OOPS....Ringo did it again
Dieter Kaiser | Frankfurt, Germany | 07/31/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"What shall I say? I nearly watched all the movies of Ringo Lam. OK, Maximum Risk wasn't that good, but overall none of his movies (eg. WILD SEARCH, FULL CONTACT, PRISON ON FIRE)ever disappointed me. I even liked it better than THE VICTIM.This is a movie about friendship, honor and betrayal. The most frequent ingredients for a heroic bloodshed movie.Here there are two friends who were in the assassin business 12 years ago. One get caught, the other escapes. When he finally gets out of the prison he is forced by his friend to kill a nominee for the president in the Philipines. When he refuses, he gets accused by his friend.Now the Police, the Triad and a third party are looking for the suspect....Doesn"t sound very appealing but is really worth watching. In addition the DVD of the 1998 film has a good picture and a good sound. Even the subtitles are readable all the time!Don't expect silly non-stop action- or you will be disappointed. This is a high class thriller with a plot!"
Very good movie -- solid story with decent action
Guy DuBlanc | USA | 06/17/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The dubbed version of Ringo Lam's "The Suspect" (1998) is actually done very well. I was very impressed with the dubbing, which is one of the best dubs I've heard. Even if you are not crazy about dubbing I think you will like this. (Note: There is also a subbed version available.)The picture quality was pretty good. It is above average when compared with other Hong Kong movies that I've seen. By my own estimates, the widescreen ratio is approximately 1.78:1. The sound quality also seemed above average.As for the movie itself, I liked it quite a bit. If I were to give it a letter grade, it would get a 'B'. It had a good story and good characters. The themes are similar to something John Woo has done, such as "The Killer." If you like that kind of movie, this is along the same lines. It is not a clone or anything, however, and is different. The story is not one-dimensional although it may appear to be at first. The characters are nicely done and developed. This movie looks like it had a pretty big budget for Hong Kong. There's some impressive explosions. The action did not impress me, though, although I thought it was okay. The gunfighting is not nearly as good as what John Woo did -- 10 years ago. It's not bad or anything, however.While I don't think this movie is as good as Woo's work, it is still worth watching. If you like Hong Kong movies I think you will probably enjoy it."