Spl

[Bravery]

It was summer, the year 2006 and I had been completely blown away by a movie I had just received in the mail, so blown away that I had to watch it a second time and after watching it the second time I wondered 'what did I see that made me love it the first time around.

The story revolves around three characters who have been brought together seemingly by fate. Chan (Simon Yam) an honorable detective who has always done everything by the book, Ma(Donnie Yen) a detective who lives by the code of 'the ends justify the means' and Po (Sammo Hung), a ruthless crimelord who only shows his soft side when it comes to his family, are three men who who have seemingly different personalities that are about to clash and change.

The character Po is played brilliantly by Sammo Hung and is the only character that is fleshed out enough so not to be looked at as completely ridiculous. It's mainly because his character doesn't change from begining to end.

When it comes to Simon Yam, let me say he is one of the best character actors around, his character, Chan, is so poorly written, that when you watch the movie you begin to wonder why he does some of the things he does. I don't want to say what those are as not to spoil this movie for the 1 or 2 people who have yet to watch this movie. Chan, upon realising he only has a few months to live throws away all his beliefs to catch Po, the ultimate Mafia Boss, in doing so his character goes from sympathetic to being just a plain idiot in what he does.

Now, we have Ma(Yen), a character who I can't even describe, some of his scenes are pointless such as the flash back scene. But, boy is he needed at the end.

The script seems as though it had been written by a Straight to video script writer, the dialog at times is drab, and a lot of the situations in this film just seem to come out of nowhere and are completely unrealistic. So many plot holes in this movie that I just don't even want to talk about it.

But, I do want to talk about the fights, this is when the movie delivers and it delivers big time. Wu Jing (who is criminally under-used in this) and Donnie Yen have one of the best weapon fights I have ever seen. So brutal and beautiful at the same time, jaw-dropping, classic stuff. Then tight after that, we see Donnie and Sammo go at it one on one and this fight scene blew me away more than the last, I had never seen anything like it before; the grappling, the hand to hand, the throwing, simply amazing.

Wilson Yip is a mediocre writer who knows how to direct fun movies. SPL is not a movie to be taken serious, but a pop corn flick with a decent premise and some of the best action ever put on film. The idea behind SPL is solid and if delivered right could have made the entire movie a classic instead of just the last 20 minute.

Bottom Line-- Amateur script, mediocre direction, and classic fight scenes.

7 out of 10, The fights saved this from a lower score.

[The Running Man]

The script seems as though it had been written by a Straight to video script writer, the dialog at times is drab, and a lot of the situations in this film just seem to come out of nowhere and are completely unrealistic. So many plot holes in this movie that I just don't even want to talk about it.

I very much disagree. The story was pretty solid especially considering the utter failure of the script in Flash Point which actually coincides with your comment more here.

I've heard some of these supposed plot holes and it really ended up not being so at all. If you have any of them I'd love to hear them, especially if it turns out being you come up with ones that are. :)

Wilson Yip is a mediocre writer who knows how to direct fun movies. SPL is not a movie to be taken serious, but a pop corn flick with a decent premise and some of the best action ever put on film.

I don't think that's an accurate way to describe the film. The high level of violence in this movie is not something I would describe as "fun" and "popcorn" and is definitely a movie to be taken seriously.

SPL really had good characterizations for at least the two leads of the movie (Simon Yam and Sammo Hung). They were both supposedly "good guy" and "bad guy" yet the movie blurred the lines in a very credible fashion that made you feel they were also "bad guy" and "good guy" in some ways. For example, I don't know too many people that would watch SPL and not feel sorry for Sammo's character at the end.

The movie had a theme of parenthood, which is kind of unique in a cop thriller. The fact that Simon Yam takes it upon himself to take care of the girl that Sammo's character was responsible for murdering the parents of becomes a burden for Simon's character because he then finds out he has cancer. It even adds a layer of tension and irony that Sammo meets the girl in the hospital, not knowing who she is and is nice to her. Then there is the fact that Sammo and his wife try desperately to have a child of their own and finally do, only to have the events at the end of the film destroy that for him which was all Sammo's doing. That also occurs with Simon Yam, who in the end of the film is left with all of his men dead which, like Sammo's character, was all his doing. To make matters worse, he will soon die, failing in his vow to have the girl taken care of since she will be left all alone.

