Long de xin

"Long de xin" has Jackie's character (Tat) on the CID (Criminal Investigation Department). This is no "Police Story" though, and Chan is portrayed as just another member of the squad. His main occupation though, is looking after his mentally-disabled brother (Dodo, or Do-do), played decently by Sammo himself. Tat is constantly being called away to help out his brother, and the crime-fighting scenes in the film take a long time to develop.

This film has all of the ingredients that I look for, but it failed to impress me as much as it might have. First of all, Sammo direction is usually brilliant and progressive, in this film however, it seems that most of his creative energy went on his character-acting - and I must say, the scene about Jackie's leaving is particularly impressive. This moment, with it's heart-wrenching display of frustration, anger, and love is as memorable as any of the fight scenes in the film. Chan here is a brilliant dramatic actor, and it took Sammo to get it out of him I suppose.

Yuen Biao, as action-director, does a great job. And the final fight scene is particularly brutal and snappy. But, I can't help but wonder how much better this film may have been if Biao was given an on-screen part - I can see many that may have suited in retrospect.

The film does it's best to balance the drama and action, but I think this is it's main area of failure. There are none of those clever edits that Sammo is usually known for that make for brilliant transitions between contrasting scenes. Here, we sit through some repetitive and redundant scenes that (yet again) display Dodo's vulnerability as much as common man's inhumanity. (Actually, I was just realising how much trouble the children cause for Sammo - even his closest friends are doomed to hurt him). The first few times are good, the rest were trying.

This is a film that is worth watching for some great highlights, but it's not a film that I can imagine enjoying start-to-end, over and over like so many other of Sammo's directorial gems. Sammo and Chan's dramatic acting are the real winners in this film.