Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #173985 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-06-27
• Rating: Unrated
• Formats: Color, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Thai, Vietnamese
• Running time: 82 minutes

Amazon.com
This visceral Southeast Asian battle drama is the film John Woo completed just before his commercial breakthrough with A Better Tomorrow in 1987. It was shelved for almost two years and then hastily released, to cash in on that film's startling success. Although not a fully coherent work, it is the film in which the director tried out the operatic, slo-mo approach to action that he perfected in his later pictures, so it's must viewing for Woo-philes. The setup is polished off in a quick prologue, as a squad of Chinese commandos is dispatched to smash a heroin ring in Thailand. The movie is pretty much nonstop action from that point on. The commandos find and kidnap the top drug smuggler, and then flee, pursued by an army of murderous goons. There are several long comic gambling scenes; it's the Deer Hunter's Russian roulette number played with dice instead of guns. Woo has always been a bold borrower of trope he admired in other movies. In this case the best sequence is lifted almost shot-for-shot from one of the Japanese Lone Wolf and Cub samurai movies: a plucky kid digging in the ground for safety when the baddies try to burn him out of his concealment in a grain field. --David Chute

Customer Reviews

Early but good Film by Master John Woo
When I first saw this film it was only because one of my fav. directors, John Y. Woo made it. But it is surprisingly good for an old lo-budget HongKong movie. The direction is all right and when the action turns on, you can see the master's handwriting. This film is gross but entertaining and it's worth a rental. Avoid the dubbed Version!

It's just as good as Woo's films, better than most of them
Unbelievable! This film was real nice. I got it just cuz it looked entertaining, maybe it would make me laugh. It did more than that. the acting is superb and unbelievably powerful at times. I love this movie and will probably watch it several times a year for many years to come. Rent it if you can find it, but it's definitely worth buying if you can't

A blast of a film from John Woo!!
Yes, you've seen this film a 1000x times before, but not one directed by Mr. Woo! And that makes ALL the difference, bullets fly, explosions rock, it's a blast of a film that any action flick junkie will appreciate. Is it as polished as some of his later work, well of course not, but does that make it any LESS fun, hell no! I bet Chuck Norris wished he starred in this film. Don't listen to those movie snobs who thumb their nose at this film because it's not "The Killer" or "Hard Boiled". It's fun, it's cheese, it's a good time, and with all of the other crap that's released nowadays, that's a blessing.