On top of that, the film has a running theme of characters seeking redemption. The two cops under Simon and their relationships with their daughters. Donnie's character, due to his brute way of handling things (that is explained in the flashbacks, which are not pointless), permanently handicaps someone which he doesn't feel proud about in the end and tries to keep him company to try to make up for it. That brute way of doing things is also what costs him his life.

That all goes with the concept of "SPL" that opens the film.

Now a lot of this could of gone deeper (especially with the supporting characters), sure. But none of the above equals "amateur script." That's a movie that has something on it's mind, something to tell, something it wants to leave you with, and I think for the most part it does an admirable job in that aspect. Combined with it's film making, the acting, and the action scenes then it all comes together for a strong film.

None of that, not even a hint of it, is present in "Flash Point". It barely even has a story going on. Sure, it has better fights than the already highly impressive action in SPL, but as an overall movie it fails. "Flash Point" is indeed a movie that has an "amateur script". In fact, it's textbook of one.

[Milkyway]

I'd disagree as well with that review. Action scenes doesn't necessarily make a movie better and worth the time. If so, then to some it takes away the value of the whole storytelling because the action takes over which in turn can be distracting and misguiding. It's funny that action, out of all genre elements, always has to be synonymous with mediocrity in film-making when pretty much every single element can both succeed and fail in their respective contexts. Wilson Yip did it great (if not perfect) in terms of completion to what happens in the story.

I'd say SPL was something rare as a duo (Yip/Yen) successfully combined strong acting (to the most capable actors at least), scripting, direction and overall film-making with fresh and unique action choreography. Unfortunately (Running Man already stated this), this kind of demand hasn't been met by the same duo ever since; Dragon Tiger Gate had the same quality action choreo (only very different) but with a weak script and actors, and Flash Point superior action choreography but with too much of a standard script which under-uses the creativity of developing a story and stretching acting.

[The Running Man]

It's funny that action, out of all genre elements, always has to be synonymous with mediocrity in film-making when pretty much every single element can both succeed and fail in their respective contexts.

Yup. Many critics, especially the ones that know little about Hong Kong movies, tend to hold quite a prejudice on action films. It really frustrates me.

Check out Roger Ebert's review of Johnnie To's Exiled for a very good example of that.

[Bravery]

There are characters that are never explained, this is where the biggest problem with the script. The characters are never fleshed out and as for the situations they find themselves in they are never explained. For instance, when Chan decides to frame Po, they never explain why he felt he had to do that. When they let the one kid go undercover, they should of explained how that went down, I guess maybe I should already know that it will be difficult to be undercover, but I want to know how he got undercover and why they believed it would would work? Po knew who Chan was and his detectives too, so why would they think he wouldn't know who this new guy was trying to infiltrate his organization was. The biggest plot holes deal come from this.

Then theres Ma, his character had me scratching my head the most, they never really give you a feeling of who he was, there is the one flash back were he asks the kid 'if he knew how many people a gun can kill' an then the kid blows him off and Ma punches him in the face and turns him retarded, they should have show'd what led up to this. Why was Ma chasing him, I always assumed that he didn't kill someone, or else there would have been more cops? I don't want to assume about these things. There are others dealing with Ma's character.

Now there is Po, whom I believe was the only character that I didn't question, but only because he was the same from beginning to end. And, Sammo was awesome in this movie, wasn't he?

When comparing a mediocre script(SPL) to a bad script(Flash Point) the mediocre script is going to seem light years better. I also, might be in the minority because I think Dragon Tiger Gate is there best collaboration.

As for Wilson Yip, I would never consider him more than an average director at best, and a lot of the scripts he has written com across amateurish. But, I do love Bio Zombie, that is mostly Jordan Chan though, why doesn't he get more recognition for being a great actor? i'll never know.


Running Man you are right in that I shouldn't have called it a popcorn flick, but I just wanted more from this film, but at the end of the day for me SPL is just an okay film with some great fights at the end. And, I would like to ask for you to explain these plot holes to me or let me know if i'm missing something.

It's funny that action, out of all genre elements, always has to be synonymous with mediocrity in film-making when pretty much every single element can both succeed and fail in their respective contexts.

Yup. Many critics, especially the ones that know little about Hong Kong movies, tend to hold quite a prejudice on action films. It really frustrates me.

We're in agreement on that.