This well-made action thriller suffers from a poor finish
and an overwrought plot, but the whole package manages to
be entertaining if not entirely memorable. Leslie Cheung
is Rick, an introvert gun expert who runs a firing range and
is a renowned shooting champ. He’s so proficient that he has
mastered the “double tap,” the art of shooting twice in exactly
the same spot to better maximize your marksmanship.
Rick matches guns with top cop Miu
(Alex Fong) for top honors at a shooting contest, but the
match is disturbed by your standard depressed day trader.
Given the difficult situation (the psycho is Miu's friend),
Rick is forced to kill - and Rick discovers that he likes it. Fast-forward to the future and some brutal
hits involving the “double tap” technique have surfaced. Naturally
that leaves only a few candidates, and Rick is at the top
of the list.
It seems that the time between Rick's first kill and
the present has been enough to drive Rick over the deep end,
and that motivation and outcome remains the single most interesting thing
about the movie. Cheung ardently overacts (as is his gift and
curse) but does well with the material. Alex Fong is solid
as always, but the waffling of his character proves frustrating.
There are times where it seems the film is about to reach
a new level of intensity - and then the filmmakers back down. Added
annoyance is provided by Monica Chan as Alex’s wife, who manages
to dispense Yoda-like wisdom at every turn. However, Ruby
Wong is quite good as Rick's tortured girlfriend, and the
production values and action direction are excellent. For
commercial thrills, this movie is a suitable fix. (Kozo 2000) |
