan, Hing-Ka Chan
• Producers: Dante Lam, Fung Kwok Ma, John Chong, Kwong Kim Yip, Wellington Fung
• Format: AC-3, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Cantonese (Dolby Digital 5.1), Mandarin Chinese (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, Japanese, Georgian, Thai
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Tai Seng
• DVD Release Date: January 25, 2000
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305693374
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #328,772 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "First Option - Multi-dubbed and Multi-subtitled" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Tough but vulnerable Michael Wong is the leader of the Flying Tigers, a commando-style police strike force that takes on a gang of international drug runners with the help of spunky young customs investigator Gigi Leung. One of the better Hong Kong action films made since the 1997 hand-over, this no-nonsense cop drama is packed with big-scale gun battles and plenty of explosions when not enmeshed in departmental infighting and individual soul searching. American-born Wong runs his unit like a self-sustaining army and has a hot-headed tendency to leap without authorization. Leung is too deferential and insecure to cut much of an authority figure, but she rises to the occasion in the bullet-splayed finale as the commandos and customs agents band together in a show of solidarity. It's a far cry from the slow-motion violence ballets of John Woo, but Gordon Chan's sober police drama fits right in with the tradition of Kirk Wong's smart, steely policiers like Crime Story and Organized Crime and Triad Bureau. Wong speaks mostly English in the Chinese language version and dubs himself in the English language edition. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very accurate weapons handling & tactics for a movie, April 8, 2002

By 

K. Ip (The World) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: First Option - Multi-dubbed and Multi-subtitled (DVD)

For a wild action film, First Option features unusually accurate tactics and weapons-handling. This is likely due to the real-life SDU members consulting on the picture. Also, unlike John Woo and his other famous Hong Kong contemporaries, director Gordon Chan has always leaned towards authenticity in his action scenes. You can see the pinnacle of this approach in "2000 AD", a more recent Chan film that features stunning shootouts. But First Option is certainly an action-packed film as well. Definitely a must-see for fans of military/specops movies.

One note about the casual wear outfits: They are realistic. If you ever bother to research beyond glossy promotional photos, you'll see that real military and SWAT units can and do often wear civilian clothing during operations. Whatever works best for the situation. That's the whole point of these unconventional units! In this case, they're operating in a tropical, urban environment. Jeans & t-shirt are comfortable, sturdy, inconspicuous and a lot more appropriate in the heat than full hooded flame resistant jumpsuits. And they are not missing any of their important gear (assault vests, pouches, holsters, weapons, etc). It's funny that when a film tries to be LESS flashy and movielike that it gets accused for being unrealistic!

As for the SEALs being beaten in the film, I disagree that they were beaten "easily". In fact, they defeat the SDU at one point and there's a scene where the SDU discuss the fearsome reputation of the SEALs. When the SDU finally triumph, it's far from "easy". But last I checked, no training in the world makes men bulletproof. Just because the SEALs have a superhuman reputation, you shouldn't start believing that only kryptonite can bring them down. The ultimate triumph of the SDU is quite reasonable given the way the scenarios are set up in this film.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as The Final Option, but still very strong., May 5, 2000

By 

D. Mok (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: First Option [VHS] (VHS Tape)

First Option is a much larger-scaled prequel (actually, even the term "prequel" is used loosely here, the only real connections between the films being the Michael Wong character, here called "Don", and sidekick "Joe".) that ups the ante on the action sequences but isn't as nuanced an exploration of life in Hong Kong's elite police SDU. Nevertheless, First Option contains more than enough character depth, tension, and expert pacing to rank among the best films ever made in Hong Kong.

This story focuses much more on the Michael Wong character. He is once again physical, edgy, and charismatic, a beefier and less romantic version of Chow Yun-fat, if you will (and English-speaking, for the most part). Gigi Leung does well as the pseudo romantic interest. Director Gordon Chan, the John McTiernan of Hong Kong, is again the master of pacing and dialogue, his lines ringing out crisp and intense, and his eye for detail in action sequences intoxicating. The only dud in the writing department is the final exchange between "Rick" and "Don" -- sounds like a rhyming game or something! Small dent in an action-film masterpiece that keeps things moving and respects its characters.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gordan Chan + Michael Wong = A Real SDU Moive, April 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: FIRST OPTION (DVD)

Here is the story of the moive. The custem service of HK investigating a drug dealer which has very strong weapon. They formed a special unit with HK police SDU to arrest through people. Michael Wong success his good performance in the Final Option. The gun scence is as good as last time. This time, the director introduce the forrest battle in the moive which is different from the city battle last time. Different from last time, the focus is on the career of being a SDU rather than focus on the love and family. Finally, I want to say that the actress Gigi Leung has done a good job. She has a beautiful face. This time, she acts as a custom service officer and she needs practise gun shooting. People may not like that becasue it is not as same her traditional style. However, I think she really plays a really good rolo to the moive as a whole.