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Review
by Kozo: |
Jackie Chan produced this cheapie that provides fun over-the-top
action at the expense of everything else. The Shootout stars Aaron Kwok as Ka-Fai, a weenie cop who gets dragged into a violent case
when evil thieves make off with bunches of dough. Ka-Fai manages
to catch one of the thieves by mistake, but botches things
when the evil gangleader (Tsui Kam-Kong) rides his bike into
the police station garage and kills the accomplice.
Ka-Fai isn't punished for his error,
but he and a silly policewoman are assigned to guide two expert
cops on the case. The "expert" cops turn out to
be bickering ex-partners Lau (Lau Ching-Wan) and Ma (Leung
Ka-Yan), who spend more time acting wacky then doing actual
policework. Luckily they have a couple of leads and a plot
that's designed to make their jobs 800 times easier. Ka-Fai
is enamored of karaoke singer Min (Fennie Yuen), who he meets
in a grocery store. Luckily, she's also the girlfriend of
bad guy Tsui Kam-Kong, but Ka-Fai doesn't discover this until
he's gone AWOL to follow her. Thanks to his timely policework
(or stalking activities), our wacky band of cops is able to
regroup in time for a violent finish.
This early nineties action comedy
should never be confused with a good film, as it epitomizes
the productions of the day: cheap, quick and messy. The comedy
is largely uninspired, and any semblance of plot or character
is absent. Aaron Kwok is at his most cute space-wasting, while
Lau Ching-Wan shows some signs of his later charisma, but
these are pretty much routine performances. Only Fennie Yuen
actually appears to be acting, though you have to wonder if
her effort was appreciated in a movie this messy. If this
film were made today we would call for the filmmakers' heads.
However, with rose-colored glasses
in place, The Shootout turns out to be good, albeit
minor fun. The film possesses an eager-to-please cheapness
and hyperrealistic energy that should prevent you from taking it
seriously. The action is gritty and over-the-top, with acrobatic
gunplay and lots of painful-looking impact. Also, the mindless
comedy manages to be occasionally amusing, with a few fun
gags sprinkled here and there. Sadly, the filmmakers are guilty
of some poor political correctness, which may bother some modern audiences.
Still, the sort of stereotypes on display were standard issue
in those days. Unless you find Aaron Kwok distressingly
annoying, you should be able to have some fun with The Shootout. (Kozo
2003) |
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