My Heart Will Go On (1999)
Reviewed by: wyeeso on 2012-03-30
Summary: From a typical assassin story to a love mystery
[Plot: 3/5]
The film is a little more than the average assassin-will-get-eliminated-if-he-wants-out story, although it look really average judging from the start of the movie, with Leo the professional assassin (played by Nicky Wu) wanting to quit after gaining some moral senses. Then, like every other assassin story, quitting his job means betraying his gang, and betrayal means he must be eliminated at once! Yet, during the attempted elimination as initiates by Leo's senior, Bob (played by Joe Ma), Leo manages to survive from the fall while Michael the police officer (played by Lawrence Ng) gets a head shot.
Following by such a typical opening (as described above) for an assassin story, romance and mystery suddenly take over. That is, as soon as the heart of the deceased Michael is transplanted to Leo, who has been suffering from a heart disease, Leo appears to have possessed some of Michael's memory regarding his work (ie. Leo can remember where the files are located in Michael's office and the password to his computer) and his fiancee, Maggie (played by Ada Choi). Then, the questions gradually emerge from the love story. Does Leo's love to Maggie has anything to do with Michael's heart, or is it simply just love at first sight? Does Maggie love Leo because he is Leo, or because he possesses Michael's heart?
The answer to all those questions is: we don't know because their love story isn't exactly fulfilled, and we will never know because the story just ends before we can find out.
What we do know is the story ends in a road to revenge (the plot jumps back into being an assassin story), and Leo finally meets his end, dying in the same way as Michael did.

[Actors: 3/5]
This film consists of actors from HK, Taiwan and China, and they have done a fine performance for their role, although some could have done better.
For example, Nicky Wu looked a bit too pure (and adorable) to be an assassin. I can tell he was trying to show it through his eyes and his looks that he could be a determined killer too, but that's just not convincing enough, especially with his soft voice. Yet, I'll give him a thumb-up for speaking Cantonese all the way and being such a dreamy guy!
Same goes to Ada Choi. She is a great actress in general, but sometimes her performance didn't appear to be strong enough to convince the audience of her character. I mean, yes, I sympathize with her character for being so patient with her finance while waiting for a joyful married life, but there's something with her performance that just make me feel sympathetic, not grieved.
As for Lawrence Ng, he's another great actor but hadn't had the opportunity to show off his performance in this film. But then, I think he will play a better assassin than Nicky if they get to switch roles.

[The Production Crew:]
As soon as I check out who the director was for this film, I think I can understand why this film is more of a romance than an action movie...
As for the casting, there is no doubt that the cast is the selling point for this film. At the time when this film was produced, the 3 leading roles promised to be the best on-screen couple (Lawrence Ng and Ada Choi are known as the best couple from TVB drama "Healing Hands" in 1998) and off-screen couple (Nicky Wu and Ada used to be couple in real life during that period). Then, as usual, Joe Ma is always the best choice for a despicable character in HK movies!

[Memorable scene(s):]
At one point, this film has made a reference to a TVB drama character: Paul Ching from "Healing Hands" (1998), a role that has made Lawrence Ng famous on TV. And in the movie, it's almost like a spoof when Michael (let's not forget it's played by Lawrence) is rushed to ER, the hospital's PA asks for Paul Ching (played by some other guy in the movie) to attend the operation.
There is also a cute scene in the film where Leo first meet Maggie on one end of the footbridge, then he immediately rushes across the street and poses charmingly for her on the other end of the footbridge.

[Worth Watching A Second Time?]
I guess you can watch this film as many times as you want for the sake of Nicky Wu (or other idols of your choice from this movie)! Otherwise it's not really recommended if it's just for the movie in general.
Reviewer Score: 6