morrison-dylan-fan Largely viewing Action films in the ICM Hong Kong viewing challenge,I started thinking about what the final film would be.A fan of the Heroic Bloodshed sub-genre since seeing John Woo's The Killer,it felt like the perfect time to make full contact with Ringo Lam and see the end of an era.View on the film:Making Full Contact the same year fellow Heroic Bloodshed auteur John Woo did his final in the sub-genre with Hard Boiled, directing auteur Ringo Lam closes the peak era of the sub-genre which he had played a major role in since City on Fire (Full Contact bombing and Hard Boiled being a disappointment at the Hong Kong box office led to the end of big budget productions) Roaring into action with a shot in Thailand robbery, Lam continues building on his visual motifs with a magnificent eye for ultra-stylisation, following Gou Fei's ride for revenge in neon blue and a red-lit path to attack.Referencing Val Lewton's Cat People (and a possible nod to the Giallo with glittering in rain knives) Lam composes the action with a sharp precision which takes the viewer to the "bullet ballet" via following each shot from the triggering to the target and the crunch of bones from hand-to-hand combat. Whilst giving the title an unexpected (but welcomed) sensuality from Mona and her occasional dance numbers (!) Lam goes back to the roots of the sub-genre with an intense, doom-laden Neo-Noir atmosphere that sees Fei's heroism be washed away in the rain.Reuniting with Lam and Chow Yun-Fat, the screenplay by Yin Nam delivers a coda to the era, as the Noir-style loyalty bonding Fei and his friends is torn by a gang with a more fractured Heroic Bloodshed belief in loyalty. Keeping the fuse between Fei and The Judge lit, Nam keeps a real heart within the action from quiet, tragic moments that crackle from the full contact gun-fu.Grabbing the screen from the opening scene in a short green skirt, fittie Ann Bridgewater gives an enticing performance as Mona, whose playful sexuality as Mona and in the music numbers is held by Bridgewater as a force of power to have Mona rub shoulders with the guys. Teaming with Lam for the final time, Chow Yun-Fat goes out with all guns blazing by giving Gou Fei a simmering menace pinned down by a thoughtfulness towards his revenge plans of making full contact with heroic bloodshed.

athena24 From a 2014 point of view Full Contact is outdated. The camera work and the action itself doesn't look unique. There are some interesting camera angles at the end, but it still looks old. Even the bullet shots look outdated. If this movie was released in the US, it would automatically fall in the B-movie category, quite rightfully. Full Contact has plenty of action, but after seeing lots of action movies, it doesn't stand out from the crowd. The other aspects of the movie didn't add any value, though I found them to be much less significant.Despite the higher rating of Full Contact, I think his Van Damme projects were better. Well at least it is true for Maximum Risk.Finally, if you're expecting John Woo's kind of action here, don't. I have recently watched Hard Boiled (for the third time). Having the same release year as Full Contact, it still manages to look very solid (actually it's quite an understatement for Hard Boiled). In fact, all of the better known John Woo movies from Hong Kong are far better. Full Contact is OK for the action, just don't expect it to be what it's not.

Viva_Chiba 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.

movieman_kev To help a friend who's heavily in debt to a loan shark, Jeff (Chow Yun Fat) joins up with the gay villain, Judge (Simon Yam), for a weapons heist where he'll be double-crossed by who he thought was a friend who joined the gang with him. This wouldn't be an action film if he were to simply let bygones be bygones of course, so he plans a mighty vengeance against all who betrayed him. This is pretty standard revenge movie stuff, it's saved, however, by the great action scenes as well as well as Yun Fat's performance (excellent as always, well at least before he made the jump to Hollywood who always seem to make amazingly great foreign movie star into lesser than what the can be) My Grade: B Mei AhDVD Extras: Theatrical Trailer; and Trailers for "Swordsman 2" & "Treasure Hunt"