HIT TEAM

Reviewed By Paul Cooke

From Dante Lam , the Director of , ‘ Beast Cops ’ , comes an intelligent and well paced movie that revolves intrinsically around the lives of a group of people who are all a part of the ,‘ Hit Team ’. A strong bond of friendship between five particular male special arms unit members of the Hit Team is emotionally affected when one amongst their ranks is shot down in the line of duty , seriously injuring and leaving him without the use of his legs.The other four friends make a pact to pay for their friends operation with a specialist abroad that will give him the chance to walk once again , but the expense is one that they cannot quickly or readily meet by conventional means.Between them they quit the force and go renegade against the underground bank syndicate that was responsible for the shooting , perceiving this as a fair way to recompense their friend and in turn put them out of business at the same time.To do a proper job the recreant quartet need to acquire the proper armoury and for this they break into the Hit Team units weapons unit but things go awry. Innocents are killed but the friends are focussed upon continuing their emotive cause , setting out to give back to their friend and colleague what was taken from him with callous malignance.

Hit Team unit leader Chung , as played by Daniel Wu , has problems of his own in keeping his unit together after they also have a man killed in action. This whilst he is still coming to terms in seeing his friend and colleague killed in front of his own eyes , now he has to deal with a female team member as a replacement as well as being assigned to cracking down on the underground bank scene as well as the recent attack on the special forces armoury , believing the two to be linked. With a two million dollar transaction going down the renegades close in for the payday they require , all the while unaware that Chung is piecing together the connection between the retiring force members as well as closing in on the illegal money laundering , and also attracting a group of heavy gun totting bad guys hired by the money launderers to protect the cache. The final quarter of the film is the action highlight as everything comes together in a three way face off replete with an interesting twist on friendship , loyalty and professional respect as Chung calls upon his inner strength to exorcise his personal demons in one all out almighty fashion , intricately embodying all the affiliating players within the film. Characterisation is strong yet strangely uninvolved , perhaps as no one star stands out amongst the well crafted storyline , unravelling in a manner reminiscent to that of Michael Mann’s , ‘ Heat ’, which in itself was a direct transition from the television adaption , ‘ LA Takedown ’.

The impressive trailer for the movie suggests an all out action Fest which is misleading and does not prepare the viewer for what is clearly a much more cerebral experience , with the moments of well choreographed Action evenly interjected throughout the films duration. With dialogue that is integral yet overly heavy , and at times difficult to keep up with due to the fast rendering subtitled interpretation , as well as having no one character to relate with , ‘ Hit Team ’, may well prove to be a Hit or Miss depending on what mood its particular viewing audience is in. Overall Dante Lam has once again Directed an intelligent film that may well be better appreciated with a more rewarding second viewing Hit.

Production : 2001Format : DVD Release : Universe Laser & Video Co. Limited Coding : All Region NTSC Sound : DTS Dolby Digital 5.1 Extras : Letter Box Format / English Subtitles / Music Video / Star Files Character Bios / Trailer / Making Of Hit Team