Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases


Task Force (1997)

Director: Patrick Leung

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Vaulting over the wreckage of a film industry in deep recession, Patrick Leung's witty policier does nothing very new but still registers as one of the best Hong Kong movies of its year. Virginal cop Rod Lin (Ku, cute) first meets hooker Fanny Chan (Young, terrific) during an operation to entrap illegal immigrants working in the sex trade. She becomes the bane of his life, alternately a tormentor and a flirt; but she's really in love with a jailed boyfriend who has promised to take her to Paris for the World Cup. Their non-affair (which comes with quizzical voice-overs in the Chungking Express vein) is interspersed with non-stop subplots, digressions and flashbacks, not to mention homages to various Chinese and Japanese action classics. But as Danny Wong's unusual piano score suggests, it's finally less a thriller than a study of emotional reckonings: how to cope with a dying parent, how to handle an uncommitted lover. John Woo and other directors put in cameo appearances.

Author: TR

Time Out Film Guide


What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields




Most popular on this site


Top Stories

Has David Cronenberg turned tame?

Has David Cronenberg turned tame?

Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?

The 10 worst date movies

The 10 worst date movies

Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made

Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films

Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films

Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas

10 unlikely badboy biopics

10 unlikely badboy biopics

Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects

Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'

Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'

The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing

Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day

Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day

Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing