toddly6666

2005 was the best year in Chinese/HK films since 1993. Not only did I not see one bad blockbuster, but all the big Chinese/HK blockbusters were movies that were good to awesome, such as House of Flying Daggers, Kung Fu Hustle, Seven Swords, The Myth, and now, SPL. I had very high expectations for Flying Daggers and Kung Fu Hustle, and both those movies were even better than I expected. I had very low expectations for Seven Swords and The Myth, and both those movies were surprisingly very entertaining and they too exceeded my expectations. But with SPL, I had high expectations and I got something just good. Not that there is anything wrong with that though! SPL is a pretty good cop genre movie - I'll give it that, but it wasn't as spectacular as everyone had hyped it up to be.

As I was watching SPL, I couldn't stop thinking about Michael Mann's HEAT and Steven Spielberg's MUNICH. SPL is a cross between those two movies, mixed with some intense martial arts scenes. I thought that HEAT and MUNICH pulled off the "I feel sympathy for the good guys and bad guys because they are all family men" script much better than in SPL. The background story to each character in SPL is on the borderline of being fluffy cheese, but the director, Wilson Yip, pulled back at the right time when the melodrama was getting cringe-worthy and brought it back to the action. The most cringe-worthy scene was when all the cops are getting calls from their family wishing them "Happy Father's Day." Considering that SPL is an action movie, the melodrama in SPL is still more tastefully done and not as unnaturally forced as it is in a lot of other HK/Korean/Japanese movies. SPL also reminded me of MUNICH due to the points about how killing will not solve anything and will only make things worse.

There is a lot of talk about Sammo, Donnie, and Jacky Wu, but actually everyone in this film were excellent. It's some of the best acting I've seen in a contemporary HK action film. I think this is Simon Yam's best acting role and the
actor that played his police collegue, Wah, was excellent as well - I rarely buy Asian actors trying to act tough, but those two were pretty believable. Although Sammo and Jacky Wu were awesome as villains, they are just both too damn likable and I still didn't see them as mean. I can buy Jet Li as a scary villain in Lethal Weapon 4, but I can't buy Jacky Wu as a villain after watching him in Tai Chi 2 and Legend of Zu. He's just too much of a baby-faced nice guy, especially after watching the Making-of-the-film on DVD. But that what makes SPL excellently cast. There is nothing better in cinema than seeing actors do roles which go against their typecast.

The final fight scenes were pretty good too. I'm not so sure that they were really spectacular or if I just liked them because there were no quick MTV cuts and were expertly filmed. I actually like Sammo Hung's first fight scene the most where the group of cops try and take down Sammo all at once. That was pretty amazing!

Donnie Yen is kick-ass as usual. It's so good to see him back in good movies again. I was afraid he was doing the Jean Claude Van Damme path in the late 90s. In SPL, he had a chance to do some acting and succeeded, but he also did a combination of Zoolander and cowboy poses throughout the film, which were unintentionally funny.

Besides the action, acting, and story, what I liked the most about SPL was that it was beautifully shot and directed. It was just so professionally done and did not feel like a typical HK movie. I felt like I was watching a Michael Mann movie that was filmed in Hong Kong with Asian actors.



The 2-DISC NTSC ALL-REGION DVD is a pretty good typical package from Deltamac.
The anamorphic 1.85:1 video looks very good. At times, especially night scenes, there is some graininess, but overally, the picture looks nice. The video presentation had a nice cinematic quality and I was happy to see that the movie was not shot in digital video as it seemed in the low-quality trailer that I saw on the internet and which is included on this DVD.
The Cantonese DTS-ES is just powerful! The background music is well-spread and atmospheric. The fight scenes are bone-crunching painful to hear in a good way! There is also Cantonese DD 5.1 EX and Mandarin DD 5.1 EX.
The English subtitles are excellent. I didn't notice any grammar, spelling, or translation mistakes.
The extras are just the trailer, tv spots, Making-of, Press Conference, photo gallery. The main plus about the small amount of extras is that they have english subtitles!


