Naam yi boon sik (2007)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Benny Chan

Writers:

Benny Chan (written by) &
Chi-man Ling (written by) ...

Release Date:

19 July 2007 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Crime

Plot:

Three cops team up to bring down a criminal gang of seven, who have their own hidden agenda. |

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Nicholas Tse	...	Detective Chan Chun
Jaycee Chan	...	Officer Wai King Ho
Shawn Yue	...	Inspector Carson Fong Yik Wei (as Shawn Yue Man Lok)
Jacky Wu	...	Tien Yeng Seng (as Wu Jing)
Lisa Lu	...	Ho's Grandma
Andy On	...	Ronin Tien Yeng-Yee
Candy Liu	...	Ho Ka Yee
Elanne Kwong	...	Leung Hoi Lam
Sam Lee	...	Ho Wing Keung (as Sam Li)
Ken Lo	...	Wong Kam Ming (as Ken Low)
Vincent Sze	...	Tien Yeng Chi
Mei Wang Xue	...	Tien Yeng Yan (as Xue Mei Wang)
Ka Wah Lam	...	Senior Superintendent Cheung Man Yiu (as Lam Ka Wah)
Tak-bun Wong	...	Sam Mok (as Kenny Wong)
Mark Cheng	...	Senior Superintendent Mark Law Pui Keung

Also Known As:

Invisible Target (Hong Kong: English title)
Nan er ben se (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violent content.

Runtime:

Australia:128 min (theatrical version)

Country:

Hong Kong | China

Language:

Cantonese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:MA | Hong Kong:IIB | USA:R | South Korea:15 | Malaysia:18SG | New Zealand:R16

Company:

Universe Films Ltd.

Trivia:

Benny Chan requests that no doubles are to be used for the film's stunt sequences. The actors in the film performed their own stunts.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): After discovering the unconscious man, officer PC 5299 fails to pinch the patient's nostrils closed while giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

A solid, if slightly flawed, cops 'n kung fu flick

Sometimes I'm a bit surprised when IMDb ratings jive with what I'd rate a movie on a 1-10 scale. I think this movie is a pretty solid 7 so I'm glad to see that's pretty much where it is. But enough of that, onto the movie itself.

Released around the same time (and probably competing for much of the same audience) as the fantastic Donnie Yen movie Flash Point, Invisible Target provides some legitimate competition, albeit in the same sort of tired fashion of OCB cops doing the wrong things for the right reasons. If you're at all a fan of HK cinema you've no doubt seen this plot done to death but for some reason you're still a sucker for it. The fight scenes are very well done (would you expect any less from Jackie Chan's son?), the movie seems for the most part well paced, and it's got a solid story.

Now for the bad news. There's not much mind you, but there's some. First of all, for me, the movie seemed too long for it's own good. Yeah, it's only 2 hours but at points it feels stretched and padded for time. Where Flash Point is quite a bit shorter, it leaves you wanting a little more whereas Invisible Target makes you feel like you got too much. And the glass, oh the glass! Don't get too attached to anything breakable in this movie because it will invariably be punched through, kicked through, or fallen through. HK glass makers no doubt loved this movie...it's putting their kids through university.

All in all I'd definitely recommend this movie to anyone who's a fan of contemporary kung fu...just make sure you've got a good chunk of time set aside to watch it.