GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Nonureva Really Surprised!

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Mike Garcia Directed by one of the best directors of Hong Kong cinema industry, Wong Jing and starred by one of his favorite actors, the charismatic Chow Yun fat, who adds a new memorable performance to her legendary career,and wrapped by a cast full of stars such as Francis Ng and the legendary Sammo Hung and new rising stars as Xiaoming Huang, who amazing portraying the younger version of Chow Yun fat, literally becoming in him, and completing the cast with the talented and beautiful Quan Yuan, Li Yuan and Monica Mok. This film has overcame all my expectations becoming into one of my favorites from it's director, I love every photo gram from it and I dare to consider it a masterpiece.The film tells the story of the rise to the power of Cheng Daiqi in the crime world in the Sanghai from the 30's and his impossible love story with Zhiqiu, a young girl who dreams in become in a famous opera singer, something that is forbidden for her, it also tells the efforts of Daiqi to defend Sanghai from the Japanese invasion.The film pass through many different genres from melodrama, gangster cinema, action and romance, being divided in two parts.In the first part of the film Wong Jing, using flashbacks, tells the humble origins of the main character and the his love story, using masterly camera movements and travelings to take the audience in a travel through time, accompanied by a beautiful photography by Andrew Lau and a wonderful score that is a key factor in the most important moments of the story to excite the audience.scenes as the one in which a young Daiqi, played by Xaoming Hua, arrives to Sanghai and stares at the biggest building to the city trying to see the end of it where the camera ascends until the last floor in which an older Daiqi, played by Yun Fat, is contemplating the whole city and the later scene in which a traveling shows a young Daiqi sitting in front of his men just after become in the right hand of the crime boss in Sanghai, played by a great Sammo Hung, the then after the traveling become in the adult version of the character played by Chow Yun Fat, is a perfect and perfect visual exercise that unifies in a masterly way the past and the present of the story and the character.The first act of the story ends with the spectacular sequences of the invasion of Sanghai by the Japanese army that reach it's climax in a scene that is pure poetry.The second part of the film shows Daiqi defending Sanghai from the Japanese invasion leading us to an emotional and epic ending...One of the best moves made in Hong Kong in recent years, much better than the films that are coming out from Hollywood these days.

J_Charles The story has been recorded in other posts so I won't repeat here.Wong Jing is mixing genres again. This time he combines pieces of the Godfather, Casablanca, and Inglorious Basterds all into one film. And as with most things that you throw into a blender, sometimes it's good, sometimes it's just a confused mess.The early part with his entry into mob world is pretty formulaic HK gangster style. We've got the mob guy with a heart of gold (Chow telling his cronies to stop the prostitution racket but keep up the gambling dens). We've got his rapid ascension in the ranks, the sworn brotherhood to the head guy (Sammo Hung who looks really obese now) and his loyalty to those around him.then comes the Casablanca story... lost love. tragic romance. a reappearance of his young love who is now married to someone who's a freedom fighter of some sort. They even ripped off the airplane scene at the end. C'mon Wong Jing... did you just copy/paste that into your script? And of course the end is with Inglorious Basterd style massive slaughterfest of the bad guys as they're trapped in a theatre. Again. More copy/paste.I love Sammo Hung and Chow Yun Fat. But the story was too derivative. The scenes were too overtly ripped off from other movies which are so famous and so highly regarded that it's hard not to see the cheap knockoff The Last Tycoon really is. In fact - the best parts of Last Tycoon are from Casablanca.When is a homage really just a ripoff??? In this case I'm glad I didn't have to pay to watch this one.Conclusion: It looks great (nice cinematography). It's acting is good. But the stories and scenes obviously belong to better movies. All that was missing was a piano player named Sam.5/10

Mozjoukine The idea of the GOD OF GAMBLERS team of star Chow yun-fat and director Wong Jing back in business, with a decent budget and a promising subject is richly appealing. Throw in the great Sammo Hung and I'm there clutching my sixteen dollars.It takes a while to realise that what we are getting is just a shadow of the Hong Kong films pre-take over. The murky colour scheme and lack of shadow detail of main land processing is the first clue.There's elaborate staging and lots of action, some of it quite vigorous and it's always nice to see Chow's character blowing away the support cast - including a shoot 'em up Catholic priest. However the plot winds down into feeble scissors and paste of better films - CASABLANCA, THE GREAT MAGICIAN, BONNIE & CLYDE - where you can see the derivations well before they arrive - like the protracted build-up with the opera spear tossing in the climax.Sammo is wasted even with the presence he brings to his Triad boss role.

WojnGhan <<< Spoilers ahead, please don't read if you intend to watch the movie without any prior knowledge of the plot>>>I had the good fortune to watch this in Australia in an actual cinema, a treat for a country that rarely screens Asian movies. It was a particularly worthwhile experience as the movie was thoroughly enjoyable.The screenplay is well written, using a classic hero's journey plot contained within a "rags to riches" story of our protagonist, Cheng Daiqi (Chow Yun Fat). Viewers of western films may recognise some similarities to seminal gangster movies like Scarface and Godfather. Interspersed through this main plot line, the film's writers (Jing Wong, Manfred & Philip Lui) skillfully weave related Shakespearean subplots of power, romance, lust, betrayal, family, loyalty and patriotism. The plot travels at a comfortable pace and is made more interesting by a clever story telling method that jumps the audience through non-linear time periods during the first part of the movie to paint a beautiful back story for the film's finale.The casting director should be recognised on his/her own accord for assembling a cast that could deliver on the story. It is a little unfair to single out any specific actors given the aggregate stellar performance, but if pushed, Chow Yun Fat (Cheng Daiqi) and Huang Xiaoming (young Cheng Daiqi) are near faultless in their respective performances. Chow Yun Fat once again demonstrates his acting prowess, moving into that rare stratosphere of actors whom directors can point a camera at, and with just a close-up facial shot and no spoken lines, let the actor's eyes emotionally engage the audience. Perhaps as an indirect homage to Chow Yun Fat's good looks in his younger days, a rather handsome actor plays young Cheng Daiqi. Huang Xiaoming is great in this role, especially in the latter parts of Daiqi's rise in status, exuding a quiet confidence and poise that explain Daiqi's actions in the later parts of the movie. No commentary on the actors in the movie can be concluded without a mention of the women cast in this film, i.e. Daiqi's and Shouting's wives and lovers. Their beauty almost jumps off the screen, and is present in both their young and older guises. The respective wives of the two gangster brothers played their loyal roles beautifully to reveal a touch of vulnerability and humanity in their underworld husbands, hinting at the juxtaposition of power in these families.The film was shot beautifully and is accompanied by beautiful songs in its soundtrack. No small amount of attention went into the costumes as the cast were dressed in fantastic period pieces to match the movie's early 20th century setting. Although not quite matching the grandeur and realism of war scenes shot in Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down, great care was evident in simulating the chaos of Shanghai's aerial bombing.This film is well worth watching and is a showcase for Jing Wong's movie directing and Chow Yun Fat's abilities as a thespian. It serves as further evidence of Asian cinema to deliver on movies that arouse our intellectual and visual senses.