Equal parts Sam Peckinpah (shooting and blood sprays) mixed with Sergio Leone (standoffs and shooting) with a little John Woo (slow motion shootouts) thrown in the mix (not to mention that Anthony Wong reminded me of John Ford with is close cut hair and tiny shades – the only thing missing was a cigar), Exiled was a grand exercise in male bonding and shoot-em-ups.
Where is Wo (Nick Cheung)? Tai (Francis Ng) and Cat (Roy Cheung) show up at Wo’s house but his wife Jin (Josie Ho), with crying baby in the background, says that she doesn’t even know him. So the two decide to wait outside because they know that Wo really does live there.
Next Blaze (Anthony Wong) and Fat (Lam Suet) show up looking for Wo and get the same response from Jin so they also decide to wait outside as well – with Tai and Cat. It’s obvious that they all know each other and that two (Tai and Cat) and there to protect Wo and Blaze and Fat are there to do him harm. In the middle of their discussion, guess who happens to pull up?
Wo goes into the house and Tai and Blaze follow him and leave the other two to guard the front door. Turns out that Blaze has been sent by Boss Fay (Simon Yam) to assassinate Wo for a botched assassination attempt from years ago – Boss Fay still holds the grudge. We also find out that all five men were childhood friends and have all ended up on different sides of this conflict.
A slow motion gunfight breaks out between the three and when the smoke clears nobody is dead so the five of them sit down for a meal together and rehash old times. The quartet finds out that Wo’s final wish is to make sure that his family is cared for after his death. So the quintet decides to find a job that has some quick cash for Wo’s family since Boss Fay isn’t going to rest until Wo is dead (and Blaze still has it in his head to carry out the orders even after their pal time over dinner).
There’s a gold shipment that needs stealing and an assassination of a rival boss. The gold shipment isn’t within their time frame so they take the assassination. However, when they go into the restaurant to kill Boss Keung (Lam Ka Tung) guess who happens to walk in? Boss Yam.
Johnnie To directs the film and this was the first film of his that I’ve ever seen. The movie is reminiscent of all of the directors that I mentioned above and fans of any of those will definitely find something to enjoy in this wonderful film.
I can imagine that Hollywood would’ve said, “drop the slow parts and up the action” but in those quieter parts is where the character building is. In my opinion the film does have a nice balance of male bonding and stylized action scenes.
The film was nominated for four awards at the 2007 Hong Kong Film Festival and I can see why since I thought it was a compelling film and fun action ride.
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