Having accomplished pretty much everything an international Hong Kong-based Martial Arts actor/fight-choreographer/director can do (even STAR WARS took a bite), Donnie Yen is now on track to break a longevity record, retaining top form as he begins his fifth decade in film. Here, he stars in and directs a modern Hong Kong actioner split between the police force prologue where an innocent young man gets a long jail sentence for unknowingly receiving drugs; followed by Yen’s new job at the Department of Justice where he’s able to see the enormous money laundering operation that set up the young man. Power and corruption all over the place. (Whatever did the current Chinese authorities make of the Dark Side of power politics portrayed here?*) But of course, we’re watching not for the Civil Service office procedural (damn complicated, too!), but for the chop-socky action. Five or six mega-set action pieces with two standout sequences for Yen to show the choreographic elegance that’s the foundation that allows him to release some powerful violence. First, in a parking lot sequence that feels as much a visual fugue as a fight (curving lines of action/vertical drops); and then in a climatic subway showdown as Yen and a key witness must survive an ambush of killers to reach court and testify. Handsomely made thru-out, exciting and cast with a pitch perfect touch for easy character identification. Yen, who’s already been announced for a JOHN WICK spin-off only has seven directing credits. Are any of the others this good?
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *A hard to swallow title at the end credits says Based on a True Story. Really?
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