not horrible nor great

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

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

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

Odd Polyglot action film that appears to have been made by a Japanese filmmaker in the Philippines; with a multinational cast; in English, Japanese, Tagalong and a few other languages; With opening and closing credits in English and a high quotient of violence and meaningful silences. The plot has a hit man sent to the to rescue a kidnapped girl. He does so , but she doesn't trust him (and she's carrying a load of drugs). She tries to flee with a taxi driver, who it turns out is part of the gang who kidnapped the girl. Rescued by the hit-man the pair then are chased across country. Grimy dark action film full of clichés (which it manages to transcend) is the sort of film that would have felt at home in the grind houses of the late 1970's or early 1980's. Its bleak film that seems to have been influenced by the Euro-action films from the early 80's with its sense of nihilism. It's a film with a sweaty dirty feel that drips off the screen in an almost physical way. It's a film that many action film lovers will like and others will not since its in no way a slick film. I liked the movie a great deal. It's a dark little tale that doesn't really seem like most other films out there (even with the clichés). There is a hip coolness and an in your face style that's refreshing. The film just picks up and goes for it. If there is any real flaw it's the fact that the film is in so many different languages, which while keeping the film feeling real (these are the languages the characters speak and the fact that it's multi lingual is referenced), it also makes things a bit confusing since there are times when it isn't clear whats going on, either because of speaking different languages or because of heavy accents. (I'm suspecting that the multi-languages is the reason this film isn't better known since its would be difficult to know what to subtitle and dub in order to keep the film feeling real). Trouble with the language aside I really liked this film a great deal. I liked that it did what it did in its own way and created something greater than its parts. Worth a look if you can find it.

Naturally I bought this movie to see Vivian Hsu, and of course I wasn't disappointed. She is her usual gorgeous self, as she we see her get chased after, kidnapped, shot at, sing a melancholy song, and get 'tricked' left, right and centre.The movie's about her getting kidnapped or something... I'm not sure exactly what was going on in the end, and what the main character's motivations were - but oh well, it was a pretty average action movie, with bullets flying everywhere, and people looking serious.The first half is probably the best, when Liwa (Vivian's character) and a tax-driver are being held hostage by her mysterious kidnapper, and they're trying to get rid of him. There's quite a bit of English dialogue in the movie, but none from Vivian.Anyway, worth seeing if you want to see the leading lady.

An early scene in this film shows a car chase where the vehicle plows through a fruit vendor's cart. This should alert you that this film is full of the standard shoot-em-up gangster movie cliches. This includes stairway shoot-outs, a tower sniper, car chases, a motorcycle chase, a helicopter chase, two-fisted gunplay, and a flaming vehicle falling down an embankment. The only interesting thing about this movie is the Philipine shooting location.