Invisible Target (2007)

From my favorite movies..

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

As this Hong Kong action movie opens a young woman is shopping for wedding rings but is killed in an explosion when robbers blast their way into an armoured car outside the shop; several police officers responding to the crime are also killed. Six months later the gang is back in Hong Kong and her fiancé Chan Chun, a police officer, is determined to get his revenge. Inspector Carson Fong Yik-wai who led the police on the day of the raid is also determined to catch those responsible. They are later joined by Wai King-ho; a rookie officer whose brother was undercover with the gang and is suspected of changing sides. Over the course of the film it emerges that the gang was helped by a serving officer who now has their stolen money. The gang want their ill-gotten money back and our trio of protagonists want to stop the gang... it will all lead to a dramatic confrontation in the police station.If you want full on action you could do a lot worse than this film. The action starts in the opening scene and is almost constant till the end. This action is a combination of exciting, well-choreographed martial arts, shootings and explosions. Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue and Jaycee Chan put in really impressive performances as Chan Chun, Carson Fong Yik-wai and Wai King Ho respectively and Wu Jing is a lot of fun as the gang's leader. The story doesn't provide too many surprises; that doesn't matter though as it is still a solid story; besides it is all about the action. The numerous stunts a as impressive as one would expect from Hong Kong cinema; many of them look genuinely painful. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of Hong Kong action or fans of full-on action in general.These comments are based on watching the film in Cantonese with English subtitles.

I'm generally a fan of Benny Chan's movie. The characters portrayed in his movie have charm only he can infuse into them, and this one is no exception. The story is about an outrageously nice cop played by Jaycee Chen who is now under surveillance because his brother who is also a cop is suspected of turning bad.The fight scenes are pretty brutal, and you'd wonder why a nice guy like Jaycee has to be involved in a situation like this, but he is. Two other undercover police officers along with him battle for their lives against crooks who are trying to carve a living in society.Jaycee Chen has all the charm, and character of both his mother and his father. He has looks that resembles them also, but the personality is all his own.This level of brutality is unusual for Benny Chan, but along with the story and its characters, the movie is highly experimental, but it comes together in the end with pretty outrageous fight scenes.Good movie even if you're not a fan of Benny Chan movies.

Sometimes I'm a bit surprised when IMDb ratings jive with what I'd rate a movie on a 1-10 scale. I think this movie is a pretty solid 7 so I'm glad to see that's pretty much where it is. But enough of that, onto the movie itself.Released around the same time (and probably competing for much of the same audience) as the fantastic Donnie Yen movie Flash Point, Invisible Target provides some legitimate competition, albeit in the same sort of tired fashion of OCB cops doing the wrong things for the right reasons. If you're at all a fan of HK cinema you've no doubt seen this plot done to death but for some reason you're still a sucker for it. The fight scenes are very well done (would you expect any less from Jackie Chan's son?), the movie seems for the most part well paced, and it's got a solid story.Now for the bad news. There's not much mind you, but there's some. First of all, for me, the movie seemed too long for it's own good. Yeah, it's only 2 hours but at points it feels stretched and padded for time. Where Flash Point is quite a bit shorter, it leaves you wanting a little more whereas Invisible Target makes you feel like you got too much. And the glass, oh the glass! Don't get too attached to anything breakable in this movie because it will invariably be punched through, kicked through, or fallen through. HK glass makers no doubt loved this movie...it's putting their kids through university.All in all I'd definitely recommend this movie to anyone who's a fan of contemporary kung fu...just make sure you've got a good chunk of time set aside to watch it.

Summer again and probably most of you think Flashpoint is the one to watch this season. Maybe, but now it sure has its work cut out for it, with an amazingly satisfying, over the top, touching and down right honorable release from dear old Benny Chan.Mr. Chan's New Police Story was an admitted wink at good action things past, and Invisible Target bears the same hallmarks of quality only much better implemented.Ostensibly, it's a promising flick with a strong cast finally heralding the return of two of this reviewer's fave tough guys: enigmatic and oft crazed Shawn Yue and sulking, intellectual trouble maker Nicholas Tse.Of course a lot could still go wrong but it dawns on one that Invisible Target is an awesome movie right from the first scene when they proceed to blow things up with extreme prejudice smack in the middle of Hong Kong's Central business area, namely Queen's Road.Yes, Eye in the Sky had a heist taking place in the same locale, but that one was pale and forgettable. Here we have a ballsy depiction of crooks on the loose that brings a tear to the most jaded of eyes as you sit there reminding yourself that this isn't merely how they used to make them, here they are, making them like that in this day and age.Oh yes, just like New Police Story, Invisible Target has kick ass villains, headed by martial artist Wu Jing, whose deranged but respectable streak was previously flexed in SPL. The guy's simply spectacular as a bad guy, as is cool dude Andy On. Andy shone in New Police Story alongside Daniel Wu, and here he's even better, adding a sensible, human side to his nefarious character.Indeed, the antagonists here are all well done and conspicuously Putonghua speakers. Hmmm. Regardless, they help make Invisible Target an excellent release you must not miss out on.As we behold, the baddies wreak havoc in jolly HK, setting in motion a storyline that has Inspector Tequila-inspired Shawn and Nicholas go after them with a vengeance, aided by Jaycee Chan who for once is truly impressive and adds much to the story.The three cops engage with the demented robbers across a variety of locations, using fists, feet, guns, cars and a variety of other tools. This movie is a field day for makers of breakaway glass everywhere, as literally not a single sheet remains intact for more than a second.Invisible Target isn't a dour-faced, overly serious affair, it gets the balance between crime drama and lunatic fantasy just right as cops and robbers leap huge heights and take more punishment than your average WWII battleship could ever hope to withstand.With good supporting appearances from Sam Lee, Lam Suet and even Aaron Kwok, this is out and out a fun, thrilling and gripping film. It's aggressively cartoonish at times but always professional and never coming across ridiculous. It's also atypically long for its genre or for Hong Kong releases in general, coming in at a hefty 130 minutes, which still isn't close to enough.In the end, good triumphs but there really isn't any evil here, as even the vilest of people seen in the story has an explanation for what they do and a tale to tell, which is an added bonus not to be overlooked.Plus, how can you say no to the first SDU sighting in a long, long, long time? Yes, they return to battle Wu Jing and his crew, and of course promptly get their posteriors handed to them.Invisible Target is a frenzied, beautiful assemblage of classical themes (there's even a British cop in the briefing room like in the good old days), gorgeous stunts, mind-boggling explosions, intricate fight scenes and ever-shattering glass partitions.The macho-sensitive cast is a perfect fit and we're delighted to see them together and on screen again. In fact, aside from giving logic and physical reality as we know it the finger, there's nothing wrong with Invisible Target and I, for one, can't wait to get my hands on the DVD version.Invisible? Anything but! Don't wait for Flashpoint, get your summer kicks right here, right now.