Invisible Target

Summer again and probably most of you think Flashpoint is the one to watch this season. Maybe, but now it sure has its work cut out for it, with an amazingly satisfying, over the top, touching and down right honorable release from dear old Benny Chan.

Mr. Chan's New Police Story was an admitted wink at good action things past, and Invisible Target bears the same hallmarks of quality only much better implemented.

Ostensibly, it's a promising flick with a strong cast finally heralding the return of two of this reviewer's fave tough guys: enigmatic and oft crazed Shawn Yue and sulking, intellectual trouble maker Nicholas Tse.

Of course a lot could still go wrong but it dawns on one that Invisible Target is an awesome movie right from the first scene when they proceed to blow things up with extreme prejudice smack in the middle of Hong Kong's Central business area, namely Queen's Road.

Yes, Eye in the Sky had a heist taking place in the same locale, but that one was pale and forgettable. Here we have a ballsy depiction of crooks on the loose that brings a tear to the most jaded of eyes as you sit there reminding yourself that this isn't merely how they used to make them, here they are, making them like that in this day and age.

Oh yes, just like New Police Story, Invisible Target has kick ass villains, headed by martial artist Wu Jing, whose deranged but respectable streak was previously flexed in SPL. The guy's simply spectacular as a bad guy, as is cool dude Andy On. Andy shone in New Police Story alongside Daniel Wu, and here he's even better, adding a sensible, human side to his nefarious character.

Indeed, the antagonists here are all well done and conspicuously Putonghua speakers. Hmmm. Regardless, they help make Invisible Target an excellent release you must not miss out on.

As we behold, the baddies wreak havoc in jolly HK, setting in motion a storyline that has Inspector Tequila-inspired Shawn and Nicholas go after them with a vengeance, aided by Jaycee Chan who for once is truly impressive and adds much to the story.

The three cops engage with the demented robbers across a variety of locations, using fists, feet, guns, cars and a variety of other tools. This movie is a field day for makers of breakaway glass everywhere, as literally not a single sheet remains intact for more than a second.

Invisible Target isn't a dour-faced, overly serious affair, it gets the balance between crime drama and lunatic fantasy just right as cops and robbers leap huge heights and take more punishment than your average WWII battleship could ever hope to withstand.

With good supporting appearances from Sam Lee, Lam Suet and even Aaron Kwok, this is out and out a fun, thrilling and gripping film. It's aggressively cartoonish at times but always professional and never coming across ridiculous. It's also atypically long for its genre or for Hong Kong releases in general, coming in at a hefty 130 minutes, which still isn't close to enough.

In the end, good triumphs but there really isn't any evil here, as even the vilest of people seen in the story has an explanation for what they do and a tale to tell, which is an added bonus not to be overlooked.

Plus, how can you say no to the first SDU sighting in a long, long, long time? Yes, they return to battle Wu Jing and his crew, and of course promptly get their posteriors handed to them.

Invisible Target is a frenzied, beautiful assemblage of classical themes (there's even a British cop in the briefing room like in the good old days), gorgeous stunts, mind-boggling explosions, intricate fight scenes and ever-shattering glass partitions.

The macho-sensitive cast is a perfect fit and we're delighted to see them together and on screen again. In fact, aside from giving logic and physical reality as we know it the finger, there's nothing wrong with Invisible Target and I, for one, can't wait to get my hands on the DVD version.

Invisible? Anything but! Don't wait for Flashpoint, get your summer kicks right here, right now.

There's nothing invisible about the target in Benny Chan's latest movie Invisible Target. And in actuality, it seems that the constant target for everyone in the movie here, be they the bad guys or the good cops, are the plenty of glass lying around, getting smashed into smithereens by hurled projectiles, or more frequently, human bodies. See that nice looking glass window? It'll be smashed soon. Or that double panel glass facade? Yup, as soon as you notice it, the next scene will show it in a million bits on the floor with a writhing body. It could be aptly titled Glass Target.

But don't get me wrong. Invisible Target is still enjoyable, in that it brings to you the flavour of a typical Hong Kong action movie, with Benny Chan at the helm. As we slowly get nauseated by the frequent mole versus mole plots that Hong Kong crime thrillers formula usually adopted (no thanks to the success of you know what), I thought Invisible Target was reminiscent about an old John Woo movie Hard Boiled, except that it's minus the guns, and instead you get plenty of fisticuffs. A similarly long drawn out ending was a little too tedious to sit through, though it had its fair share of big bangs and segmented action sequences which tried hard to hold your attention. Teahouses remain perfect locales for fights to break out (as in Hard Boiled), and here, it serves as a male bonding moment for our three heroic cops Chan Chun (Nicholas Tse), Fong Yik-wei (Shawn Yue) and Jaycee Chan's Wai King-ho.

But in between the action, are the woefully painful monologues that the villain Tien Yeng- seng (Wu Jing) and his merry gang of 7 (which includes Andy On as brother Yeng-yee) dish out, trying to philosophize their actions as "I'm a villain so I kill", and about justice-injustice in the world. Wu Jing again never failed to disappoint, as he has this charismatic aura around him which doesn't dissipate when he whups everyone's rear, hard! We've seen what he can do in SPL, now watch him do that with double the speed and intensity, and on thrice the number of victims. If anything, Invisible Target is a Wu Jing movie, and one in which I'm not surprised if many actually throw their weight of support behind him. It's a movie that the villain outshines the heroes easily.

