Giving the house a massive spring clean,I started gathering up DVDs that I've been meaning to take into the local CEX for cash/credit for far too long. While getting the discs in order,I spotted a Hong Kong flick which I had completely forgotten about having purchased! With a Hong Kong Challenge taking place on ICM, I took advantage of this good luck and met the heroic duo.View on the film:Looking back towards the Heroic Bloodshed sub-genre of Hong Kong's last Action boom, the screenplay by Alan Yuen & Adrian Kwan welds the major bond/loyalty in blood theme of the genre with the slick complexities of the modern psychological Thriller. Peeling away in flashbacks at the final to what triggered the events, the writers give the movie a slippery, unpredictable atmosphere,lit by absurd slides into "mindhunting" and hypnotism,which are solidly held by Ken and Lai's exchange in mind-games. Running the action scenes with an earthy grit from being filmed on streets, director Benny Chan and cinematographer give the movie a glossy appearance,with darting whip-pans hitting the targeted mind-games of the heroic duo.

Although this film received very little or no attention upon its release,even allowing for its minor shortcoming, I'd still rate it among the best movies I've ever seen. Take The Usual Suspects and The Sixth Sense, combine the two movies and throw in a little action and some seriously nerve-wracking, tense "heartless" villainy and you have Heroic Duo. One complaint: the weak title doesn't do this film justice. I still have to give it a ten-star rating. I know, you've never even heard of it, but compare it to the critically acclaimed Infernal Affairs (which I believe to have been highly overrated) and see what I mean.

Heroic Duo is a Hong Kong action flick with an intriguing storyline about a battle of wits between two master hypnotists that sadly goes awry as the plot becomes increasingly convoluted before falling apart completely. It's a shame, because most other aspects of the movie are good: the cinematography is crisp and clear, the acting is acceptable overall (Francis Ng as the bad guy takes gold for his charismatic performance in this one), and Benny Chan's direction is bold and energetic.When a police officer sets fire to the contents of his station's safe after stealing some documents, police officer Ken discovers that he was hypnotised into committing the act. When the officer then commits suicide, Ken enlists the aid of Jack Lai (Leon Lai), a hypnotist and former officer now languishing in prison for murder. Lai tells Ken the only person who could have perpetrated the crime is "The Mindhunter," Lai's former tutor. Only Lai can identify the Mindhunter so Ken has him released into his custody to help solve the case. Things are more complicated than they seem, however, and Ken soon finds himself on the run from his own officers…There's enough plot in this movie for half-a-dozen movies, and it grows increasingly silly as it goes along. Twists and turns are thrown into the stew with every second scene and the stakes are repeatedly upped until the villainous Ng's wicked deeds begin to resemble the kind of actions committed by a Bond villain. It's a common flaw of Asian movies, where credibility is sacrificed for the sake of cool images and situations that have to be shoehorned into the plot until things become so far-fetched that you begin to wonder whether you're watching some kind of spoof. I swear every main character gets shot about three times apiece in the last ten minutes yet they're all still leaping about as if the bullets have simply bounced off them. This uncontrolled enthusiasm for thrills and spills certainly makes for entertaining viewing, but a Western audience's enjoyment will be tempered by the silliness of it all.And couldn't someone have come up with a less naff title than Heroic Duo?

HEROIC DUO is visually stunning. The film has the feel of a South Korean drama, which in this day and age is a very good thing. There's a slick quality to the movie, and the script is oftentimes clever and assured. The only bump in the road comes toward the ending, with a Third Act that gets thrown out the window in favor of contrived melodrama. Had the film remained clever and intelligent, it might have been another in a short list of Hong Kong revivals that have gone for brains rather than brain. DUO is in the vein of RUNNING OUT OF TIME, with an emphasis on being clever, but it doesn't have that movie's follow through. Even so, the leads are quite engaging, even Ekin Cheng, who I do not find to be very engaging. Leon Lai once again turns in an excellent performance.6 out of 10