This is the third time i have watched it..familiarity wiith the dialogue helps concentration away from the subtitles..and it suprised me how much English they speak,with "boss" and "okay" ,"bye bye" and other
phrases tagged on all over the place..
That sing-song Cantonese drawl ,perfectly suits the insouciance of both the "Underworld",and the Police ,and there is a lot of humour in this..
I was captivated straight away by the Hi-Fi shop exchanges where the two "star-crossed" recruits meet up again.
Cinematography is fantastic in this,and makes great use of the Hong Kong locations,where space is at such a premium,that everything ,including cemeteries and golf courses,are on rooftops...the camera seems to float everywhere ,and we get iconic image after iconic image. Most memorable,the rooftop "stand-offs" ,using exaggerated wide angled close-ups ,cut with "distance" shots,and reflections in the surrounding buildings,that create the effect of figures seeming to appear
from nowhere...
There is little flab in this film,no unecessary sex scenes ,crisp black and white freeze-frame flashbacks that punctuate the "life and death" moments,the violence is horrific , unglamorous,and perfunctory..
A "neat" ending is eschewed for one that leaves the main character in "moral limbo",and leaves your imagination to run on into the future,outside the frame...with just a quotation from "The Buddah" that offers no solace,referring as it does to "Continuous Hell" as the worst kind...because those in "Continuous Hell" can never die ...
...Never Depart...