With three distinct cops, Invisible Target actually spends a considerable amount of time introducing them one by one. Nicholas' Chan is always brooding, and a reckless one in that he's mourning the loss of his fiancée. He's out to get Tien because she happened to be collateral damage. Shawn's Fong is arrogant, until he's made to eat lead (in a scene you have to see to believe) by Tien, and his bruised ego says he must take the villain down. And Jacycee's Wai is probably the wimpiest of the lot, being a by-the-books street cop who's investigating the disappearance of his brother (do a double take on that cameo!), who might have fallen into Tien's hands. It's no doubt too that all of them are skilled in martial arts, and at any time would prefer to holster their weapons.

Nicholas and Shawn are no newcomers to action, having starred together in recent movies like Dragon Tiger Gate, and thank goodness they've ditched their long locks in that movie for contemporary shorter crop here. And while the two of them are relatively old hands in the industry, I can't help but wince each time Jaycee is on screen. For starters, he's the son of the legendary Jackie Chan, and in Invisible Target, I can't help picture it's a younger Jackie being beaten , battered and bruised. It didn't help that his character, the most naive and innocent of the lot, is in total contrast to the classic cop characters his father portrayed, and I surely think it was deliberate that he remains the least buff of the lot, with many goody-two-shoes scenes occasionally played out for comedy, or to reinforce that he's basically a cut above the rest of the good cops in terms of having a good natured character. Characters like his are hard to come by in an age where grittier cinematic cops roam the street.

So while big brothers Nicholas and Shawn get some fantastical set action pieces to show off their mettle, Jaycee got the shorter end of the stick by being quite a deadweight at times. Oh, and what of Elanne Kwong's role? Sadly there isn't too much for a pretty lass to do since her character Leung works in the Police Intelligence department, and doesn't get directly involved when the going gets tough. A typical flower vase role unfortunately, for a combined screen time of less than 5 minutes.

Despite its reliance on hard hitting action dished out by the actors themselves, and in all purpose are as realistic as they look with the obvious wire work seen in the trailers drastically reduced, a few noticeable continuity errors marred the enjoyment of the movie at times. Invisible Target had all the ingredients for a classic action movie, but the run time of more than 2 hours was due to an overindulgence with the slower moments which were fused with a couple of "I'm a cop" moments, and feel good messages rammed down your throat.

And what do you know, Invisible Target still can't shake off the mole versus mole type plot line, unfortunately. If it could have been a little more compact, and gotten to the point faster than it did, it would have been a tad more enjoyable, given the wealth of cameo/ supporting talent at its disposal, like Sam Lee (Dog Bite Dog) and the evergreen Lam Suet, rather than feel the need to tie up all the loose subplots it introduced, and exposing some technical loopholes in some action sequences.

Director Benny Chan and staff do a mighty fine job with their cops and robbers story, Invisible Target. Seven orphans who grew up in battle torn countries take on most of the Hong Kong police force. These orphans mean business as they go about their criminal activities. The movie is almost all kinetic action, chases where the actors seem to jump 20 feet down from roof top to roof top, as the HK police try to stop the gang from getting the loot they are after. There are dull sections,especially when Jaycee Chan is describing his bland philosophy of policing, but, hey, the Chinese censors won't allow movies to be released on the mainland unless they put the police in a good light.

In Invisible Target, you don't see any police (aided by goons hired by real estate developers) clubbing farmers whose land was stolen, so a new factory can be built, enriching the local Communist Party boss who gets an ownership share in the factory. In the Shanxi province that would be the brick factories that used kidnapped children and mentally challenged adults as slave labor. But dealing with life's grim reality in one of the world's great bastions of robber baron capitalism would be too dull for most viewers, besides getting the HK filmmaker in big trouble with the People's Public Security Bureau if he or she ever set foot in mainland China.

So Benny Chan and company go the crime drama route, with shootings, car chases and a great explosion sequence at the start that keys in a major plot element. If there is one thing wrong with this movie, it is another scene at the start where Jaycee Chan's cop gives a ticket to a guy for parking illegally, a big mouth who is out with his young son. When Jackie Chan's cop character in Police Story 2 stopped and ticketed a line of trucks (all Nissan trucks, then and now a Chan corporate sponsor), it showed Chan was no nonsense when it came to his job. Jaycee's parking ticket scene is a crummy way to introduce his character, people nowadays don't like cops or anyone else who gives out parking tickets.

Invisible Target is a good way to spend a little over two hours watching a very well made if improbable crime story.

Some spectacular action scenes, i miss old style Hongkong action movies. So much grit and realism, no stupid vfx .

I wish story had more humor and glamour.

Some slow motion scenes would have helped.

What can I say that the other rightly so positive reviewers haven't said? Not a lot really.

This was such an enjoyable film. It was reminiscent of the days of old for an Hong Kong action flick....crazy stunts with a second replay (like the old Jackie Chan flicks), plenty of excellent martial arts, explosions and gun play. I felt as if I was watching an early 80/90's film.

What impressed even more was that there was a very strong story to this film. Everything blended nicely. The main leads has good character development and were very likable. The bad guys.....they were bad!! No messing about, no morals...just downright bad.

With some of the so called action movie tosh that America churns out today, the west should start looking to Hong Kong and Korea to take a leaf out of their book to see how things are done (Flashpoint was also very good).

Watch this and you won't be disappointed.