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Saw this tonight and was fairly disappointed. The trailer proudly proclaims that is the first Hong Kong film to ever be shot in relay by three different directors, but unfortunately the script (each segment seperately written for each director by different writers) doesn't give them much to work with. Hark is given the unenviable task of opening the film, and aside from a few flashy edits, he's left to set up an overly convoluted plot involving a heist, some inside men and an affair. Lam's writers thankfully strip some of the unnecessary layers away but in doing so his style his direction is muted. Aside from one too short, glorious sequence with a taxi cab cellphone call that ends in a chase through a restaurant, it's really just another set up for Johnnie To. To's writers give him a fantastic set up for a climax involving a speed freak, four plastic bags, scarecrows, an alligator and a noodle shop on a boat. And for a few moments it does thrill, until it runs out of steam and really doesn't know how to end itself. Outside of a fabulously flamboyant performance by Louis Koo, there is very little to recommend the film on. Instead of condensing each director's strength in their segments, it plays astonishingly restrained.

I liked To's Marx Bros-esque finale more than you did obviously -- but otherwise I don't disagree a great deal. I would say that this was a passable way to kill a bit of time -- but no cinematic gem.

Didn't like it, either. People don't really seem to "love" this but it does get more attention than To's Linger, which I actually really liked.

sidehacker wrote:Didn't like it, either. People don't really seem to "love" this but it does get more attention than To's Linger, which I actually really liked.

I never understood the (virtual) rage that Linger seemed to produce in so many online commenters. Our household liked it well enough -- even if we didn't consider it one of To's very best romances.