Charlie's Angels eat your hearts out!
These girls have come to replace you and they've come to do it with syle! Looks like Drew, Cameron and Lucy have competition.
When an assasin known as Computer Angel/Virus kills the CEO of a powerhouse corporation all the while pumping "Why do birds suddenly appear" through the building, special agent Kong Yat Hong (the incredible Karen Mok) is on the case.
Little do they know, the assasin is a team of sisters called Lynn and Sue (the sexy Shu Qi and the charming Vicky Zhao Wei) that call themselves 'The Computer Angel' and "Comuter Virus. While Lynn is out carrying out the kill, Sue is at home hacking the companies computers and surveilance systems.
The assasin sisters were hired by the CEO's younger brother Chow Nunn (Deric Wan), so he could take over the company.
Meanwhile Lynn runs into an old flame and deides to quit the assasination business so Sue takes it upon herself to carry out the next job by herself, not knowing that special agent Hong will be waiting for her with her partner Mark.
Let's just say there are three sexy Asian girls that have a new fan. SO CLOSE is such an enjoyable popcorn film to watch with a few of your guy friends, lets be honest girls probably won't like it and that's fine. SO CLOSE brings the action and sex appeal to enjoyably high levels. The choreography is just awesome, every fight will get its fair share of "WOW!!" and "That's so cool!" (the tag team sword fighting comes to mind), I believe it was choreographed by Corey Yuen but don't quote me on that.
This is the kind of film that drops believabilty for more style. Sure she's firing way too many bullets and has no extra ammo. Sure she's walking slow and her coat is waving about when there's no wind and yes she's staying in the air longer that gravity allows. However you just wont care, because it looks good. Maybe "Why do birds suddenly appear" isn't the perfect fighting music, but hey i bought it and it was awesome! I thought it was pretty clever using such a slow song for gun fights.
I dont know what more I can say, I enjoyed this movie immensely and if it wasn't for the drawn out romance scenes and failed attempts of creating an emotional connection, I would have given it a perfect score. If there was a sequal (which there isn't so don't get excited) I would like to see them lose the padding and weave in more action.
Its amazing Up close to me is one of the movies you can never watch and say ''I didn't enjoy that''. It's plot is brilliant, the stars are charming and the movie is simply wow. You'll love it all the way through. I say 10 thumps up!!!
backstepprogram(15) on 14, Aug. 2004 21:22 (HKT)
And It Was SO CLOSE! I've seen enough Hong Kong actioners to know that they fall into two principal categories: (1) those that are terrific and ignore the possible logic problems of the story or (2) those that are terrific and completely toss logic to the wind. Believe it or not, SO CLOSE actually gravitates between both of these groups.
The film tries to be so much more than what it is: a statement on family loyalty, a testament to budding lesbianism, a barrier-breaking MATRIX-style adventure ... one could go on and on. The subplot involving the two sisters dependence upon one another to complete a single assassination job is a bit heavy on the overall weight of the film, but you can't fault the writer for attempting to give these glitzy girls some depth ... and you certainly can't hold the actresses responsible for giving it their best shot.
Taken as a thrill pill, SO CLOSE works very well on many levels. The pacing is intense, the photography is very well done, the choreography (especially the climax) is exciting, and the performances are better than average. Sure, some comparisons to the look of the flick being dangerously close to a REVLON commercial are merited, but SO CLOSE was never intended to be high art: it is pure popcorn, and it can be enjoyed very well on that level.
Kick back. Get yourself a beer. Start this DVD in the machine and enjoy three beautiful Asian women kicking some real mean butt and shooting some very powerful guns.
