Beast Cops (1998)

Just perfect...

Great Film overall

Good movie but grossly overrated

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I bought this excellent movie 10 years ago and I enjoy it immensely . I was expecting Beast Cops to be a bullet ballet similar to the films of John Woo. It clearly is not, this is an excellent cop/triad action drama with the HK sense of humor . This stars Anthony Wong (one of the best actors to work in HK ) and Michael Wong (one of the worst actors to work in HK ) . Both of these actors are part caucasian , but they are not related. Anthony Wong plays a streetwise cop and Michael Wong plays his uptight boss assigned to his unit . Michael 's crappy acting works great for his character . Plus the Wongs together have good chemistry . Sam Lee is great here also, as is Roy Cheung .(who is awesome in everything he is in) This movie is very dark with a lot of funny stuff, action and drama . The characters are off the wall and the cop and triad worlds exist together . This could have been an abortion , but in its own way it really works. I was expecting a standard HK action flick, I got a lot more.

Beast Cops has got to be one of the most overrated movies ever made in Hong Kong. There are only a few elements that justify some praise. And that is Anthony Wong and the comedy. But an actioner this is not. Sure there are some violent scenes consisting of some sword fighting and occasional gun firing but just not enough to qualify it as hard hitting action, that you can expect from this type of Hong Kong film. And before you condemn me for being superficial or not open minded enough. This is advertised as a brilliant action film. You got to put the money where your mouth is. Plus when a film doesn't offer what is promised I will be the first one to embrace whatever goodness that is delivered.Except there is none. Even for a triad film Beast Cops doesn't convince. Yes, there are gangsters and the usual betrayal shenanigans. But it hardly shows what the triads do or why they are so feared. Plot wise this seemed such an important factor since these triads were so friendly with the cops. With the lack of story and suspense I at least expected some interesting things to happen. I mean why else would so many praise the hell out of this.. Well, I kept waiting and waiting and it never came.And what was Michael Wong doing in this? It seemed he was lost and on his way to the set of another crappy film he is featured in. Honestly, I do like the guy but let's face it he is one of the most boring actors in Hong Kong cinema. He didn't make much sense here. The only thing I could think of was that the director wanted to show some contrast between him and Anthony Wong's character. If that was the idea than he failed miserably. Compared to similar Hong Kong films Beast Cops doesn't add anything new other than humour, which in my book wasn't enough for me to truly enjoy this.Ignore the fact that Beast Cops has won many awards and that it is praised. It is not deserving of that at all. Avoid!

One of the worst Hong Kong action movies I ever seen. Dumb characters, Michael Wong and Anthony Wong's characters are flat out dumb. Don't waste your time on this flick, I turned it off after 45 mins. Luckily I only rented this movie for 1 dollar, so I don't feel as bad.

This one is currently in the running for Best Movie Ever. Anthony Wong gives what is probably his best performance; Michael Wong isn't annoying at all for once, and the supporting cast is generally good. There basically isn't a boring scene in the whole movie. While it's not really an action movie, there are a fair number of chaotic violent scenes... Sometimes the camerawork is a little TOO chaotic. It might seem pretentious in other movies, but this one has a such a "what the hell" attitude I'm inclined to overlook some erratic storytelling and pointlessly strange cinematography. It's hard to explain just what's so great about this movie, but I've seen it three times and liked it more each time... That should say something.