With a cast and director as talented as the those in The Mission, its no wonder that the film is one of the best from the 90s. Johnnie To expertly directs the ensemble in a cerebral thriller that has you hooked from the opening moments. As expected, Anthony Wong and Francis Ng are fantastic, able to command the screen with minimum words but maximum body language. Lam Suet and Simon Yam add great supporting roles to the already strong story. Although I imagine it was influenced by Michael Mann's "Heat," the gun battles in The Mission are also incredible, especially the one that takes place in the mall after the crowds have cleared out. The members of the team all know their roles to perfection and execute plans to a T. It's exciting to see professionals that are calm and collected in a harried situation instead of screaming and firing blindly in the general direction of the attackers. The ending of The Mission is also a treat and will have you thinking back to the motivation and action of each of the members leading up to that point. Highly recommended and begging for a legitimate Special Edition DVD or Blu-ray release.

9/10