A fairly standard crime thriller, but a fantastic love story. Palpable tension between Andy Lau and Maggie Cheung, with so much going unsaid between them, yet made apparent by their expressions and glancing looks. Both their performances were excellent, and really elevated the movie. Sure, she might have been his cousin, but she was also Maggie Cheung so... You know?
Unfortunately, the version I watched (on SBS On Demand) had really horrible subtitles. They definitely seemed like machine translation, with no consideration for context or intent, and even had basic spelling errors. There's just no way this didn't detract from my perception of the writing.
Gorgeous cinematography, with a lot of interesting coloured lighting. Everything was set to a great 80's soundtrack (including a Cantonese version of Take My Breath Away) which perfectly matched all the wistful yearning, chain smoking, and wearing aviators at night.
That low frame-rate slow-motion effect flickered and blurred so much it was a little hard to tell what was happening at times. That said, I liked that it was used to highlight emotional moments with tunnel focus; Wildly passionate kissing and violent retribution alike. The final sequence was technically impressive as a shootout, and superb as a culmination of the tragedy of the story.
A very good movie, with singular style and consistently well-crafted tone.