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So Close

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So Close (2003)

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Reviews Counted:37

Fresh:30

Rotten:7

Average Rating:6.7/10

Consensus: This HK actioner oozes with style.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for pervasive violence and a sexual conversation

Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:Sep 12, 2003 Limited

Synopsis: The brothers Chow Nunn and Chow Lui’s giant computer company is facing a tense crisis – a powerful computer virus is rapidly wiping out their computer network. At the last minute a cyber-friend... The brothers Chow Nunn and Chow Lui’s giant computer company is facing a tense crisis – a powerful computer virus is rapidly wiping out their computer network. At the last minute a cyber-friend arrives to join the battle. The mysterious “Angel.com” battles the virus and saves the company. Invited by Chow Lui for a visit in person, Angel.com arrives in the form of the beautiful Lynn (Shu Qi). But it turns out Lynn is a professional assassin with amazing high-tech and kung fu skills. She kills Chow Lui with cyanide hidden in a pair of sunglasses. She’s aided by her sister Sue (Zhao Wei), who operates the pair’s World Panorama surveillance system, which allows them to tap into any video security system in the world. Young cop Kong Yat Hong (Karen Mok) and her partner Mark are put on the case. Hong has a brilliant mind and immediately senses she’s dealing with a killer with very special skills. Realizing they are facing a tough adversary, Lynn and Sue become fascinated with Hong as well. Lynn runs into Yan, the cousin of an old friend who died. Lynn and Yan shared an unspoken love in the past which is now rekindled in the open, and Lynn begins to question whether she wants to continue to be an assassin. Chow Nunn was behind his older brother’s death. He hired Angel.com to kill Lui because Lui opposed Nunn’s business plans, and also because Nunn is carrying on a secret affair with Lui’s wife. But when Hong’s investigation starts to point to Nunn, Nunn becomes worried and decides to hire Angel.com for another hit – only so he can double-cross them, wipe them out and prevent them from leading the police back to him. Yan tells Lynn he loves her and wants to marry her. After battling an attack by robbers with her amazing martial arts skills, she tells Yan her family’s history. Her father invented the World Panorama for use by the authorities, but was turned down. Suspiciously, word of the device got out to the underworld and both parents were brutally killed in front of the girls’ eyes by criminals eager to get their hands on the invention. Bereft at the loss of their parents and disillusioned with the law, the sisters turned professional assassins, killing criminals for other criminals. Lynn tells Sue she wants to stop their criminal life and get married – she won’t accept Chow Nunn’s order for the second killing. But Sue, angry and feeling abandoned by Lynn, decides to carry out the killing herself. Lynn realizes what’s happening and rushes to save Sue, who doesn’t have the skills to carry out the hit. They are attacked by Chow’s men but escape. Now the assassin and the cop must join forces – so Sue can avenge her sister’s death and Hong can prove her innocence in a spectacular confrontation at Chow Nunn’s headquarters... -- © 2002 Screen Gems [More]

Starring: Shu Qi, Zhao Wei, Karen Mok, Michael Wei

Starring: Shu Qi, Zhao Wei, Karen Mok, Michael Wei, Seoung-Heon Song

Director: Corey Yuen

Director: Corey Yuen
Screenwriter: Jeff Lau
Producer: Chui Po-chu
Studio: Strand Releasing

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Dec 30, 2003

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Reviews for So Close

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/04/04
Empire Magazine
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Time Out
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
10/03/08
Derek Elley
Derek Elley
Variety

Action scenes make the 'acting' scenes look vacuous, and you wonder why Yuen bothered with mushy memories, emotive close-ups and lyrical injections of They Long to Be (Close to You).

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
09/12/03
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

Has moments of style and audacity, but the script is a shameless muddle and the shifts in tone -- from gooey romance to hard-driving, hyper-pop action -- give the impression that the movie was directed by six or seven people in alternating shift.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
09/12/03
Edward Guthmann
Edward Guthmann
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

With the exception of some of the battles, which have the angry desperation of Mr. Yuen's inspired martial-arts choreography, Close is a nominal effort.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
09/11/03
Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | comment Comment
12/27/07
Joe Lozito
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound

This is all nonsense, of course, which wouldn't be a problem as long as the film kept the energy and humor going. But it doesn't.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
05/08/03
Joe Mader
Joe Mader
Hollywood Reporter

Hong Kong's answer to Charlie's Angels has big guns, hot chicks and cool gadgets -- hooked into a junky killers-for-hire narrative so nonsensical it practically neutralizes any guilty-pleasure positives.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
09/12/03
Megan Lehmann
Megan Lehmann
New York Post

could suck a tennis ball through a keyhole

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
12/31/03
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central

It's like it came straight from the guilty-pleasure heavens.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
09/11/03
E! Online

I didn't really understand what was going on, but I loved every stylized minute of it.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
09/11/03
Allison Benedikt
Allison Benedikt
Chicago Tribune

full of slick moves, quick cuts, and nasty surprises for hapless victims who smile smugly until the tables are irrevocably turned on them

Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
09/07/03
Andrea Chase
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews

Every shot in So Close is a compositional masterpiece.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
09/12/03
Bob Strauss
Bob Strauss
Los Angeles Daily News

It has hot chicks who kick a**. Is there any other conceivable reason why you would see this movie? Excels thanks to some innovative action sequences and the charms of its leading ladies.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
04/24/03
Brian Mckay
Brian Mckay
eFilmCritic.com

Part of the feedback loop created when The Matrix, which co-opted Hong Kong filmmaking styles, began to influence Asian cinema itself.

Full Review Source: Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus | comment Comment
01/21/04
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus

Luscious superstar Shu Qi and action expert Corey Yuen prove that Hong Kong movies can still deliver the goods Hollywood can't.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
09/13/03
Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor
Salon.com

The action in So Close is so giddily relentless that it makes you realize how stodgy most American tough-guy movies are.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
09/26/03
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

So Close is executed with so much style and expertise that it's bound to end up a guilty-pleasure favorite.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
09/13/03
Daniel Eagan
Daniel Eagan
Film Journal International

spectacular girl on girl fights

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
01/19/04
Don Willmott
Don Willmott
Filmcritic.com
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating)
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