Exiled

When modern filmmakers try to capture the essence of a particular genre of film, most times they fall flat, or in trying to hard they become a mockery of what they were trying to revere. There have been some very good movies done in the style of the old Spaghetti Westerns and of those the best have come out of the Asian market. With this thriller Johnny To does an expert job at combining the old western style of story with the Hong Kong gangster genre.
When two hit man teams appear at an associates house one set to kill him and one set to protect him, the resulting shoot out drives the five men together into a fight for their lives through the criminal underworld. Along with the high powered action that goes on throughout the film, is the haunting music that seems to carry the in-between scenes from action shot to action shot. With a cast of characters that would be hard pressed to lose at a poker game, we’re given a glimpse into a world that seems to be a powder keg waiting for someone to light the fuse. This is a dark film from the very beginning and seems to take on a life of it’s own, so that every time there seems to be a chance for the story to hit a bright point, the main body of the story overpowers it and continues on its merry way.
The one element that helps this film stand out from the rest of the movies that are shot in this style, is that the action is so quick and fast paced that your left amazed by the gun fighting ballet that is done so well, and nowhere is it done better than in the Asian cinema. Movies like this are what draws me back to the Asian cinema, no one does action films the way they do them in the Far East. That’s not to say there aren’t good action films from other countries, but there just isn’t any director or production company that can reach the level of the film makers from that region of the world. If you like the old Spaghetti Westerns from the 60s, I think you’lll be surprised by this film and enjoy it just as much.