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Long Arm of the Law |
List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $26.96 |
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Reviews |
Features:
Description:
Three years before John Woo made A Better Tomorrow in 1986, this densely textured police procedural was laying the groundwork for the modern Hong Kong crime movie. It operates in an unusual social framework: all the central criminals are recent illegal refugees from mainland China, struggling to adjust to the Westernized lifestyle of Hong Kong. (Every second location seems to be an outpost of American cultural imperialism, from McDonald's to 7-Eleven.) Director Johnny Mak is a skilled action and suspense craftsman, and his view of criminal activity is blunt and practical; the amorality of his desperate characters is alloyed. Hard up for funds, the crooks agree to commit a contract killing, and botch the job gruesomely. But the only aspect of the incident that upsets them is the fact that they've been played for saps (the victim turns out to be a cop). If these brutal thugs are nevertheless sympathetic it's because they are clumsily at sea in the big city, and because they stick together. The apocalyptic final shootout is a first-class visceral thrill ride. --David Chute
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