This 1996 TV remake of John Woo's less-than-stellar
1991 film features slick action sequences, and the overall plotting is better
than the Hong Kong version. Unfortunately, this remake also confirms that Woo
movies depend heavily on their actors. Ivan Sergei (as the fancy-free thief) and
Nicholas Lea (as the ultra-earnest undercover cop who reluctantly teams up with
him) are up to the physical demands of their roles, but don't have the charm or
fleet-flooted charisma to make their characters work. It doesn't help that much
of their dialogue consists of the sarcastic tough-guy banter which has plagued
many a grade-C cop show. Even more problematic, chief villain Michael Wong is
about as threatening as dishwater (although he struts his stuff in a nifty pool
hall brawl set to the tune "Town Without Pity"); Jennifer Dale hams
it up mercilessly as the tougher-than-balls chief of the good guys; and Sandrine
Holt pouts prettily as the third point in the romantic triangle but doesn't contribute
much else. Put it all together and it adds up to your typical TV series pilot
episode, albeit with a few stylistic flourishes. Nevertheless, Woo's stamp is
unmistakeable, and the action scenes have zip and flair which are missing from
some of his bloated Hollywood misfires such as Mission Impossible 2 (which
covers similar thematic ground) and Broken Arrow. The DVD trumpets itself
as a "director's cut," but one would be hard-pressed to find any differences from
the version aired on TV, apart from a stray gunshot or two. The video transfer
and sound quality are fine.