Final Edge (2002)
Reviewed by: Brian Thibodeau on 2007-03-11
Summary: Phillip Ko keeps the 90's alive!
Above-average latter-day Heroic Bloodshed tale shines during executive producer Phillip Ko's potent action scenes, only mildly less so during routine story of a triad power play in the Phillipines. Lily Chung looks fantastic as the leader of the local Hung Hing branch, increasingly beseiged by minions of thuggish Ko, who believes he's rightfully entitled to her inherited throne. Overseas-educated little brother Nishikawa tries to stay clean by accepting a job at an Eikowada fashion house in Hong Kong (a major sponsor, by all indications onscreen; an innocent bystander is even killed wearing one of their distinctive T-shirts), but is drawn in when Ko abducts his disdainful coworker Lily Lee (though we're never shown how, exactly) while they're in the country for a big show. Looks more expensive that is probably is, thanks to some choice locations, including an upscale hotel and theatre, and an opening sequence onboard a docked cruise liner. Chung fares incredibly well in all four of the film's action scenes, including a swordfight in which she utilizes only her umbrella against an onslaught of goons, a round of hand-to-hand combat with henchman Shi Hung-bo, and two protracted gunfights that climax the film. Worth seeing.
Reviewer Score: 7