Big Bullet (1996)
Reviewed by: Chungking_Cash on 2003-01-25
By the early '90s, Hong Kong filmmakers had written so many valentines to criminals -- gangsters specifically -- that serving under the rank and file of a triad seemingly paralleled falling in love for the first time. A critical backlash began to mount and a number of films emerged that portrayed law enforcement agents as self-sacrificing heroes even in spite of personal fragmentation.

"Big Bullet," one such entry in a cycle of honeymoon crashing action films, is largely comprised of popular cinema technique -- in other words, it doesn't break any new ground. Nevertheless, director Benny Chan spends enough time walking along side his subjects (a team of EU officers led by recently disgraced/demoted detective Lau Ching-wan) that these otherwise one-dimensional characters appear interesting enough to ride shotgun with in their pursuit of Anthony Wong and Yu Rong Guang who share a fetish for killing cops.

The finale, obviously inspired by "Die Hard 2," is poorly edited together in a series of medium shots and close up's and not surprisingly succeeds at alienating the audience.

Comparatively, 1996 also saw the release of the first three "Young and Dangerous" films (touching off the "triad boyz" subgenre drawing continued critical ire) that further marketed triads to impressionable teenagers by way of heartthrob Ekin Cheng and "Big Bullet" players Jordan Chan, Francis Ng, Anthony Wong, and Spencer Lam.

Reviewer Score: 7