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The New Option: The RevengeYear of release: 2003 Genre: cop action/drama Director: Gordon Chan Stars: Michael Wong, Suki Kwan, Shawn Yu, Wong Ho Yin, Wong Tin Lam Not rated; contains II-level violence and language Version reviewed: Panorama DVD |
Well, I guess if another month's gone by, then it must be time for yet another New Option movie. This time out, the plot deals with the reprecussions of one of the previous entries in the series, Run and Shoot, as an assassin named Clyde (Wong Ho Yin) infiltrates Stone Wong's (Michael Wong) SDU unit to get revenge for his dead partner. Stone is also dealing with a love triangle as he is put between his girlfriend (Suki Kwan) and a new flame.
This series is fast becoming more "NYPD Blue" than SDU. While this is in and of itself really isn't a problem, the fact that the acting and script are sub-par (to say the least) definitely is. The script depends far too much on the viewer seeing the previous movies in the series, as there are several scenes which only serve to confuse the new viewer as they deal with minor characters and their sub-plots, such as Shawn Yu's hostess girlfriend getting mixed up with a loan shark.
Things aren't helped any by the acting. Of course, no one's really expecting a film starring Michael Wong to have Oscar-caliber acting, but some of the stuff in here makes cable access look like "Masterpiece Theatre". Making matters worse is some ADR where the voices don't even match -- in some scenes, Michael sports an English accent. When you couple this with the general low-budget production values (once again, this entry is shot on video) and lack of action, The New Option: The Revenge is really only for die-hard SDU film fans that have already exhausted the supply at their local video store.
RATING: 4
