A movie that doesn't seem to have the courage of its convictions. This triad action drama wants to have it both ways: it displays a serious attitude, polished production values, and a relatively classy cast (for the genre) inspired to give performances near the top of their range. On the other hand, Alan Mak and co. seem to want to juicy, gory shock thrills that Clarence Ford can bring to a film, and they aim this way ("low") in War Named Desire's last act. But Ford's films work precisely because of their carefree abandon, wedded to virtuostic craft: they don't care if they're tasteless or over-the-top, but what Ford's films lose in tonal control and maturity they more than make up for in the power of their images, and the sheer brio with which they celebrate film making at its most fun, its most subversive. DESIRE won't go this far, but neither does it completely renounce cheesy subversive pleasures (largely of the blood-splattered, exit-wound fetishizing kind). Out of this mix of impulses which, unfortunately, largely work at cross purposes, one can pick out elements that shine. Francis Ng, Dave Wong Kit, and Gigi Leung (yes, even Leung) are offer quietly powerful performances that are hard to forget. The film's image crafting, when not over-reaching in a deliberate "look at my stylishness" mode (that we've seen in Mak's RAVE FEVER) is capable of some carefully composed, visually stunning images (Sam Lee's farewell, in ultra long shot, or Francis Ng, off centre, isolated between a starkly geometric foreground and background patterns that isolate and alienate him from his surroundings). And best of all, Mark Lui's beautifully crafted score, that lends even long scenes of cliche-mired dialogue a dignity and emotional heft that they wouldn't otherwise have deserved. Lui's combination of ground-bass defined elegies, dance music, and ballads resonate nicely with Mak's more stunning visuals to create moments (though the film can't sustain them) of emotional, even poetic weight. A shame that all of DESIRE can't be as inventive or stunning as Leung's rain-drenched ambush under the umbrellas.