Exiled (2006)

People are voting emotionally.

Am I Missing Something?

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Second movie in Brotherhood of Assassin's TrilogyTale of Brotherhood following two duos of henchmen - two sent to kill and two sent to protect - helping their old hitman friend complete one last job so he leaves money behind for his family ..First Part follows henchmen protecting Wo Second Part follows henchmen exile and search for gold

Featuring some of the best cinematography and choreography in the past decade, EXILED is visual satisfaction at its finest. Johnnie To's gangster actioner includes a fun story that, with its hyperrealistic style, is brooding, tense, emotional, and entertaining. People withstand plethoras of wounds and live to laugh about it, policemen are useless, and protagonists are gangsters. The result? An ideal plot for sustaining gorgeously crafted scenes of bullet and bloodshed ballets - beautiful from the slow-motion photography to the hard and precise lighting to the variety of different and constantly-interesting color palettes. The exquisite and warm production design brings 1998 Macau - a Portuguese colony in Southeast China about an hour long boat ride from Hong Kong - to life. It allows Cheng Siu- Keung - To's reliable and excellent DP - to design shadows and balance the dark atmosphere with evocative lighting setups in order to consistently emphasize danger and insurmountability for the protagonists. Anthony Wong leads a great cast with his subtle and imposing presence, complemented by Francis Ng's staccato outbursts and feisty demeanor, and offset by Simon Yam's fun and villainous role as a Triad boss. To top it off, Canadian composer Guy Zerafa provides a score filled with stringy and metallic guitar riffs that intricately builds the tension and results for an even more stylized experience. With actors who are suave, fitting, and flat-out cool, combined with the experienced technical team at Milky Way Images helping to realize the eloquent vision of their prolific director, EXILED is a fantastic action film where To's signature touch is unmistakable.

Johnnie To has 50 films under his belt and is becoming a peer of John Woo with his stylized flicks that contain smoking action and great choreography with magnificent sound.On has to wonder how these people ever got jobs as hit men. They couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. It's just as well, because with all the shooting, it would be over far too quickly.It is amazing how they manage to have a gun fight and then sit down to dinner like nothing happened, and then say that they have to kill Wo (Nick Cheung), but agree to do it at his convenience. Well, they are childhood friends, but orders have to be obeyed, they just don't have to be obeyed right at the moment.What a finale!

Exiled (a.k.a. Fong Juk) makes me feel as if the memorable French gangster/Italian Spaghetti Western genre is being revisited.Director Johnny To has the wisdom to reunite the same 4 out of the 5 main actors in The Mission, his 1999 gangster classic. For some unknown reason one actor was left out and substituted by Nick Cheung (playing Wo in this movie). It seems a pity to me because, not saying Nick Cheung is no good, the original cast of five could have made it possible for making Exiled a genuine sequel to The Mission.As it stands, Exiled tells a self-contained story (not exactly well-written but reasonable enough as a vehicle for the excellent gunfights it stages): When a Hong Kong mob boss Fay sends two killers, Blaze and Fat, after a renegade ex-gangster Wo found hiding out in Macau, another two hard men, Tai and Cat, turn up to intervene. The five actually know each other. In the face of Wo's wife Jin and baby son, Blaze and his sidekick Fat unwittingly agree to change plan, inadvertently setting things into a violent downward spiral. The final confrontation inside a hotel captured in slow motion is expertly crafted. After the dust is settled the viewers are abruptly reminded that what has just happened only takes as much time for a can of Red Bull drink being tossed up in the air and drops back down on the floor.There are evidences to prove that Director Johnny To did not dwell in past success of The Mission, because Exile has adopted new techniques not seen before. Being made on location in Macau, Exiled smartly uses a lot of Look-down shots in overcoming the lack of open space provided by this former Portugese enclave some 40 miles west of Hong Kong. The exotic background scenery chosen gives people a surreal sensation, especially for those who know Macau, much more akin to what I'd get from those French and Italian movies of years gone by. The gun play action in Exile is yet another level above that seen in The Mission.Although overall speaking Exiled did not surpass The Mission, mainly due to its storyline is even weaker than that of the already flimsy Mission, fans of Johnny To would still find it very enjoyable for the directing, acting, editing, music and of course, explosive action.