Overall, SPL is an impressive, atmospheric, professionally-made ass-kicking cop flick. The movie is worth it just to see a fat Sammo Hung move incredibly fast. That's worth the money alone!


FILM: 8.5
DVD VIDEO: 8.5
DVD AUDIO: 9
EXTRAS: 6

Cardiac161

Looking forward to seeing this as I am just waiting for my order to come in.

Though after all the hype and overpraise for this film when it first came out, the euphoria kinda died down after when a lot more people realized SPL wasn't the second coming of the good old-Hong Kong ultimate movie, so I am keeping my expectations lower.

I guess with a lot of HK films coming out now, I had to lower my expectations so I could actually find the movies much more enjoyable such as The Myth, Election, Seven Swords and Perhaps Love. And sure enough, these films turned out way better than I ever thought.

Bill Geiger

For those that don't know....as I didn't.... SPL stands for Sha Po Lang

tinlunlau

i borrowed a copy today and checked out the audio. and man....it was LOUD!!
perfect workout for my speakers. i shut off the dvd cuz it was getting late and i think i'd appreciate it even more if i can watch it in the daytime where i can put it on even louder.

asianxcore

I watched some of the movie at a DVD store in Chinatown, over the weekend. decided to pick it up today semi-blindly.

hope it's good. or at least fun and enjoyable

mrhan

I wish they would have left out the wire fu 'cause most of the action was really brutal until the noticeable wirework. Overall, though, I thought it was a very good film. Especially the fight in the alley; there was some really nice choreography there.

Off topic: Has anyone seen Dragon Squad? I couldn't find a review for it here. Thanks.

asianxcore

haven't seen it but here's some links to some reviews I read. all negative unfortunely, hopefully someone here has something good to say about it

http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2005/1..._squad_re.html
http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/004774.html
http://www.beyondhollywood.com/reviews/dragonsquad.htm

back on topic, got a chance to watch SPL tonight, and I really enjoyed the movie. last two fight scenes were great to watch. I do agree with the OP though, the movie is good but not great. does anyone else think this might have come from the fact that there were too many small stories (the police team/po) and none of them where 100% fleshed out?

harosa

I agree, the story was rushed and half ass, not the reinvention of crime flicks some sites have been saying, great fighting though, just a laughably bad storyline and ending.

mrhan

Thanks for the links. Did you get a chance to go to Mountain View to pick up that Oppo?

Reservoir

Very poor film. I could not stop laughing at the awful music backed up with even worse acting.


Get Sympathy For Lady Vengeance if you want a good new film from the East.

harosa

Funny enough, I picked that up at the same time as SPL so its next to watch. I chose SPL first for the fighting but thats all it had.

asianxcore

not yet. I probably won't get one until I get a new tv. I don't think my TV supports DVI. for some reason it has a button on the remote for a DVI input but I can't seem to find a marked spot on the back of the TV.

I have a spot on the back that looks like a 15-pin that says RGB in, with 2 L/R inputs next to it, any idea what that is?

Josh Z

That's a VGA input, usually used to connect to a computer. What type of set is this?

asianxcore

Maxent 27X2 Widescreen LCD TV. I got it at Costco about a year ago. Well thats a bummer, no 720p for me

flixtime

Just watched "SPL" aka "Sha Po Lang" - dark Hong Kong crime thriller mixed with solid martial arts action - and found it supremely entertaining (I went in hopeful but wary of potential overhype from initial reviews, combined with some caution from its lukewarm reception among some who viewed the DVD before I).

Though I wouldn't call it the phoenix rising for Hong Kong cinema (it really isn't all that revolutionary at all), I can readily understand why some of the reviews from its showing at the Toronto International Film Festival were so over-the-top giddy with delight.

I enjoyed the recent "Election" quite a bit and I enjoyed "SPL" even more, so Hong Kong cinema has redeemed itself (at least for the time being). The storyline and characters were on par with other recent HK crime films, and the action scenes were very exciting. As a whole I thought the movie was just plain "cool" and an entertaining ride for its 90-minute runtime.

