Another Johnnie To masterpiece, this movie flickers between a heartfelt comedy to a tragic sense of being, to a great study in psychology to intriguing crime drama. And all the time the viewer is left wondering where the line of sanity is drawn; or is it being redrawn as we speak? No matter, as the end of this wonderfully convoluted crime drama perfectly if not bravely ties it all together with satisfying resolve. The acting was top notch, with our main protagonist stealing the show with his zany and occasionally sad antics. The direction oozed of style, and the camera allowed for its dark atmosphere to sneak out stolen color with aplomb. The score was light in tone and perfectly augmented the lightheartedness of insanity, keeping the bleak notion of the story's reality from besmirching our fun. Told with a sense of balance that threatened to be lost at any moment, this was a story with no need of bullet ballets to keep the viewer saddled with tension. Merci beaucoup. Genruk of Evil Eye Reviews

This movie is quirky, weird and everything else that can not be considered mainstream. But it's also fun, light, heavy, violent, romantic and many other things ... amongst others too: Original! Or maybe unique and refreshing are more accurate words.If you are not familiar with the work of Johnnie To, maybe this isn't the first of his movies to watch. There is "Running out of Time", there is "Fulltime Killer", PTU and many others! If you like them, then you can try this movie too. But again, it's off-beat, it has a main character who is very ... strange to say the least and it has a very crazy idea (or many crazy ideas) behind it all ... I won't go into details, but this movie and how it was made (shot, edited etc.) is simply great! If you allow yourself to enjoy it's sheer craziness

It's been a while since To and Wai's last collaboration, but apparently the time apart did them a whole lot of good. Mad Detective (or Sun Taam, if you wish) is another shining star on To's ever-growing list of first class titles. Stylishly executed, cleverly scripted and dare I say quite original. HK genre cinema doesn't get any better than this.To's been on a winning streak these last couple of years and with Mad Detective he's really at the top of his game. The film is filled with typical To elements, but also benefits a lot from Wai's creative writing. Mad Detective is one of these rare films that makes you feel like you're watching something novel and original.Ching Wan Lau, a To regular, is taking on one of the best roles of his career. Lau plays Bun, a detective who's equally brilliant as he is insane. While his methods of investigation are irregular, his behavior is condoned as he's able to solve case upon case. The key to Bun's success is his ability to see behind people's masks. He sees every aspects of a single person as a separate individual. All goes well until Bun's retirement, when his genius is quickly degraded to simple madness.In Mad Detective, we see Bun chasing after a guy with no less than 7 personalities (though only three of them are dominant). The film is often changing perspectives which keeps the viewer well on its toes. One character is actually played by 8 different actors and To doesn't give too many warnings. But looking back, the film isn't that hard to follow or figure out and the concept never sits in the way of the basic storyline.Visually To only seems to improve. There are plenty of awesomely framed shots, neatly lit and even though the film has an overall dark overtone, colors really jump of the screen. And while To keeps on making films at a staggering rate, it's impressive to see how visually accomplished each and every one of his later films are.Another definite plus is the soundtrack. Though often light in tone it doesn't hurt the atmosphere one bit, but only underlines the sad but dark overtones of Bun's madness. Strange sounds are brought together to form music, sometimes quirky melodies are used, but the music never feels out of place. More so, it does an excellent job at defining To's style and helps to shape his films. Not as in your face as the soundtrack of Sparrow, but once you start listing you'll notice how weird it really is.It would've been quite easy to push the film into one direction, but To manages to keep a healthy balance. One moment Bun's actions can be rather amusing, a couple of minutes later there's a definite sadness to his character. And even though it's actually a dark and personal tale of a sick individual, the film is also able to keep its soft and creative edge, never choosing sides between being a character portrait or purely story-driven film making.Mad Detective is a film where everything works out. Excellent cast, creative and original perspective, a solid storyline, stylishly visualized and magnificently scored. The film has no weak points, unless you prefer film making to stay in more familiar territory. if so, I suggest you wait for one of the big Hollywood directors to turn it into a lifeless, soulless and old-fashioned crime/drama. If that doesn't sound too appealing, be sure to check out To's Mad Detective. If anything, it's one of the best recent examples there's still plenty of life and creativity left in sculpting stories.Together with Sparrow, To proves himself to be one of the most interesting directors in cinema today. His genre films are strong, original and seamlessly executed and seem to lack any weak points. Mad Detective is a definite recommend. 4.5*/5.0*

Very well built film, i've seen it almost by accident - just got an opportunity and decided to use it.I've never seen any films of Mr Ka-Fai Wai and Mr Johnnie To before, so i was a bit skeptical at start. my skepticism was pretty quickly driven away by the movie, and at the end I was really satisfied. May be because this movies message is somehow close to me, but still, acting was very good, directing and editing are awesome. some scenes put a huge smile on my face with a really great warm feeling inside, like the one with rain sent by god, or when he is shouting "She don't see you!". I agree with some previous comments that Hollywood can mostly reproduce some ideas like this - its worth a million alone, without huge budget spent on stars and visuals.Should add that soundtrack was a very nice one. Overall i would recommend this almost to anyone except hardcore mainstream fans.ps i am rating this 10 to compensate some downrates. this movie deserves 8+ no doubt, i would score it 8.5/10.