O Dedo Duro

This is more like Beast Stalker… Beast Stalker was a great film, filled with tension, fine acting and incredible tension. Similarly, the latest venture from Dante Lam in Stool Pigeon is a lot like the aforementioned film. The good news is the tension is there, the acting is good and the film is well directed. The bad news is that Stool Pigeon does not reach the heights of Beast Stalker. Nick Cheung reverses role with Nicholas Tse this time around. Cheung is the cop and Nicholas Tse is the stool pigeon. Cheung is now an established actor and earns his paycheck here with a gritty and emotionally complex character. Tse on the other hand is excellent and almost carries the film on his shoulders. The best thing of the lot, is once again veteran Liu Kai Chi. Liu steals the show and the effect is seen in the opening scene when he screams for help.

Stool Pigeon is a good film, but not a great film. The reason is simple, it lacks the same amount of intensive tension of its predecessor and relies much on the acting of Tse and Cheung to take the film to the end. In say that, this is by a far a much superior effort to Fire of Conscience. Dante Lam is a capable director and he is at his best, when the characters in his films are allowed to express their truest potential or perhaps when they go crazy. Think Anthony Wong in Beast Cop and Nick Cheung in Beast Stalker. While both Tse and Cheung does fine turns, but neither are memorable. The film itself is not too memorable either. Instead what we got delivered to us is a film that entertains, some interesting chases, fine acting and positive direction. Easily a good film, but not great…(Neo 2010)

I rate it 7/10

• www.thehkneo.com

THIS Dante Lam-Jack Ng collaboration smacks of the 2002 hit "Infernal Affairs". After watching it, I get the feeling that some Hollywood studio would be buying the rights for a remake, just like it had been done with "The Departed", Martin Scorsese's 2006 remake of "Infernal Affairs".

After "Beast Stalker" (2008), "Sniper" (2009) and "Fire of Conscience", "Stool Pigeon" looks set to cap Lam's career as film-maker. It grips its viewers from start to end - and never lets go! Police Inspector Don Lee (Nick Cheung) relies very much on his 'stool pigeons' to provide information for his drugs and criminal cases. However, an act of betrayal involving his last informant (played by Liu Kai Chi) leaves him wrecked with guilt. Don resolves to be more careful with his next 'stoolie', an ex-convict nicknamed Ghost (Nicholas Tse), whom Don plans to plant as getaway driver for a gold heist gang led by Barbarian (Lu Yi). Ghost, a street-racer who is determined to save his sister from loan sharks, looks like the man for the job. Problem is can they trust each other enough to see the job through? Movies about snitches, moles and informers are nothing new. However, Lam gives the genre a new dimension by delving deeper into the intricate relationship between police handler and informant. One sequence has Don telling his rookie officers to be friendly with their informers to win their trust, but not to be too close or they would lose their objectivity. This, of course, is easier said than done when lives and limbs are at stake.

Lam also takes great care with character development. The backgrounds of Don Lee and Ghost are nicely fleshed out (with even a twist or two) - and there is an emotional connection between Ghost and Barbarian's girlfriend Dee (Kwai Lun-Mei). This romantic touch not only lends narrative power and depth to the movie but also sets up the groundwork for the explosive and breath-taking ending.

Of course, for any movie to be compelling, it has to have a great cast. Nick Cheung has won Best Actor awards for his role in Beast Stalker and now it looks like Tse's turn. Nicholas gives Ghost such a powerful portrayal that it reminds me of a young Robert De Niro. His character is so full of anger and angst that it threatens to explode at any time. Cheung, as expected, has the audience rooting for him all the time, while Kwai steals the show every time she appears as the scheming gang moll.

There are some awkward and over-the-top scenes here and there but they do not mar the overall flow of the movie. - By LIM CHANG MOH (limchangmoh.blogspot.com)

First off, let me say that Nick Cheung's performance was great. He has a few scenes where he really needs to show emotion, and he shines. Sadly, I would say this film is a little forgettable. It's a tale that we have seen told similarly in movies such as "Infernal Affairs" and "City On Fire" (especially the latter, with the jewelry store robbery and the warehouse standoff) but isn't done quite as well. It has a few highlights, such as the car chase with "White Christmas" playing in the background, or the jewlery store robbery, or even the fight in the abandoned room filled with chairs and tables, but other than those memorable moments, the rest seems like filler. It also contains a few side plots that seemed a bit cliché and unnecessary. It's entertaining, sure, but in the end, it will blend in with many Hong Kong films with similar plots.

Stool Pigeon marks Hong Kong director Dante Lam's latest production as a unofficial sequel to the 2008 hit, Beast Stalker. Pairing up with Nicholas Tse and Nick Cheung, the two leading actors from Beast Stalker, Stool Pigeon has no doubt, become one of the few worthy Hong Kong productions of the year.

Beast Stalker features Tse as a detective and Cheung, a half-blind hit-man, crosses path with each other and teaming up together to stop a crime. In Stool Pigeon, both Tse and Cheung swapped their roles. Tse is now an ex-convict nicknamed Ghost, who unwillingly work as a informant for Don Lee (Cheung) in order to clear debts left by his late father and to rescue his only sister out of prostitution.

Don plants Ghost into a group of robbers, lead by wanted criminal, Barbarian (Lu Yi). Don wants Ghost to provide the information about Barbarian's plot to rob a jewelry shop, so as to make an arrest. Ghost came across Barbarian's girlfriend, Dee (Kwei Lun Mei), whom both is in love with each other after meeting each other years ago. When Don found out Ghost has been forced to join the robbery, he find all ways to pull Ghost out of the situation.

