Review of A World Without Thieves (2004) by James H — 30 Aug 2009

It was much better than I thought. Another entertainment film featuring all-star casts from the director Xiaogang Feng prior to "The Banquet" (2006). Frankly, I didn't like the whole atmosphere (like colors of images, production design of inside the train, and costumes) and editing which is just trying to be "stylish" using jump cuts or slo-mo meaninglessly.

The story, based on a novel, however, is quite good and full of lessons. I liked the concept of everything happening in the running train between the two stations. Some castings are not really perfect, especially the hero and the heroin played by Andy Lau and Rene Liu are kinda awkward, I don't really know why though.

You Ge gives good performance in his specialty - a villain, and Bingbing Li surprisingly fits to the bitchy role. It won't waste your time.