One of the premier action directors of the 1990s, Ringo Lam was a man well-known for his intense, blistering thrillers – and FULL CONTACT is a film that helped establish his reputation. It's a taut thriller that delivers an engaging plot packed with twists and turns, and of course the high velocity shoot-outs that Hong Kong gangster movies are famed for. Rather than delivering John Woo-style imitation stand-offs and mass gun battles, Lam is a director who always focuses on the intimacy of action – the small scale violence delivered to its participants. As such, FULL CONTACT is a very violent film and indeed it is a film all about violence.Things kick off in high gear as we join a jewellery store robbery. Chief robber Simon Yam soon turns out to be a thoroughly nasty piece of work, stabbing an innocent victim through the heart. He's flamboyantly gay, too. Then we join a second story strand involving Chow Yun Fat as a low-rent criminal who we meet standing up for his buddy Anthony Wong, in a role that encompasses both good and bad this time around. Chow Yun Fat kicks backside with a butterfly knife in scenes that were initially censored in the British release before becoming embroiled with Simon Yam and his cronies in an attempt to hold up a truck carrying a ton of gold.Double crosses, back stabbing, and mucho bad taste ensue. This is a film where the majority of the cast are sleazy, stupid or just plain evil. There's moronic muscle man called Psycho, a hooker who spends half the film engaged in sexual situations, and even the hero's girlfriend is a stripper in a sleazy club. Chow Yun Fat himself is clearly a bad guy, and yet he's the one we're rooting for, the one man with morals in a world seemingly devoid of humanity.There's not quite as much action as I'd anticipated, but when it comes the violence is very, very well handled and completely stylish. The nightclub shoot-out uses 'bullet time' slow motion to great effect years before THE MATRIX came out – who said Hollywood was original? Lam is at home detailing hold-ups, shoot-outs, executions, and pyrotechnic effects, and of course it all climaxes with a final bout between hero and villain. I won't spoil it, other than to say it doesn't disappoint. While I wouldn't call this a genre classic in the same league as something like HARD-BOILED, but it is a highly entertaining film. I look forward to watching it again some day to see how it holds up.

Judging the plot and the cover you are probably going to expect an action movie in the same vein as John Woo's "Heroic Bloodshed" movies, the action scenes are not long, but they are "hard hitting", violent and well executed.The cast is great: Chow yun-fat, Anthony Wong and Simon Yam.I think that Ringo Lam is a good director, even in his American movies (like: Maximum Risk, Replicant and In Hell).The camera work is stylish and well done, especially in the "bullet cam" sequences.Full Contact is a good tale of revenge, retribution and romance, try to see it as a drama rather than a action movie, probably this is one of the reasons why i don't recommend it to the average movie goer, you would expect a "hi-octane" action movie.

Full Contact is an unknown and pretty underrated action flick. Yet, I find it a little strange that this movie is getting feedback like "One of the best movie's ever made" or "Brilliant". Gimme a break. Don't get me wrong, it's still a very recommendable action flick, but it's nothing truly special.The story mostly revolves around back-stabbing and revenge. Very simple, but very enjoyable stuff. And when you add in a bunch of talented actors, some goofy characters and pretty cool shoot-outs, you have yourself an entertaining action flick. But unfortunately, it's not all gun-blasting mayhem. There is a lot of needless filler that's really plain old boring. Whenever Chow Yun Fat's girl is on screen, you're either watching her do some incredibly corny dance routine showing off her pole-bean body, or she's trying to initiate an emotional response with the audience, since she's Oh-So innocent. Gimme a break. Full Contact relies much too heavily on trying to get you invested into the characters. They did succeed in making you like the heroes and dislike the enemies, but hell it's not that tough with such well-known actors and such off-the wall characters....let's just get on with the action already. Truthfully the one character I cared about most, was that little pug.But overall Full Contact does shine pretty bright with it's action. There are some very cool bullet effects, some equally as cool cinematography, and some nice performances, especially by Simon Yam who plays the homosexual bad guy. If you're into Asian action flicks this should be a must see, but if you're not into this stuff, it's just more of the same.

Let's be honest here: if this exact same flick had been made in America, it wouldn't have been given a second look, but it's a Hong Kong production and, inevitably, a hyped-up "cult classic". Go figure. Anyway, the revenge plot is familiar, and the film, lacking the emotional power of "The Killer" (the only other Chow Yun-Fat flick I've seen; both it and he were much better), becomes an empty display of pyrotechnics. And a very long one, too. (*1/2)