Exiled is really its own thing in the world of action movies. If you’ve grown bored with the recent Hollywood trend of shaky cameras, incoherent action scenes and split second editing, Exiled is a breath of fresh air. If you want to see action that’s clear, coherent, and carries a sort of odd, dreamlike quality, put Exiled on your movie downloads queue.
Years after a top ranked lieutenant in the Triad betrays his boss, the boss, played by Simon Yam, sends a pair of hitmen to take him out. Meanwhile, two members of the gang come to protect the man. These characters were all friends in the gang, and it’s out of duty that the two hitmen come to kill their old partner. They come to a compromise and decide to pull off a big score to support the man’s wife and child before settling their conflict.
There’s a warmth and sweetness to what happens. Where most gangster movies are defined by that cold, impersonal “Just Business” approach to violence, here, none of the characters really want to shoot at each other, they’ve been friends since they were young, and they seem upset that it’s come to this.
Johnnie To, the Hong Kong action legend, directed this film with a sense of sweetness and sentimentality and nostalgia. John Woo and Ringo Lam defined the Heroic Bloodshed genre alongside To with films like Hard Boiled and City on Fire, and To was always considered sort of the third wheel of the genre. This film, however, is much different from anything you might have seen from that era of Hong Kong action.
The film really feels like a dream, with slow motion shootouts taking several minutes while only carrying about thirty seconds of action were they to be shot in real time. One incredible sequence has a character throwing an empty drink can into the air, and the shootout takes place over several minutes as the can falls to the floor in slow motion just seconds after the final bullet is fired.
The story is fairly confusing. You have to simply watch it for the emotional drive of the characters, because the plot line is all over the place, however, this actually helps the movie’s dream like quality. Even the director has said that he didn’t know exactly what was going on while directing the film, and was hoping that he would figure it out in editing. When that didn’t work out, he decided that, maybe someday, it’ll make sense.
The Heroic Bloodshed era of Hong Kong action flicks was certainly an incredible time for film lovers. Hard Boiled and City on Fire defined the genre, being angry, explosive films, showing independent characters taking on the masses as a symbol of Hong Kong independence against Chinese communism. Lam and Woo went to Hollywood, and you could argue the qualities of their American films. Johnnie To stayed behind and turned the genre into something entirely different.
Exiled is a rare action film, and certainly one to see if you want something a little different than the usual shaky-cam shootout flick. It’s really a refreshing breath of fresh air if you’re sick and tired of not being able to tell who’s shooting who and how the heck that guy got on the roof. Definitely a change of pace.
This is a great way for a film maker who is on a tight budget be able to work with a production crew. Download Movies Online The World Music Awards were held in Monaco for 15 years before moving to the United States in 2004 and. Tools Of The TradeWhat are the tools of a lyricist’
