The Blood Rules DVD
Mandarin and/or Cantonese Multilingual DVDs
Hong Kong Movie Triad Drama 97 Minutes Multi-Lingual
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The Blood Rules (2000) 行規 Director: Marco Mak Starring: Lam Suet, Michael Wong, Shooky Kwan, Jackie Lui A professional robbery group, steals the money of triad gangs. In their final operation, they lose. Under the attack of both the police and the triad one member is killed. The other two swear to take revenge. This movie focuses on a foursome of tough robbers played by Michael Wong, Lam Suet, Jackie Lui and Suki Kwan. They're tough, and in the course of their actions, they take a lot of punishment, while killing a bunch of people. At one point in quick succession Michael is shot a few times, takes a thorough pounding and is then run over by a car–and he still manages to get on his feet! Suki is just as tough–even after taking a bullet or two she blasts away with her pump action shot gun. This isn't a huge budget action flick, but definitely has a flavor of its out. The action is well staged, and the script is fast-paced, and the dynamics of the plot resemble the earlier Johnny To action film, "The Mission." The fact that three cast members from that film are also in this one reinforces that impression. The four of them are a tightly knit well-oiled machine during an assignment–and in the opening scene they ably steal some loot in a bloody well-planned heist. Uncle Lam (Wong Tin-lam) who gives them their assignments has three rules of conducting business–1. Never be extravagant, 2. Never show off and 3. Never be a traitor. Without rules, he explains, the world gets messy. Before the film is over all three of these rules are broken. As disciplined as the group is during an operation, it turns out that their private lives are not so neat and this "family" is showing visible signs of dysfunction. Michael has a wife and child but is no longer in love with her–Suki is in love with an unresponsive Michael–Lam Suet is in love with an oblivious Suki–and Jackie just wants to "fever" with a whining harridan who has "trouble" written across her forehead. Michael thinks it is time to shut down the group for a while–but Uncle Lam convinces them to do one last job. An easy one he promises. What could go wrong? Everything it turns out and soon they are on the run from the cops, from their target and from their betrayer. Running isn't their only agenda though–so is revenge. The characters all play out fairly well as they are fleshed out just enough to make the viewer care about their fates. Wong has a sense of honor to his family, Suki is tender one moment and a killing machine the next, Jackie is brash and irresponsible and Lam Suet just wants to go to Bermuda to swim among the tropical fish with his friends. Those fish start to look more and more like a far away dream as they battle to stay alive among a fusillade of gunfire and hired killers. DVD: List Price: US $19.95
Rating: IIB - "Adult Material; Parental Guidance Recommended" (roughly equal to an MPPA rating of "R") Films rated Category IIB contain large amounts of violence and/or nudity and sexual situations in addition to possible explicit language and adult situations. OR
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