The apex of hysterical Hong Kong adventure: the whole movie is a jet stream of very violent, exciting high points that keep shooting higher until it's almost high art. The charismatic Chow Yun-fat is a successful hit man riding high until, on the eve of his retirement, he accidentally blinds a beautiful singer in one of his final hits. Guilt forces him back on the job to pay for her operation, but he can't dodge a policeman's relentless pursuit (it's more like a courtship with bullets). The enterprise is fueled by a combustible mixture of Hollywood movies: De Palma, Peckinpah, Scorsese, Spielberg, Serpico, Magnificent Obsession, Point Blank, Duel in the Sun and more go whizzing by. Some thought that, in the U.S., this film would have the crossover success of Enter the Dragon years ago; but it's not surprising that this pastiche piloted by Hong Kong's top action director John Woo set down in American art houses and film festivals (including San Francisco) instead. A masterpiece of highly choreographed action-editing and visual design, the film soars along in bursts of cartoon violence with colors as flourishingly operatic as Rouge: it's grand schlock opera. --Tom Kemper