Johnnie To's Drug War is a very well shot, and well directed film about a Chinese police operation to take down a drug operation. Timmy, a high level meth dealer, is busted after his drug factory explodes, and he crashes his car trying to escape. The police agree to waive the death penalty if he helps take down the operation he is a part of. This leads to an intricate operation from Captain Zhang and his fellow officers. The operation takes them all through the supply chain, as they try and net the organizations kingpins and bust them all.This movie was excellent. It was shot very well, showcasing the smoggy locales of big-city China. It was excellently choreographed, with the police operations especially looking professional and intricate. The action was well done, with gritty and well shot gun fights. The acting on all sides ranged from good to great, with some of the minor police officers and gangsters under performing, but some great performances from the films protagonists. Really, most of the elements of this film, from the story, to the direction, to the shots, to the action, was well done.Two small complaints on my part keep the film from a higher rating. The first is the sound direction. It never wowed me like some other elements of the film. The gun shots were hollow and underwhelming, and lacked meat. The street sounds were muted. It just felt a little weak. The second complaint I have already mentioned above. Some of the minor characters were not acted well or fleshed out, so in the final showdown, when police officers you have been seeing the entire film go down, I felt little connection to them, and sometimes even had to look back to remember why they were there in the first place! All in all, an 8 out of 10 is a solid film. It is exciting, taught, suspenseful and has excellent direction, action choreography, and is shot well. A few minor complaints aside, this is a fabulous crime drama, and worthy of your attention if you enjoy crime films, or are into Asian cinema. I certainly enjoyed it, and look forward to giving it a watch again in the future.

Is Johnnie To the best visual storyteller working in cinema today - or for that matter, during the past 20 years, plus. Is The Pope Catholic?Funnily enough, the story - as in who's doing what to whom and what eventually happens to each of them - doesn't matter, especially. Well it does, in the sense that we're interested in knowing that the police are looking to infiltrate and eventually defeat the drug syndicate that has been doing such damage to both the local Chinese populace, and their counterparts in neighbouring Asian countries; but there really would be no point in trying to track, minutely, the evolution and construction of that story. The best way - maybe the only way, in Drug War's case - to enjoy Johnnie To is to just sit back and watch the knitting together of a story through immaculately-chosen visuals, and a succession of frequently rapidly-edited images, viewed from a wide variety of perspectives. If you focus on one character and try to follow his or her story arc you will probably quickly throw up your hands in exasperation.I got the plot, and I loved the resolution, and I enjoyed the thrill- ride. I thrilled at the editing, and the choreography and recognised that this story just couldn't have been told better, if you ditched 70% of the characters, and scenes - to make it more easily-digestible. There were some great characters, action scenes, charismatic acting, and great support bits. Have I covered everything you need in a great film? Pacing: top-notch; the rapid switches of perspectives to show how the relevant characters were reacting had me drooling. Technology is used, but not abused.Masterpiece. And there was me thinking that by 2012, Johnnie To had most likely lost the plot, given his age. Not a bit of it.I've just ordered the DVD (Saturday night's viewing was a late-night TV broadcast). I can't wait!

This movie begins with a man named "Timmy Choi" (Louis Koo) driving erratically down the street in a frantic effort to get to a hospital. Unfortunately, he crashes prior to reaching his destination and upon being admitted is subsequently put under police guard under suspicion of operating a meth lab nearby that exploded and left several people dead. Realizing that if he is found guilty of distributing illegal drugs he could get the death penalty, he quickly pleads for the opportunity to turn state's evidence and help them apprehend several key players in the drug racket. Intrigued by this rare opportunity but extremely suspicious of Timmy, "Captain Zhang Lei" (Honglei Sun) reluctantly agrees. From then on the stakes become much higher as both of them wend their way through the various levels of organized crime in search of the underworld kingpins. Now without giving away any more of this movie let me just say that this turned out to be one of the better drug movies of late with an interesting plot and several suspenseful scenes which kept my interest throughout. Accordingly, I rate this movie as above average and recommend it to those who might enjoy a film of this type.

Many crime films focus either on the action or the characters. Drug War tries to do both. Unfortunately, the film that results is less than the sum of its parts.What the film does do well is show a grittier dark side of Chinese society. Shooting in Tianjin, China, lends a bit of authenticity.Unfortunately, this movie suffers from an uneven pace and unclear story line. Aside from Louis Koo and Honglei Sun, most of the acting is forgettable. Of note, I found the Bill Li group especially implausible. The Mute Gang seemed more cutthroat and impressive as a drug gang that the masterminds.I felt the ending was too drawn out, illogical, and unfortunately, comedic. Gunshots apparently don't kill. Chinese police apparently don't use tactics when apprehending armed criminals, except at the very end.