DRUG WAR

DRUG WAR

Jeri Jacquin, Movie Maven

Coming to DVD from director Johnnie To and Well Go USA Entertainment comes the games that are played when everyone is in the middle of a DRUG WAR.

This film tells the story of Timmy Choi (Louis Koo), a manufacturer of meth and a manipulator of everyone! After a crash, Captain Zhang (Sun Honglei) uses Timmy to play both sides against the middle.

Timmy agrees because the deal is that he will stay away from the death penalty. Trying to keep wits and keep Captain Zhang supplied with information, there are moments where it all could fall apart.

In 72 hours there is no sleep, line and double crossing, bullets flying and one man in control – or is he?

FINAL WORD: Koo as Timmy is such a sly little snake! That’s what makes this role pretty cool for him to play. Never quite knowing what he will do or what he will say is what keeps the film fast and crazy. From beginning to end Koo makes this character his own.

Honglei as Zhang is seriously amazing. A rather stoic cop it doesn’t take long before his personality changes according to the situation that Timmy puts him in. Trying to keep up with who’s who Honglei portrays Mr. Haha and Mr. Chang with all three characters done exceptionally well.

The entire cast plays this film extremely well. The idea of gangsters doesn’t have the ‘angels with dirty faces’ face the world is use to seeing. These gangsters looked like everyone else which added a different twist to the film. 

This film was recognized by the Asian Film Festival, Rome Film Festival and the Rotterdam International Film Festival. The latter nominated director Johnnie To for a Big Screen Award.

Other cast include: Honglei Sun, Yi Huang, Michelle Ye, Siu-Fai Cheung, Wallace Chung, Tao Guo, Ka Tung Lam, Suet Lam, Guangjie Li, and Hoi-Pang Lo.

TUBS OF POPCORN: I give DRUG WAR three and a half tubs of popcorn out of five. There is action, suspense, more action, a plot with serious twists and a well-played film that doesn’t leave a lot of room for popcorn breaks! This is a world where games don’t go over very well and bullets are the answer when you cross the line.

Director Jonnie To has thirty directing and producing credits and has done films such as ELECTION, TRIAD ELECTION and EXILED. His films have been shown in over 21 countries. One thing I’ve noticed that director To does is cast actors that he is comfortable working with and in doing so puts together some amazing films.

Well Go USA entertainment brings the best content in Asian Cinema to North America. With theatre releases and DVD blu-ray and VOD content available there is something for everyone. Check them out at www.wellgousa.com and you’ll see what I mean.

In the end – high risk high return!