Wordiezett So much average

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

dbborroughs Weak action film is far from Donnie Yen's best.The plot has Yen as a deep cover cop battling a crime lord.I interviewed Donnie Yen when this film played at the New York Chinese Film Festival in November 2013 and before I could say anything about the film, or anything t all, Yen began talking about how disappointed he was in the film. He went on to talk about how the film was put together the wrong way and was doomed never to work. He seemed to be distancing himself from the film, which was strange since no one at the festival had seen it yet. You know a film can't be really good if its star bad mouths it.Actually the film is't horrible. The plot is a mess but the action mostly works and sometimes that's enough. In the present case it's almost enough, certainly the film would be worth seeing streaming or as a loaner, anything so long as you're not paying much to see it.Donnie's done mostly better and he's done worse.

jay klaten i was expecting to watch donnie yen fighting movie as good as Flash Point or IP Man,instead kind disappointed to watch this movie. the story is really make my head turn.i don't even know what this story is about. maybe its my fault since they use 2 Chinese languages , Cantonese and Mandarin. but still even with subs-title iam still confusing. not like ip man the story is easy to understand and the fight is awesome.talk about the fighting,, its not so Donnie Yen. He fight like he doesn't know kungfu. fight like gangster knows only how to kick and punch and chop with knife. and the worse.. Ground Fighting make me want to walk out of cinema. In every martial art the ground fighting is what i hate the most. its not even art.Don't expect much like flash point or IP MAN. but still have one thing that make me sit tight . the girl!!. she is so pretty. i forgot the name

ebossert Note: Check me out as the "Asian Movie Enthusiast" on YouTube, where I review tons of Asian movies.You really have to wonder how a film like "Special ID" (2013) gets an average IMDb rating of 5.3 out of 10 while something like "The Hobbit" (2012) gets an 8.0. People have truly lost their sense of priorities while watching action films. Read some reviews of "Special ID" and you'll see all kinds of petty criticisms, from language dialects to overly decorated restaurants! Here's a newsflash for you. For an action film to satisfy, it needs a minimum of two things: good action and brisk pacing. Guess what. "Special ID" easily meets this standard and in fact surpasses it with some truly memorable action sequences. Sure, the script is boilerplate and basic (even a bit clumsy in spots), but that doesn't automatically tank the enjoyability of a film that focuses first and foremost on the action anyways.A cop (Donnie Yen) and his team of comrades go undercover in one of China's most ruthless underworld organizations to stop a gang leader. Andy On plays a good villain, while Tian Jing is a likable female lead. The action in this film is spaced out nicely, which assists the pacing quite well. The fight choreography is less "showy", opting to reflect a realistic, scrappy form of fist-fighting with some mixed martial arts peppered in. The finale lasts a whopping 15 minutes and showcases a suspenseful car chase. This actioner definitely satisfies.The director here is Clarence Fok, who has a hit or miss filmography but has given us some fun movies in the past – "The Iceman Cometh" (1989) and "Black Panther Warriors" (1994) being two fairly brainless crowd-pleasers that stand out. He has also contributed some truly riveting dramas. For example, his crime drama "Century of the Dragon" (1999) is one of the best triad films of the past 15 years. Overall, the direction in "Special ID" is solid during the action, with some very cool sweeping shots during the lengthy car chase.Unfortunately, Clarence should have vetoed some of the scoring choices in "Special ID" because the background music got intrusive at times. The sound design of this film feels amateurish and cheap early on, but get better as it progresses. This shouldn't be too much of a problem for fans of old school Hong Kong action flicks from the 80s and 90s, which many times had consistently poor production values but nevertheless succeeded at providing pure entertainment value. At the very least, "Special ID" looks nice while it gives the viewers its fist-to-face goodies.

garywongkleek Pardon for my bad English, I am not writing a full review but only posting some of my personal thoughts after watching the movie.1. The trailer spoils some of the exciting fight scenes in this movie. 2. Lower your expectation and you will still be entertained. 3. Not quite the martial art movie if you come all the way from SPL and Flashpoint 4. The fighting choreography does not come from Donnie Yen himself, I suppose. 5. The fighting is realistic, however, more true to the real street fighting than ever. 6. The car chasing scenes and the stunts are awesome, better than the fight, maybe. 7. Not a bad story, but without twist and very straight forward. You will not get the same story impact and the strong feeling for vengeance like SPL and Flashpoint. 8. I am a little disappointed that the final battle does not carry the same furiousness I experienced from SPL and Flashpoint. 9. Having saying that, it makes both SPL and Flashpoint a classics. 10.I should have just give it a 5-star, but 1 more star to salute Donnie Yen for trying something new, trying to create another variant to his already awesome movie collections.My rating : 6/10PS I found that the Young Detective Dee is a more entertaining movie if you want some cool fights.