Review of Blood Brothers (2008) by Aaron G — 09 Dec 2007

My love for 1930s Shanghai was not exactly helped or hurt by this rather slow movie. Not much new to add to the Shanghai gangster movie milieu, and nothing outstanding in terms of acting (all of the headliners were pretty sub-rate for this one).

The pace is incredibly slow, and really nothing ever happens in the movie to change this except the sudden killing of Shuqi's character in the shuizhen.

The characters were all incredibly stereotypical and uninteresting, and I watched on unfeeling as one after the other got gunned down. I was a bit sad to see Boss Hong get the knife, but I think the audience is supposed to be happy and feel a sense of vindication at his death. I think I was sad because the actor (who I love) wasn't ever given any real chance to act in the movie.

Some of the potentially successful elements of the film didn't get enough emphasis, such as the American Western-style gunslinging gangster hero Mark. So much more could have been done there.

The focus on the revolvers was really novel, I thought (I recall Baz Luhrman's Romeo and Juliet), but seemed to be downplayed, and I felt like the John Woo-style action sequences were too forced, giving me the feeling that I was watching a mixture of Scarface, the Killer, and some old Western.

Two scenes worth mentioning are the first time Daniel Wu takes out the thugs bullying his brothers, and the scene in the restaurant where he has the kids play hide-and-seek before he carries out another assassination. Pretty impressive. The second being very reminiscent of John Woo.

Three stars for being a 1930s Shanghai gangster movie.