Explosive City (2004)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Sunzi's "Art of War" is an ancient Chinese classic book, revered over many centuries (among others, by Mao Zedong). Here it appears as a prop, is briefly discussed and quoted."Attack the enemy where he expects it least." As the competent computer operator soon finds out, that's of course the international airport. Wha... ?A weird plot about evil Otosan, a Russian-Japanese who kidnapped young kids over decades, just to brainwash them and train them to be assassins. (The helpful police computer has the whole story). Assaults on a minister (country not named) and a former CIA director. A mysterious woman terrorist who lost her memory, but soon evolves to be the heroine. Rather slow car-chase on the beach (!). Shooting galore, plus some bombing. A mole inspector in Hong Kong police... oh, I could go on and on.I had this piece bought at €4 on my shelf for months. Today, after Infernal Affairs 1+2, I decided to watch it as a contrast... and it sure was, between A and B- grades of movie-making.And yet, it had some points that I liked: the scene where the hero brings his young son back to his estranged wife. The discussion of Sunzi Bingfa. The scenes in Macao, I'd liked to see more. The sweet and tough heroine...All things considered, silly, cheap, yet somewhat entertaining. 6/10.

This is very average fare, although it starts well with a good set piece at an airport and a subsequent rooftop chase. After that the pace of the film slows considerably and limps along until the final reel. Sadly, the two main leads are pretty leaden. I have always found Alex Fong a rather lacklustre leading man so his performance didn't come as much of a surprise, but Simon Yam is an actor who can turn in a very creditable show of talent but here he seems pretty pedestrian and disinterested.The cast are not helped by a plot that demands that the audience has their tongue planted firmly in their cheek and has some glaringly bad plot holes near the end of the film. But if you can put up with all of that, then maybe you can survive the 90 odd minutes duration. Not one of HK's finest, I'm sad to say.