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Beast Cops
Beast Cops
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List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $17.89
You Save: $12.06 (40%)
Buy New/Used from $17.89

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars(based on 8 reviews)
Sales Rank: 61808
Category: DVD

Actors: Sammuel Leung, Arthur Wong (ii), Kathy Chow, Roy Cheung, Stephanie Che, Patrick Tam (ii), Anthony Wong Chau-sang, Kong Kim, Michael Wong, Sam Lee (iii)
Directors: Gordon Chan, Dante Lam
Publisher: Image Entertainment
Studio: Image Entertainment
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
Label: Image Entertainment
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: Cantonese Chinese (Original Language), Mandarin Chinese (Original Language), Chinese (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Indonesian (Subtitled), Japanese (Subtitled), Korean (Subtitled), Vietnamese (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 95 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Picture Format: Letterbox

ISBN: 630523518X
UPC: 601643600949
EAN: 0601643600949
ASIN: 630523518X

Release Date: November 17, 1998
Theatrical Release Date: January 1, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
Director Gordon Chan, who launched his career in the 1980s with sharply observed social comedies such as The Yuppie Fantasia, moved on to documentary-inflected police procedurals, a gritty Hong Kong subgenre pioneered by Johnny Mak (The Long Arm of the Law) and Kirk Wong (Rock 'n' Roll Cop). Like many younger HK directors, Chan may also have been influenced by the icy-cool Japanese gangster films of Takeshi Kitano (Sonatine). This 1998 entry, Chan's best since The Final Option (1994), is about the redemption of a slobbish veteran cop, played by grizzled Anthony Wong, whose pasty face looks slept in. Knee-deep in corruption and taking bribes with both hands, Wong finds, to his dismay, that the straight-arrow morality of his new young boss (Michael Wong) may be contagious. The film is as much a romantic melodrama as an action film, leisurely and observational, full of eccentric slacker detectives and feral dimwitted gangsters with nicknames like Man-Dick and Pushy Pin. The fight sequences are shot close in, hand held, with vertiginous swoops and swerves, for a claustrophobic sense of terror. --David Chute


Customer Reviews:   Read 3 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars ...   October 11, 2003
  2 out of 2 found this review helpful

A very impressive and entertaining movie, with the characters being the chief virtue, and the image of the world it creates a close second. The characters are definately human beings, not perfect, nor are their follies unsymathetic (with a few exceptions), and they really feel like part of the world in the film... which is also a testament to the quality of the acting (it really is a relief whenever I see a "cop movie" where the acting and dialogue aren't of the "overdone hard-boiled" type). As is stated early in the movie, the difference between cops and gangsters is often negligable, and, obviously, really just components of the same system.

I can't say if cops and gangsters really act like this anywhere, but, for some reason, their respective situations in Beast Cops seem more true to life than the impressions given by many other HK movies (think: where police who sometimes cooperate with gangsters are always bad, and the "good" cops are always in direct moral opposition to the gangsters... even in the movies that blur the distinction and make room for more grey-area). Although it's occasionally punctuated by violence, Beast Cops is more about the daily lives of its protagonists than the "redemption" of the frumpy cop (if anything, it's about how the frumpy cop and the slightly high-strung new boss influence each-other, as well as the dynamics of the gangsters as they adapt to the new cop and the temporary leave-of-absence taken by one of their Big Brothers). Visually, Beast Cops is also very well done (the sets are pretty nice too... couldnt' get enough of the junky apartment... the green cafe was also nice counterpart to the slightly dishelved world).

Intermittently and simutaneously humorous, happy, sad, and content... and one of the few movies I'd as readily recommend a purchase as a rental (It just made me happy, although rewatching might diminish the effect... so if you're on a budget, there are probably movies more worth purchase...).

PS: You might want to try and get ahold of the UK Region 2 DVD, as it features commentaries and interviews... overall, a much better release. [really... why the US is generally stuck with Miramax edited dub-only releases and equally barebones ones from distributors that seem to just re-encode and add softsubs to HK bootlegs completely eludes me... especially since there's a MUCH bigger audience here...]


5 out of 5 stars Unpredictable and original   August 24, 2002
  1 out of 2 found this review helpful

Like a lot of Hong Kong films, Beast Cops has chaotic shifts in tone, occasionally bizarre humor, and manically over the top violence. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It sure works in Beast Cops, which would probably suffer from being too predictable. What starts off as a fairly serious drama about a gambling addicted and somewhat corrupt cop turns into a domestic comedy/revenge actioner/mob thriller. In one scene you'll have a character suddenly killed with a machete, in the next you'll have seriously hysterical comic moments from Anthony Wong as the corrupt cop.

I've never seen a film work two extremes so successfully and naturally, without seeming convoluted in any way. It's an action film, to be sure, but one that incorporates the rhythms and feel of real life, complete with the comic bits and kidding banter. It probably plays a little bit better as a comedy, despite the brutal violence of the last showdown (a showdown that still has room for a couple of hilarious throwaway moments from Anthony Wong). Michael Wong, usually about as charismatic as cardboard, here is utilized beautifully in a more comic role, and more directors should take heed of his fairly impressive work here in a role that totally goes against type. Roy Cheung has the most serious role here, and essentially shows up and does his usual great work without breaking a sweat. But the movie belongs to Anthony Wong, who won a Best Actor award in Hong Kong for this film. He shows remarkable range here, and he really just might be the best actor in HK today. You see his work here, then watch Full Contact, Hard Boiled, and Big Bullet, and you wonder how it can be the same guy.

Along with The Mission, this is one of the best 'New Wave' Hong Kong pictures.


5 out of 5 stars Definitely different.   April 18, 2002
  0 out of 1 found this review helpful

This was one of the first movies I saw when I was becoming acquainted with the Hong Kong action genre. This is an incredible, visually-stunning exercise in action. Now, it is not action on the same level as John Woo or Tsui Hark. But this is a great drama and action movie all at the same time. It has graphic violence, language and mild sexuality (as in don't see it for that reason or you'll be disappointed). If you like cop dramas and action films and don't mind reading a movie (though I do enjoy when the dubbing is different than the subtitles), Beast Cops is a great movie.


3 out of 5 stars Different from an HK movie I've seen.   December 6, 2000
  0 out of 2 found this review helpful

I was expecting this to be an actioned packed, drama typical to what I had come to know from Hong Kong directors. Boy I was wrong. This was a good movie, however featured only one and a half action scenes. The story was different and new, not the same old cop/triad story. Diffently watch this film but dont expect it to be up to par with John Woo in action or the characters to be as awesome as Chow Yun Fat and cast.


5 out of 5 stars ONE OF THE BEST   September 26, 2000
  0 out of 1 found this review helpful

this is definately one of the best hk films you will ever see. the reason for this is that the script is way better than most hk films. GORDON CHAN did it with first option and know he has done it again. it probaly helped that he had a good group of actors. ANTHONY WONG, MICHEAL WONG, ROY CHEUNG,and SAM LEE all give excellent performances. the story deals with a group of mismatched cops who try to stop a gang of young, out of control triads. the story doesnt sound that new,but, the characterations are where this movie really shines. any fan of hk movies needs to see this film.

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