apwatts
Wu Jing is Kong Ko, a Chinese kung fu champion in Hong Kong briefly for a theatrical performance. He is approached by some influential figures in the underground fighting league who recognise his potential but turns them down as he has honourable intentions and wants to be "the next Jet Li" without resorting to illegal or underhand means. However, the intoxicating Siu Tin (Miki Yeung) convinces him to take part, and a delicately nuanced and tense action thriller/romance ensues. Kong is an honourable and respectful fighter, and is taught to be more brutal and ruthless by the brilliant and thrifty Captain (Ronald Cheng) as his tactics can only get him so far. To the end however he remains true to his principles, no matter how far he strays from his path. An action packed, moving and in places, beautiful and well characterised Hong Kong thriller. Definitely worth a watch.
traian13
I can't even begin to describe the sicky feeling I have after watching this movie. It should be worth starting by saying I wasn't even able to watch the whole movie in one go. I really don't know what kind of masochistic thought made me watch the rest of it in the first place.Sometimes I wish we could use negative ratings. This film is an insult to anyone interested in martial arts movies. Apart from the fact that most fighting scenes were visibly sped up, the last half hour doesn't even have any kung fu. The choreography was good and clearly the actors knew what they were doing. If they would have ditched the fast-forwarding and added more fighting scenes it would have been a lot better.And this brings me to the story... *sigh* This "movie" tried so hard to be a movie it inexorably turned into an epic fail. The characters have no depth and give no reason for what they are doing. They don't seem to be driven by any moral principles but they have philosophical dialog that is seemingly unrelated to the romantic-cheesy-dramatic plot.Fatal Contact is nothing more than a fatal blow to anyone's intellect.I never thought I'd say it, but now I wanna watch a Hollywood movie.
grandmastersik
Hmm, the synopsis listed on this page made me wonder if I'd seen a different film.Jacky Wu plays a kung fu champion whose skills are apparently performance only (i.e. all technical with zero combat experience), yet when he feels pressured by the girl wooing him to provide, he goes against his moral code of using his skills for violence to compete in an illegal street fight. Naturally, one easy win tempts another fight, for more money, and so, things quickly descend...On the surface this is an above-average film (thanks to Jacky Wu's typically excellent fight scenes), but by the time the final credits roll, the subtleties of the way the characters acted and said certain things becomes clear and it's this aspect which lifts the script from something very enjoyable to something brilliant. Others may (quite foolishly) refer to all this as superfluous, or insult the writer for adding unnecessary dramatic elements, but for me, this screenplay involved more psychology than 90% of drama... and they're as boring as hell too!In terms of action or great fight sequences this may not be Jacky Wu's best film, however, in terms of depth and entertainment, it rates up there with the best flicks released in the same year, all genres, all nations. My only problem was that a K1 fighter would very doubtfully engage in such a showy form and would be hardly likely to use kung fu techniques at all (karate, kickboxing or muay Thai would have been expected).A good film well worth watching with a lot more to it than I've bothered to brush upon here. I'm personally now looking out for more Ronald Cheng (Captain) flicks as his acting and martial arts skills were impressive.
diggler_inc
This movie is beautifully shot with some of the greatest fight scenes of any film in recent years. Anytime there is a fight, even the brief ones, the film shines. However, the rest of the film is awful despite the excellent photography. This movie is plagued by bad acting and bad story. This movie is extremely stupid. Every non-action scene is terrible.That being said it is still worth watching for the fight scenes. The fights go at a fast pace and are pretty believable. They are somewhat similar to Flashpoint and SPL.This is an absurdly silly movie that expects the audience to be morons but the fights are well-done.