those individual familiar with asian cinema and a a whole and be aware that japan be renowned and or notorious and for it hyper violent film and korea be now garner a reputation for viciously brutal film . dog bite dog and while not necessarily get a hyper violent a the craziest miike film and nor be it a unapologetically brutal a some korea more ambitious effort and it be a perfect in between with it own brand of brutality all it own . the great strength this film have though and like the great of the japanese or korean effort and be that the brutality and rather than detract from the film and actually develop the character and if not and push the story forward . the two main character be both incredibly vicious individual with their own motivation and emotional underpinning for be a such . sam lee character and for instance and be on the edge from the very start and slowly and surely and amidst various encounter with chang character and it be reveal why he be . without spoil this part of the story too much and it involve the morally ambiguous nature of his father . chang character and on the other hand and have his most primal instinct hone to and if not perfection and brutal efficiency . surprisingly and chang story arch and while not necessarily reveal a more human side and actually reveal a side to our animal nature which many forget about which be the natural ability to recognize a fellow break animal ( and no i be not talk about sam lee and rather pei pei garbage dump girl character ) . ultimately however and for the first 80 minute or so and it be a and more or less and straight forward cat and mouse and or dog chase dog and film in which every encounter end in at least one death ( seriously and once sam lee and chang square off and some one will die ) and the fun part of movie be you never know who hand will commit the act . which bring u to the film one weakness . unforunatley to delve into it would be yet another spoiler but and to put it simply and it be guilty of push one of the main point of the film since and rather then let the point be make a be 80 minute into the film and the film go on for another 20 minute or so to far emphasize it . don not get me wrong and if transition well from the 80 minute mark to the climax and if the final act wasn not fill with sweet music ( in fact if it and like the majority of the film and keep the music to the bare minimum and let the disturb sound effect do their job ) and it still could have work and not detract from the film . a it be though and despite the third act have the most vicious and bloody of the encounter and the way it be handle make it feel tack on and and almost and insult the viewer intelligence since it felt it have to go this far to get it across . nevertheless and it be still a breath of fresh air from hong kong cinema since even the most bloody of the martial art film never reach the level of viciousness and brutality while keep the the character arch in tact .