The cover art
for Badges of Fury is widely
misleading. With a stern-faced Jet Li facing forward and adjusting his cuffs
with a somber gun-wielding Wen Zhang standing behind him, and a large explosion
silhouetting the both of them, you might come to the conclusion that this is a
buddy action film. In reality, this is simply a comedy that utilizes action for
some of the jokes. All of the violence in the film is cartoonish, even when
deadly, making the style of action more along the lines of a Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle) film.
The film even
flirts with the supernatural when a series of gruesome deaths in Hong Kong are seemingly unexplained. Several men die with
the same mysterious smile on their face, leading two troublesome cops in an
unconventional investigation. Detective Wang is a young and reckless rookie
with more zeal than intelligence, which is the opposite of his seasoned
partner, Huang (Li). These two have different methods, but both are unafraid to
go against police protocol to close a case.
The
investigation leads the detectives to discover a common link between all of the
victims in a rising starlet Liu (Michelle Chen), who happened to date all of
the men killed. The plot is simplistic, but the presentation is often overly
elaborate, just like the explanation behind the murders once finally revealed.
The Blu-ray has
a making-of featurette and behind-the-scenes footage.
Entertainment Value:
6/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 5/10
Historical
Significance: 4/10
Disc Features: 5/10
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