failed attempt to turn action flick into art form

Rating: 1/10 (28 May 2000)

This movie was a total disappointment for me. In the first 15-20 minutes it was not so badly done, but after that the story simply lost all dramatic suspense and conviction in a miserably failed attempt to turn an action film into some sort of "artistic" dance with overly-emphasized use of slow motion sequences. I have never in my life watched an action film with so many karate chops and gunshots and explosions, and so little suspense, so little thrill. Some of the characters, especially the key villain, were unconvincing and sort of not fully formed (the writers could take a few cues from the Bond movies), and director Woo seemed to think so highly of some of his "inventions" that he felt the need to repeat them over and over again (more than he should have to achieve the desired effect, e.g. the waves during the fight sequence at the end). The music was overdone and badly placed at times, too. By the end, the story (along with the suspense and drama) seemed to have lost all importance - it was like watching a really long music video with scenes from an action flick in it.