The Other Kind of Death Penalty
1989
Director: Cheung Hing Lung
Stars: Chin Wai, Cheung Yet Tao, Lam Ching-Ying
A high-level triad (Chin Wai) finds his world falling down around him after he tries to stop his gang from selling drugs. This movie comes off as a very blatant John Woo-wannabe. It tries to capture the look of Woo's films, most notably A Better Tomorrow -- Chin Wai looks like Chow Yun-Fat's cousin and he dresses up in Ray-Bans and trenchcoat ala Mark Gor, but there's really no heart at all in it. There's plenty of gunplay but very little of it is exciting, or even looks good; there's almost nothing in the way of actual action coordination here. With the success of ABT, there was a slew of copycat movies, and this is certainly one of the least exciting of them.
RATING: 3