Right, well with two of the heavy weights of Hong Kong cinema coming together in this movie, then what could go wrong?
I had not actually heard about "Chasing the Dragon" (aka "Chui lung") prior to stumbling upon it by sheer luck. I didn't even had to read the synopsis for it; I saw that it was a Hong Kong movie and it had both Andy Lau and Donnie Yen on the cover. This was an instant pick-up.
The movie turned out to be quite entertaining, and it is one of the better orchestrated gangster movies that I have seen in quite some time.
The storyline was good, fast-paced and nicely written. And the fact that the characters were so well detailed and unique also helped to make the movie experience that much better. Of course, having an amazing cast to portray these characters just helped the movie along all the more.
Donnie Yen was good in the role as an immigrant turned criminal in order to make a living in Hong Kong, and Andy Lau is, as always, doing a great job in a police role. Needless to say that both their performances were phenomenal. But the movie also boasted other quite interesting supporting actors. If you are familiar with Hong Kong movies, then you will definitely see some familiar faces - some of them even in small roles that weren't that important to the movie.
"Chasing the Dragon" was nicely paced and it didn't really have a dull moment throughout the course of its story. That worked quite nicely in favor of the movie.
If you enjoy Asian cinema, or Hong Kong cinema in particular, then you should take the time to sit down and watch "Chasing the Dragon"...