Saturday, September 4, 2010

An Outstanding Synopsis Of Exiled

By Lakeisha Dodson

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.

The story follows a former gangster who ran from his gang after ripping off their boss. Since, he's gotten married and had a child. The movie begins when the boss sends a pair of hitmen to take him out. This is complicated by the fact that these two were friends with their target, and furthermore, a couple of retired members of the Triad have come to protect their old friend from the other two.

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 dreamlike quality to the film is really something. Shootouts take place in slow motion, with action that takes only thirty seconds being expanded to several minutes. One incredible scene begins with a character throwing a Red Bull can into the air, and climaxes just as the empty can hits the floor, with bullets flying and people dying over the course of an incredible slow motion bullet ballet.

The story isn't always quite as clear as the action, but this actually helps to improve the dreamlike quality of the film. To himself has admitted that he finds the film confusing and still hasn't quite made sense of it. Watch it for the characters and the action, though, and you'll be able to appreciate the movie in full.

The Heroic Bloodshed genre was defined as being an angry, violent group of films, largely as a reaction to the Chinese takeover of Hong Kong. The heroes would take on hundreds of enemies at a time in a symbol of the Hong Kong independent spirit against that of communist China. So it's interesting to see To taking the genre in a new direction. This film is defined by its themes of compassion and forgiveness, and there's an odd gentleness to even the most gruesome violence in the film.

It's truly a rare spectacle in the world of action. Even if you've seen everything John Woo and Ringo Lam have ever made, this movie will show you something you haven't seen before. It's definitely something to watch if you're looking for an action scene with its own approach to the usual shootouts and fight scenes. - 40727

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