Lam have two productions released in theaters this year: Fire of Conscience and Stool Pigeon. While critics finds Fire of Conscience seems to be a disappointment, Stool Pigeon makes it better. Both movies discuss morality, with the leading characters seems to share a similar background. Lam creates a role of male police detective losing his loved ones, with two different outcomes: Leon Lai uses violence to solve crimes in Fire of Conscience; Nick Cheung redeems his sins quietly by helping the people around him quietly in Stool Pigeon.

While Fire of Conscience seems to lack details in certain scenes, Stool Pigeon makes it up by detailing every aspects of the characters involved specifically. Here, we are able to see why Don is trying to pull Ghost out of the robbery: his hesitance in using his former informant leads to his informant being taken on revenge, thus losing the informant's sanity.

Lam also displays how people standing on both sides of the law can appear in different scenarios. Fire of Conscience portrays two detectives standing on both sides of the law, with Leon Lai tracking down and stopping his new partner Richie Jen from leaning on the wrong side of the law. In Stool Pigeon, audience can tell directly that Nicholas Tse and Nick Cheung portrays two characters on different sides of the law easily, with one as a gangster, another a detective. However, both ends up in a path where both do not wish to take: which is to stand on the wrong side of the law, and using unethical methods to save themselves. Ultimately, both Tse and Cheung's role fits in the tag line of Stool Pigeon: Good and bad are both sinners.

Taiwanese actress Kwei Lun Mei sheds her image of the girl next door with her role of Dee, who is a woman with a past. Kwei does not have much appearance in Stool Pigeon, but her role makes it important as anybody else, especially her role is more than just explaining about the relationships between Ghost and Barbarian. Both Tse and Cheung has appeared in taking a more matured role with more refined skills to portray them. Tse continues with his bad boy image, but much older and tougher than the similar roles he taken years ago. Cheung appears more refined throughout his acting careers, which he did not disappoints the audience.

Overall, Stool Pigeon is not your usual crime thriller that does not require thinking. A through analysis on the plot and characters are required to understand Stool Pigeon, which definitely helps in one understanding the movie.

Dante Lam has found something of a creative muse in writer Jack Ng of late, and their latest "The Stool Pigeon" marks their fourth straight collaboration together. It is also crafted out of the same mould as their earlier "Beast Stalker", "Sniper" and "Fire of Conscience", and audiences who have enjoyed the morally ambiguous characters and their dilemmas in these male-driven films will certainly enjoy this latest.

Reuniting the duo of Nick Cheung and Nicolas Tse from "Beast Stalker", Lam reverses the good guy-bad guy roles played by Cheung and Tse earlier. In this film, Cheung is on the right side of the law- he plays Detective Don Lee, a cop with his conscience wracked by guilt from the fate of his last stool pigeon (or slang for 'informant'). Jabber (played by Lam regular Liu Kai-Chi) was almost slashed to death after his cover was blown, and Don counts himself responsible for making the executive decision that blew Jabber's cover.

Tse is the ex-convict Ghost, whom Don seeks out to be his new informant after police receive word that a wanted robber Barbarian (Lu Yi) is back in town for another heist. Ghost needs money to pay off his father's debt to a loanshark, and reluctantly agrees despite being fully aware of the risks. For a good first hour, Lam meticulously sketches out the relationship between Don and Ghost- opposites in the eye of the law, but forced by circumstance to befriend and even trust each other.

A scene where Don teaches his fellow officers how to manage their informants illustrates this conflict beautifully- he tells them they have to win the trust of their stool pigeons so they can get as much intel as possible, but not to get too friendly at the same time for they may have to make difficult decisions in the line of duty. It is an unenviable position that Don himself knows personally, and many of the film's most poignant scenes come from Don's regular visits to Jabber who has since become a vagabond.

Besides delineating the complex relationship between police and informant, Lam also takes care to develop his characters. Don's frequent visits to a dance studio hint of a personal tragedy that is only revealed later; and Ghost's feelings for Barbarian's girlfriend, Dee (Kwai Lun-mei), only make it more difficult for him to extricate himself later on. The characters in Lam's films have always been flawed in one way or another, but the attention that Lam pays this time round to his two central characters- Don and Ghost- ranks among one of his best.

Amply deserving of praise too are Cheung and Tse. Having won Best Actor at both the Hong Kong Film Awards and Golden Horse Awards for his role in "Beast Stalker", Cheung turns in a wonderfully subtle performance here that conveys his character's anguish both in his line of work and his personal life. Because Cheung's acting is more restrained here, Tse gets the chance to be in the spotlight- and he more than delivers in a nuanced portrayal that fleshes out Ghost's struggles tiptoeing on the fine line of the law.

Lam brings the intricately and impeccably plotted first half to a head in the next hour of the film, and audiences familiar with Lam's films may naturally be expecting big-scale action sequences like those in "Sniper"or even "Fire of Conscience". But perhaps surprisingly, he doesn't give his audience the kind of visceral gratification this time round, and some may find his unusual restraint a little frustrating.

Not to say that he has lost his flair- an exciting foot chase down the tight cramped aisles of Hong Kong's street markets culminating in a midday car chase will set to rest any such doubts- nor that this isn't a taut thriller. It is both, but Lam often ratchets up the tension before an impending action scene and then defuses it without his usual signature guns-and-bullets extravanganza.

It is still no reason why you should miss this thriller. While it doesn't feature as much by way of action as one would expect from a usual Dante Lam film, its strong character-driven drama still packs a solid punch. At a time when the Hong Kong film industry seems inundated by big-budget China co-productions, Dante has stuck to his guns to deliver a gritty true-blue Hong Kong cop thriller set entirely in the iconic streets of Kowloon. In a year of lean offerings from Hong Kong, this will probably go down as one of the year's best.