A Brilliant Conflict

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

A waste of a quality support cast… Review by Neo: There is no question in mind that actors like the pending audience, are all human and with that it means that we all have to eat. Likewise, even quality actors like Anthony Wong and Francis Ng need to put the meal on the table. While it is true that this film is totally rubbish, somewhat expected from the factory of Wong Jing, the two veterans does somewhat makes the film looks slight better, but eclipses far from saving it. Alex Fong has continued his journey of career suicide by appearing in non-existent roles like this one. One would ponder how Fong can not learn a tad at all off the likes of Ng and Wong, but one need to look no further than the plain stupid scriptwriting for a hard earned answer. Bullet and Brain tries hard to be an action comedy flick, but it is neither funny nor stylishly action directed, the result is pretty much a predictable and almost boring affair.As with most Wong Jing attached flick, there will always be an eye candy to look at and Tang Yan certainly fills the void. While Tang Yan acting is highly questionable, she does possess a typical pretty mainland girl's face. Despite the pretty shell, the unfortunate event here is that Tang Yan is at loggerhead when it comes to acting. Her crying sequences are laughable and her comic timing requires more of his cuteness and body skin to do most of the acting. As for the other hot chick, comes in the form of yet another newcomer Wu Qingjie, and while she flairs slightly better than the aforementioned co-cast, it isn't really a performance that she will be remembering for years to come.Perhaps the biggest single disappointment is the absolute waste of acting talents in the Infernal Affairs reunion cast of Anthony Wong, Francis Ng and Eric Tsang. Three big supporting actors in their own respective rights, deserve a far better material and while the three remains very much on the point, adequate and even extremely watchable, their characters is totally another story. Apart from the crap script, Bullet and Brains, does not even win any points in terms of action design as the gun scenes offers nothing new and the same for the several fight sequences. Before moving on, Alex Fong plays the leading role, but comes of extremely annoying and almost to the point of unlikable. This performance all but confirms that Neo was wrong about this lad in 2006's I'll Call You and any sort of potential he used to show is now all but fully extinguished.As usually Neo always look on the bright side and tries hard to seek for positive signs within the bad points, but unfortunately nothing can save this film from going down to hell. Like Wise Guys Never Dies, the film is pointless, meaningless and ultimately stupid. Considering the fact that both films are from the same factory that produces crap films, Bullet and Brain stands very much to prove that point right. Luckily, Wong, Ng and Tsang are always watchable and manage to somehow make their paper-thin character more interesting that the film really deserves.All in all, Bullet and Brains, tries hard to aim for the mindless entertainment category, but comes off uninteresting, predictable and even at times boring. Don't get me wrong, as the three chicks and three dudes from Infernal Affairs are all pretty damn watchable, but this film is just one bad piece of crap. Sometimes, Neo wonders to himself why does he even bother reviewing such crappy movies, trying to write more than it really deserves, but then again, what else can Neo do in the lapse of time waiting for a bus to come, than drink a grape green tea and type up this review at Easy Way. Sounds like a dream, well, when a review goes off the tantrum and starts rambling about waiting for a bus, it doesn't take an Elinstein to work out that this is one pretty bad flick. Bullet and Brain for the title, how about Stupid and Idiot, then again there are plenty of chicks to look at… (Neo 2008) I rate it 3.75/10www.thehkneo.com