I want to start by saying I really enjoyed that movie overall. The acting was topnotch, the action reawakened my love for the genre (it's been dormant for a long while now, after series of dull action movies), and the movie is engaging. Yen Donnie and Kaneshiro Takeshi had nice chemistry. Their scenes together were most amusing.

However, the movie had many aspects that kept it from being outstanding in my view. First of all, I felt the movie had an identity crisis. It wouldn't settle for one and go through to the end. The first half was purely a scene investigation done brilliantly and, as a mystery junky, I was totally absorbed by it. During the end of the first half, it started leaning towards horror type which, though not my type, I understand that many mysteries use it to add more thrill. Then suddenly, just halfway through, all the secrets get revealed and nothing is left to be uncovered. It becomes a pure action movie. The problem here is, instead of incorporating the two genres in a complementary way, it felt that they just pasted together, without mixing it at all. At that point, all the character development and exploration get thrown out the window.

Another thing I cannot get over is the music here. Overall I mostly enjoyed how sound and music have been used here. That is except for one scene. It marked the beginning of the action sequence and starts with this guitar soundtrack. It only lasted seconds but it was a mood destroyer.

One last complaint is the death of one of the characters in the end. I wonder if I was supposed to laugh but that is what I did. I laughed at it though, not with it.

Again, despite my complaints, I was delighted to watch this movie. Well, my delight was mostly to watch Kaneshiro Takeshi but neither he nor Yen Donnie disappoints.

;)