Finally got my hand on this highly anticipated Hong Kong production.
Jiang Hu stars Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Shawn Yue and Edison Chen. Important characters are also played by the likes of Eric Tsang and Chapman To thus it's only natural that people are tempted to compare this film with the Infernal Affairs trilogy. Not that a comparison would be fair however. They are very different movies.
Jiang Hu is follows triad boss Hung (Andy Lau) and his left hand man Lefty (Jacky Cheung) in the span of a single night. It's an eventful night. Someone's plotting to assassinate Hung. Could it be his 3 liutenants or his trusted friend Lefty? Whoever it is the killer's been set loose and time is running out. Will Hung make it through the night unscathed?
Jiang Hu is very light on story and heavy on flashy images. Every significant character has their individual style just about everyone looks cool in the movie. So this is another cool-HK-triad movie, eh? Well it's certainly made to look cool and the final sequence is very well shot (IMHO) but it's just a movie without a soul. Where's the story?
It's been a trend somewhat to throw in a twist or two into movies (a trend popularised by The Sixth Sense). Well Jiang Hu's shocker moment comes right at the very end and it's quite a big one. I certainly didn't see it coming. However... it's not enough to make up for the non-existant story.
One interesting tidbit... I was in a DVD shop a week ago and the proprietor told me that there are two endings for Jiang Hu. One for Malaysia and another for Hong Kong. While this is not uncommon (Young and Dangerous and Infernal Affairs had different endings in different countries), I certainly do not think this is true. According to the proprietor Andy Lau's character ends up in jail in the Hong Kong version while in the Malaysian version he ends up dead. Having watched the movie... I must say if you think that Andy Lau ends up in jail in the end of the movie then you haven't watched the movie properly... hehe
So is Jiang Hu worth the time? Sure... if you have the time to spare go watch it. It's not a great movie but it's certainly a watchable one.
Monday, July 19, 2004
posted by wyejon at Monday, July 19, 2004 (permalink) | 
a golden opinion from
David
Well, I think it's a pretty good show. There is a story, just a very short story, despite the movie length. That last twist was pretty creative.
As for dual-endings, I think it's of utmost stupidity. Did you know The Punisher had a different ending too? Utmost stupidity. It's just another thing that makes a mockery of our so-called movie ratings. So after watching a 2-hour movie (not just this movie) that, for the most part, involves murder, vengeance and gangterism, and suddenly that small bit of ending is going to make us go, "See? That's what bad guys get! Even supposedly good bad guys!"
I'm more of the opinion that our upbringing is supposed to do that, not how a movie ends.
a golden opinion from
wyejon
I actually guessed 50% of the ending during the first half hour of the show. Then it was pretty much confirmed after Edison got his ass kicked by the Chinese Brothers (think Hip Hop).
Dual endings are stupid. I avoid any movie that's likely to be heavily censored here in Malaysia. It's just a waste of money.
I have no intention of letting those bunch of monkeys in the LFN (Lembaga Filem Negara) insult my intelligence any more than I have to endure (some movies are meant to be seen on the big screen).