In comparing "SPL" to other HK crime films from 2004 and 2005, I'd probably say it was my favorite (over other enjoyable entries such as New Police Story, Breaking News, One Nite in Mongkok, Love Battlefied, and Election), caveat being that I just finished watching it so I've yet to come down from the rush of exhilaration. Enthusiastically recommended!

edited to add: Since there has been some mention of "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" in this discussion, (although the comparison is a bit apples to oranges) I will say that as much as I enjoyed that film, its outstanding stylishness, comparitively intricate structure (during the first half), and sometimes darkly humorous tone did in a way overpower the story, characters, and ultimately the film's lasting emotional impact. In that way, I found "SPL" superior as I felt more an emotional investment in the characters and thus the film for me carried more weight and was thus more memorable. Is "SPL" a better film than "Lady Vengeance" - "no"............but in tallying the final scorecard I would award at least a couple of rounds to "SPL".

Reservoir

SPL is a 'Honk Kong' thriller directed by someone who likes to be called an 'action director'. It's melodrama with poor acting, terrible dubbing, copy/pasted music, bad story line and is a generally poorly crafted b rated film which never rises above soap.

The only similarity it has with the masterpiece from Chan-wook Park is they were both made east of Los Angeles.


I'm no fan of HK cinema as I think it's usually cheap and nasty with terrible production values. I have recently enjoyed Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer and of course I must mention the master Wong Kar Wai.

Korean and Taiwanese cinema is the best non-English cinema out there at the moment. HK cinema seems stuck in the 70s. Mainland China cinema has outdone it lately too. For me HK cinema (for the most part) is just Bollywood with worse dubbing.

JHosk

Your really comparing apples to oranges here. SPL is not trying to be the next "Oldboy" or "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance". It's an HK action flick made for HK action fans.

asianxcore

no one was comparing SPL to Sympathy For Lady Vengeance, Reservoir. actually I think you were the one that brought it up. sure SPL isn't as good as the top HK action films, but comparing it to Sympathy For Lady Vengeance, is like the above poster mentioned, comparing apples to oranges. It didn't set out to be anything but enjoyable, which as you can see by a lot of the replies, a lot of us enjoyed the movie overall, because most of us I assume enjoy HK cinema.

also the comment about HK movies being not stellar nowadays isn't new. heck, on the SPL special features they had a press conference with the cast and crew. Donny Yen spoke about how HK has really fallen behind other countries like Korea. yes it's true, but that doesn't make the films that do come out of HK any less enjoyable.

logboy

i think i remember that part of the press conference, Yen mentions HK cinema in relation to the financial success of Korean cinema, suppose he could mean either not doing as well as imports within HK or not selling as well as imports abroad... either way, financial success is necessary and the aim, not the only measure of success. i like SPL, avoid reading about films usually before they come out or I see them, so only sensed an interest in it from watching the trailer a few times and I do tend to dip into HK films every so often.... it got typical HK movie problems, but has great positives in the unsual mix of action which is kept fairly low-level and is a different kind of action movie in that the focus is shifted somewhat. worth seeing i think.

harosa

Ive been into HK films for so long that I know the glut everyone is talking about, from the 100 "Killer" clones, to the never ending Young and Dangerous sequels to the umpteenth mob and SDU films, I had all but given up on anything from there that resembled any of these archetypes so I generally try and read some reviews for more recent films- just to see if any of the ideas explored are actually new in some way and SPL's "hype" generally got me on its promise of some good fighting scenes and of Hung getting back into it, so on that front i was sold but the rest of the movie is just generic HK cop/mob trash from the last 10-15 yrs.

Reservoir

It's a bad film.

That's my main point, I've no interest in the genre. I like all sorts of films but not bad ones.

JHosk

I think that's everyone's point. If you have no interest in the HK action genre, its not surprising you didn't like SPL.

harosa

I dont think its about being into the action genre, its just that we're all subsceptible to hype and the early buzz on this got us all excited, maybe to the film's disadvantage.

FantasticVSDoom

Think I may make a trip to Chinatown this weekend to pick this up...There are a few I need to get as its been a while so Ill add this to the list.

mrhan

So, why did you watch it in the first place if you already had no interest in the genre?