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| The person most deserving of credit is Leon Lai. Lai works as an Everyman type with the ability to hypnotize people when they least expect it. His scenes with Xu Jinglei as his wife and Francis Ng as the easily exasperated criminal are the film's best moments. |
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| "In Heroic Duo, get this, Leon Lai actually smiles!" What can I say about the movie that changed my opinion on the acting abilities of Leon Lai? Well, it wasn’t bad, that’s for sure. Heroic Duo was a fun and action filled movie out of Hong Kong that packs a good amount of entertainment punch… assuming you check in your disbelief in at the door. ...... Leon Lai actually decided to come out of his normal shell and put on his acting face in this movie. It’s not that I haven’t enjoyed him in other movies (he was brilliant in A Hero Never Dies, but his character was not meant to be flamboyant or show much in the way of emotion), but he’s always so straight faced. In Heroic Duo, get this, Leon Lai actually smiles! It was quick, and if you blink you might miss it, but it was there, sure enough. Not to knock the guy, but he just seems to play the same character in every movie, however in this one he did a bit more emoting than in any of his other movies that I’ve seen. |
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| Review: Dead funky computer animation during the credit sequence promises that Heroic Duo will be one helluva film. The remaining 101 minutes delivers on that promise. A solid cast, tight direction, and production values through the roof work together to make a tense, intriguing film. The story begins with Ekin Cheng essaying a tense cop investigating a colleague who claims to have been hypnotised, shortly before blowing his brains out. Cheng seeks out a jailed hypnotist, played by Leon Lai, for advice. Turns out a master hypnotist is planning to steal some fabulous gems at auction, so Cheng takes his pet hypnotist to the scene. Lai escapes, Cheng is framed, and everybody is falling over each other to catch the villain, or get away, or foil the other guy. The story gets more complicated from there, with more twists and turns than your lower intestine (although less partly-digested food). Francis Ng, as the villain, is urbane, obscenely talented, and dead sexy. Lai is cool and enigmatic, while Cheng, divested of his trademark long hair, really acts. There’s guns and car chases for the boys, three sexpot men for the girls, and loads of action and intrigue for everyone. 9 fabulous gems out of 10 |