Feng Xiao Gang played the title role of Mr. Six with all the depth and a bit of coldness, which is what made this film. The way he faces people who are dangerous but despite being a former gangster he follows his own moral code which basically means he doesn't hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it in his eyes, namely anyone who crossed him or screwed him over. But this film tackles a subject that you rarely see being touched -- what it's like to become old, having a failing body but your mind remains that of a young gangster. How devastating it is to watch the younger people be disrespectful just because of your age.

And the irony of media that shows a forty something guy and calls him 'middle aged.' All of this is just done with such raw power as far as the actor's talent is concerned, everyone from Yi Feng to Kris just nailed it. And I love how realistic the portrayal of real poverty and the sense of desperation you feel when the only reason your child is in danger is because you don't have the ransom to pay his kidnappers. The thing about this film is it relies on raw realism. Especially that scene where Mr six tries to get the ransom money to get his son YiFeng back from Kris, that was so touching, just beautifully done.

So that father who calls you a sissy because of the way you look, doesn't suddenly go around saying keep this look, and gets super woke all of a sudden, it just shows that even someone who thinks you're 'a sissy' can still love you. But it doesn't provide justification for the wrongs the father did but when Yi Feng tells him why he resents him you can tell Mr. Six would do anything to do things different if he had the chance. And in a way the reason he wants Yi Feng to 'clean up his act' and act tough is because Mr. Six knows his own health is deteriorating and Yi Feng clearly doesn't have loyal friends so in his mind having a tough exterior will protect Yi Feng at least a little from people like Kris.

But the absolute genius of the film is the way even Kris is clearly shown to have a controlling, abusive father who basically imprisoned his own son to manipulate Mr. Six in a desperate situation because sure the girl said she snuck Yi Feng out of Kris's custody but if Kris really wanted to capture Yi Feng or hurt him he could have done it anytime, but it wasn't Kris but his greedy, selfish father who sends YiFeng to the hospital , breaks his skull. Because you can tell when Kris hears of this from Mr. Six he even apologizes and he has tears in his eyes throughout. So he was sincere.

But okay, the reason I can't give it a higher rating is honestly because the ending - it just felt trite and didn't match the rest of the film it was anticlimactic you can say. I would have been fine if it just faded to black where they show Kris crying but you don't actually see anything on screen. That scene and everything before it was so well executed! But the ending just didn't work for me, the whole son feeds birds like the father after father dies its so played out.

Still this film, despite its minor shortcomings, is a must watch.