the audience applauded

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

"Pocky" Zhang is a notorious bandit who robs trains and any other soft target. When a train robbery turns up no loot, a different prize is sought as it does contain a con artist (Tang) who was on his way to Goose Town to pose as their Governor for a while then make off with the taxes. Zhang agrees to spare Tang in exchange for the role and together they head to Goose Town, however once there they discover that the role of Governor is secondary to that of Godfather – a role held by Master Huang.I came to this film having heard that I wouldn't "get it" because it was a Chinese film which was not for the international market. Whether this is the case or not I do not know, but perhaps regardless of nationality, the film only partially worked for me. The plot and the characters weren't an issue for me and I enjoyed the back and forward of the various twists and turns of the story. The action was not quite as good and those coming here for the action suggested by the title will almost certainly be disappointed since it doesn't deliver on that front as much. The comedy aspect is a strange mix and maybe this is the thing that I wouldn't "get" by being from Northern Ireland.At times it is quite playful and witty but then at the same time it is pretty violent . In and of itself, I don't have a problem with this because it can work but in this case I didn't feel like it did as the violence was almost too jarring and too heavy or serious to really be able to be darkly funny in the way needed. The direction is a little bit excessive in the same way – not making its different extremes really work together particularly well, but it does still have some things about it which I enjoyed and mostly the tone of the film is consistent. The winner for me was the performances from the lead actors because they sold their characters better than the material did. Chow overplays it perhaps but he is a good foil for the rather calmer playing from Wen Jiang (who I really liked here). Xiaogang Fen is fun too in support as Tang.Although I am not Chinese, I did still quite enjoy this film even if I didn't think it totally worked. The comedy aspect is odd and the violence doesn't always work with it as it should, although the playful spirit of most of the film combines well with the delivery of Chow and Wen to make it better than it otherwise would have been.

I didn't like it as a movie and was slightly offended by it after seeing it for the firs time. Then I watched it again and realized it is actually a series of encrypted political messages disguised as a movie. You can call it a movie if you consider movie an 'entertainment' and that this is the way Chinese people in China are entertained, with bitterness and cynicism. Everything in the movie is just too 'real' and it is painful (for me) to watch. Director Jiang, Wen had too much to say and couldn't say it directly. Starting from the title, if you notice that the title that first appeared was translated to be 'let the bullet fly for a while; then 'for a while' was removed. This was Jiang Wen's first message: everything he tries to say has to be in disguise, sometimes mixed with jokes in bad tastes such as when he said how he followed General Cai'e during the revolution then became bandit after Cai died in Japan, which was followed by Ge You's digression on when he was 17 blah blah blah, the title means you need to wait for a while before the message goes through to audience (had to bypass censorship first) There were dialogues in the movie nobody can get right away and tell what logical purpose it serves, such as when Huang Cilang said he met Ma bandit 20 years before, together with other mysterious dialogues reveal who they were and how they became who they are now. They both implied that they know Japanese suicide rituals well, which meant they were both close to the revolution etc. Anyway, it is painful to watch because it is so real.

i ain't gonna talk about the storyline or something like that, i just gonna tell you, you will need some insights for this excellent movie. living at U.S i don't often watch movies from mainland China, not that i can't. it's just Hollywood and Hongkong cinema got my attention most of time. Until this one [ Let the Bullets Fly - for a little ]. if you think this is just action, comedy, Western, you are wrong. there are much much more of the story and secret behind that you need some insights in order to get it. the things that they do and the version that someone or somebody die inside this movie, they all links together, and what's so amazing about this movie is, it is a great movie where you can just watch like a comedy and don't think too much about it. but, if you wanted it more,re-watch it again. and then you will know, for some of them to die, it isn't just because they got shot, cut, or whatever. there is a untold storyline behind it. and that makes this movie from great to excellent.sorry for my poor English.

There are so many funny metaphors but you do need to be somewhat acquainted with Chinese to understand them. I think this will be a difficult film for non-Chinese to grasp, especially with a lot of deadpan satire and dark humor. It is extremely funny in a way, especially the scene between Jiang Wen and Carina Lau where she displayed a series of objects to him in bed. You won't "get it" if you don't understand Chinese proverbs and surreptitious meaning. So I'm not surprised if this movie will be rated exceptionally intelligent to its Chinese audience but will appear to many as silly, improbable and illogical.