5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Full Throttle Action from a top of his game, Lam., October 10, 2001
This review is from: Full Alert (DVD)
Ringo Lam 's Full Alert is the kind of edge of your seat, modestly budgeted but utterly action-packed film, U.S. film-makers seem unable to make.
Lam's, City on Fire was the primary source of inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. While Lam doesn't quite deliver either the slickness or filmmaking chutzpah of John Woo, he remains one of the most consistent quality Hong Kong action filmmakers. He's best with films that mix action and noir. His best Hong Kong films are dark, sometimes brutally so with action scenes that are messy and chaotic and not choreographed like dance numbers. Lam's attempt to follow in Woo's footsteps by directing two Jean Claude Van Damme films wasn't successful. Maximum Risk in particular was garbage that only briefly hinted at Lam's talents.
With Full Alert, Lam delivers one of the best Hong Kong films ever made. Full Alert uses several Hong Kong action film cliches (black and white rain soaked flashbacks- males on opposite sides of the law bonding), but gives us full dimensional characters, a good script, superb pacing, one of the best car chases you'll ever see and some genuine suspense which is rare in H.K. actioners.
Lau Ching Wan plays a nearly burnt out dedicated cop named Pao (and reminded me a great deal of Benicio Del Toro) who makes it his personal mission to stop ex-demolition expert, now bad guy named Mak Kwan (Francis Ng) from pulling off a planned big heist.
After inspector Pao arrests Mak for the murder of an architect, he gets Mak to confess to manslaughter but he won't talk about what heist he is masterminding. Mak is working with
some criminals from Taiwan. Pao is sure there is a plan to break Mak out of prison and he puts what seems like the entire Hong Kong police force on Full Alert. Will Mak break out? What kind of double/triple cross will take place? What heist is planned? Will the gang succeed with their heist plans? Will Mak make one last big score and disappear with his girlfriend?
The film is full of surprising derivations on the cat and mouse formula. There are some rather low-key moments in the film, which contrast nicely to the expected over-the-top stuff, which never get too ridiculous (well until the end, anyway). Lam doesn't stage his action scenes like choreographed dancing routines and doesn't rely on too many flashy fast edits. The film is involving and creates some real moments of genuine tension and suspense. The film never feels like its cheating or over-selling any of its key action scenes.
While it's plots synopsis may make it seem like dozens of other films, I assure you the film contains several sequences which contain surprising moments within them making even some of the most familiar parts of the film worth seeing. It's also a film that you'll remember for more than a few days.
Lau who has given some pretty poor performances in some films is excellent throughout the film. Ng's performance is perhaps a little too laid back and he isn't playing the kind of over-colorful villain one often encounters in H.K. films. Lam I'm sure wanted this... since he's certainly capable of giving us an over-the top villain (Danny Lee in City on Fire for instance). This makes the film work better because you don't know what to expect from Mak... we aren't sure what he is capable of, how far he is willing to go or what to expect. A more colorful and broader played villain would be expected to deliver one outrageous thing after another. Here we can be genuinely surprised by what he does and doesn't do.
The quality of most H.K. films on Tai Seng are a big step down from U.S. studio DVDs but a good print with only a few scratches and visible grain was used here. The colors lack the crispness and brightness DVD transfers often have and the black levels are not as high as they should be which means you lose a lot of detail in darker scenes. Sound wise the film is acceptable but little if any imaginative mixing was utilized.
Subtitles are for the most part easy to read. A few times the subs are over light backgrounds and difficult to read and a few times they flash much too quickly on and off screen. However, as in so many VHS H.K. films they aren't cropped outside of the frame making them incomplete or impossible to read. The film's dialogue is important but it isn't a talky film.
BOTTOM LINE:
One of the best car chases you'll ever see occurs a little past the half-way point of this fine action/caper/gangster film from veteran Hong Kong director Ringo Lam who loves delivering car chases. The action is not only excellent and quite exciting but there is also a much higher level of suspense than usual for a Hong Kong film. The script and characterizations are among the best of any Hong Kong film. It's got parts of both Heat and A Better Tomorrow in it, but doesn't copycat those films. This is among Lam's finest and ranks up there with the best Hong Kong films of the late 80's and early 90's. Don't miss this one.
Christopher Jarmick, is the author of The Glass Cocoon with Serena F. Holder a critically acclaimed, steamy suspense thriller
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ringo Lam at his best!, April 27, 2000
This review is from: Full Alert (DVD)
This is the best film I have seen from Ringo Lam to date. It takes its inpiration from Michael Mann's "Heat" but takes a more serious approach to the issues raised briefly in that film. The main point here is that once a person kills another, s/he can never regain innocence. It doesn't matter whether or not the killing was justified. In any case, it's murder. The only difference between the cop and the robber in this film is that they are on different sides of the law -- neither is "better" than the other.
The film is different from most action movies you will see, in that it is very realistic. Nothing about it is stylized or glamorized. There isn't much action, and the action sequences are subdued (although te car chase is quite extraordinary). The focus is on the characters' psychological states. The most unique thing is that unlike all other movies that I have ever seen, this film focuses on the consequences of taking another person's life that the person who commits the act suffers.
MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lau Ching-Wan vs. Francis Ng, May 10, 2000
This review is from: Full Alert (DVD)
The discovery of a dead body leads cop Lau Ching-Wan to believe Francis Ng is going to attempt a major theft. Director Ringo Lam is on solid, familiar ground here with this police procedural/character analysis. Lau is his usual excellent self while Ng is more reserved (though he still is simmering beneath the surface). Lam somehow manages to show the similarities between the cop and the thief without violating the integrity of the cop or making a hero of a crook. Recommended.
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