Chik yeung tin si (2002)

Director:

Corey Yuen

Writer:

Jeffrey Lau (writer)

Release Date:

12 September 2002 (Singapore)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

Looks can be deceiving.

Plot:

A conflict of interest between two high-kicking assassin sisters is complicated as they're pursued by the criminals who hired them and an equally high-kicking female cop.

Plot Keywords:

Computer | Death | Professional Assassin | Martial Arts | High Tech

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Qi Shu	...	Lynn
Wei Zhao	...	Sue
Karen Mok	...	Hong Yat Hong
Seung-heon Song	...	Yen (as Song Seung Hun)
Yasuaki Kurata	...	Master
Derek Wan	...	Master
Michael Wai	...	Ma Siu Ma
Siu-Lun Wan	...	Chow Nunn
Sau Sek	...	Chow Lui
Ki Yan Lam	...	Alice
Josie Ho	...	Ching (as Josephine Ho)
Sheung Mo Lam	...	Lai Kai-joe
May Kwong	...	May
Henry Fong	...	Dad (as Fong Ping)
Hee Ching Paw	...	Mom

Also Known As:

So Close (International: English title)
Virtual Twilight (Hong Kong: English title) (working title)
Xi yang tian shi (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive violence and a sexual conversation.

Runtime:

UK:110 min | Poland:106 min (dvd release) | Argentina:111 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin | Cantonese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Indonesia:Dewasa (DVD rating) | Argentina:13 | Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Philippines:R-18 | Finland:K-15 | Australia:MA | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Poland:15 (DVD rating) | Singapore:PG | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia

Goofs:

Factual errors: Hong is accused of having concrete evidence supporting her apparent murder of Lynn - yet she had a solid alibi chasing Sue with other cops. The evidence is obviously barely circumstantial - a strand of hair and a necklace planted at the scene. Forensics would have picked this up and Hong's fellow officers would have confirmed her alibi. There was absolutely no reason to believe that Hong killed Lynn.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Chacun son cinéma ou Ce petit coup au coeur quand la lumière s'éteint et que le film commence (2007)

Possibly the nicest movie about professional killers ever made

Despite the fact that this is a super-slick action thriller with guns, swords, cars and martial arts, So Close is a refreshing and unusual movie. It's NICE, to put it simply. Lovely girls, dressed in white much of the time, hanging around their picturesque house messing around and eating cakes and having baths. Despite all the asses they kick, they actually behave like young women and not ultra-agressive 'I-want-to-be-a-man' type female heroes, like Xena or Sarah Connor.

The action is sleek and graceful - feminine. It's also rather slow and lo-key compared to most films of this nature. The real action doesn't come until the climax, but when it does, director Corey Yuen pulls out all the stops, climaxing in a two-against-one sword fight that ranks alongside that of The Phantom Menace.

Despite how it's advertised, So Close is not a skinflick. The women are certainly not sex objects. They are sexy, but in a wholesome way. It's their natural beauty rather than their sex appeal that is most noticable.

So Close is a great movie, and should entertain any mainstream audience regardless of their farmiliarity of Asian films.