By Matt Zoller Seitz
Johnnie To is a bloodthirsty showman, but he loves people. Exhibit A is his latest film, Exiled. This tale of childhood buddies turned hit men squaring off against a malevolent gang boss in 1998 Macau—on the eve of that former Portuguese colony's absorption by China—is the kind of film where flames roar, waves crash and dropped bullets thud like bowling balls.
Mannered as it is, however, Exiled is a tonic—a film that delivers all the visceral satisfactions of a super-macho action picture (close-quarters gun battles; slow-motion Wild Bunch-style side-by-side struts) and unabashedly sentimental depictions of loyalty and tenderness as well as plot twists that are surprising, often bizarre, yet feel just right. To read the review, click here.
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