Credited cast: | |||
Donnie Yen | ... | Chan Chi-Lung / Dragon | |
Tian Jing | ... | Fang Jing | |
Andy On | ... | Lo Chi-Wai / Sunny | |
Ronald Cheng | ... | Captain Cheung King-Kun | |
Collin Chou | ... | Cheung Mo-Hung | |
Terence Yin | ... | Terry | |
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Zhigang Yang | ... | Captain Lei Peng |
Hanyu Zhang | ... | Daofeng / Blade | |
Hee Ching Paw | ... | Amy (Chan's mother) | |
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Cheung-Ching Mak | ... | Brother Kun |
Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
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Pok Fu Chow | ... | Party guest |
Tony Ho | ... | Rascal | |
Wai-Kai Law | ... | Party guest | |
Ken Lo | ... | Brother Bo | |
Frankie Chi-Hung Ng | ... | Bald gang boss |
Chan Chi-Lung has been an infiltrator in Cheung Mo-Hung's Hong Kong triad gang for many years. After a failure of a recent negotiation by Lung with the other three local triad gangs on behalf of Hung makes the latter suspicious of Lung's identity. Hung sets to wipe out every undercover cop in his gang and as a result many cops are caught and wiped out. Sensing the danger, Lung requests to put an end to his undercover career from his captain, Cheung. However, Cheung sends Lung to Mainland China to infiltrate a business of "Special Identity" trading instead. The business is run by Hung's best protégé, Sunny, who was Lung's previous buddy in the gang. Cheung promises to reinstate Lung's police identity in conclusion of the mission once Sunny's business breaks down. Lung agrees, and joining him are local police officer Fang Jing and her chief Lei Peng from the Mainland Chinese police force. But before they can get to Sunny, the latter suddenly vanishes leaving Lung exposed and in great ... Written by DOK
"Special ID" (or "Te Shu Shen Fen") is not your average Donnie Yen movie, where he takes on the entire world and lives to tell the tale. This is a more down to Earth kind of movie, with the right amount of action thrown into the mixture.
The story is about an undercover police man whose cover is on the line as he has to unravel a gang to expose the leader. But when his former friend and protégé shows up, things take an unforeseen turn.
I will say that the story itself was fairly mediocre, and there wasn't really anything out of the ordinary or anything that hadn't been seen before. But what made it work was the way that the characters were portrayed, as being fairly average people unable to take on a whole gang by themselves.
The fight scenes and action scenes were well choreographed and they had a very realistic feeling to them, whereas many Asian action movies tend to go an extra mile and throw a bit too much gasoline on the fire.
Donnie Yen seems fairly mellow and lenient in this movie, and it served him well, because it adds a good flavor to the movie, making it more realistic and enjoyable.
I am a big fan of Asian cinema, but "Special ID" hardly revolutionized the Asian action genre, nor did it push any boundaries. If you enjoy Donnie Yen's movies, then you should take the time to sit down and watch "Special ID".