jackmeat My quick rating - 5,9/10. Another well-made action movie out of Hong Kong. I know they are well known for that and this one isn't as high brow as some but still is a good, solid flick. My problem is even though it was subtitled, I fell asleep watching it. That is abnormal for me so that says something about overall rating. But that being said, this was well acted and had a nice, fluid story to it. By a strange twist of fate, dutiful Hong Kong policeman Dan saves the life of the leader of a violent gang of armed robbers. When they commit another crime, Dan is determined to put an end to their activities. He works with the leader, whom the gang had betrayed, to engineer a plan to wreak havoc within the gang and let the gangsters kill one another. But it becomes increasingly obvious to Dan and to his colleagues that Dan is suffering from a severe mental disorder, and Dan finds that instead of upholding the law as a righteous police officer, he has now become a fugitive wanted for murder.

kosmasp Not a physical one that is, but a psychological one if you want to call it that. The movie itself gets pretty intense and I was surprised it was shown at the Internationl Festival in Berlin this February. The stars were also there and the movie was very well received, though I wasn't able to talk to any of them.Even without them there to watch the movie with you, the movie experience is more than intense and suspenseful. Daniel Wu is also known to Western audiences because he has ventured to the West, but most of the other actors are well known too, just not to the West. The job they're doing is impeachable though. If you like your mystery movies to try new things (especially with its lead roles), you will more than delighted with this

tiffanyyongwt I caught this movie in Johor, Malaysia together with a group of friends simply because we wanted to avoid the weekend crowd at the customs and I've watched almost all the nice blockbusters around. It was screened in Cantonese, with 3 language subtitles. I thought That Demon Within 魔 警 was pretty good, but some of my friends did not like it. Well, it ain't perfect, but at least it's worth the money and time spent (for me).Daniel Wu and Nick Cheung Dave Wong (Daniel Wu) is a Good Cop with a demon in him, while Nick Cheung plays the role of the Good Cop and the "demon" (Well, I'm trying not to spoil the film here). Although they are both the leads, there were little direct interaction between Daniel Wu and Nick Cheung, yet their characters are closely linked by an unknown past. Short flashbacks left me wondering what exactly the problem is, and who's who. A friend commented how "bad" Daniel Wu, aka that Chinese dude that acts in movies, looked in this movie. Well, I guess Daniel Wu managed to achieve what he wanted, losing so much weight for this film.Nick Cheung, as always, solid in his acting, was able to turn from bad to worse and worst to good all in a flash, although, I'm glad how these were always cut short to keep the story in suspense. Whereas for Daniel Wu, he is no longer the pretty boy from one of my favourite Hong Kong comedy "Love Undercover" 新紮師妹 but one with mature acting skills.Many might find the film bizarre, but for me, there was a sense Déjà vu. Just some time back when I was hosting a travelling show in Malaysia, one of the crew members shared with me his experience of breaking down due to stress and how he went berserk and did stuff to harm himself. And all these, seemed to come alive in front of me in That Demon Within 魔 警.Cinematography That demon within used quite a number of visual tricks and lens effect to represent the character's emotional and psychological condition. I particularly like the part where Dave (Daniel Wu) received the bad news while driving and the lens did a 360 degree turn, showing ...Read more: http://tiffanyyong.com/2014/04/18/demon-within-movie-review/

YJLcool After the success of Unbeatable (激战), The Stool Pigeon (线人) and Beast Stalker (证人), Dante Lam is back again with Nick Cheung for That Demon Within (魔警), a dark, intense, riveting, character-driven psychological crime drama action thriller. But this time around, Daniel Wu plays the central lead character instead of Nick Cheung, who has lesser screen time compared to Dante's previous films. The film explores the evil that exists in every single one of us, no matter how righteous we seemed to be on the surface. The story is about an overly-righteous policeman with a troubled past, Dave who ignorantly donate his blood to save Hong Kong's most dangerous criminal Hon, who is seriously injured after trying to escape from a heist. This random act of kindness causes more problems, as Hon continue his villainous work, leaving more cops and innocent people harmed and killed in the process. This has put serious strain on Dave as he tries to salvage the situation. Eventually, he becomes so obsessed in hunting down Hon that his dark past starts to haunt him again, providing further damage to his fragile psyche.The cinematography is superb as usual and the gritty, violent action sequences are not over-the-top, frenetic or shaky compared to many recent released Hong Kong/China production nowadays, which is commendable. The location and setting for the film (the rooms, streets, buildings) provides a moody and grim atmosphere in an otherwise bleak film. The film has some pretty good pacing, plot developments as it keeps me engaged in it without a look at my watch.Daniel Wu managed to deliver a good performance as the emotionally unstable police officer, has some great on-screen psychotic moments as he breaks down. The moments are taken in close camera shots (it looked as if the camera is strapped to his chest), providing the audience a closer, impactful view of his trauma. Over the years, Nick Cheung has successfully established himself as a credible actor with award-winning worthy performance. Despite his minimal involvement in the film, his villainous performance as Hon still manage to provide an impact to the audience.Overall, the film managed to provide an interesting, exciting new take on the cop-thriller genre, which is not easy in my opinion. (Hong Kong has done many successful cop-thrillers in the past, themes or plot devices are heavily overused in many past productions) It's a recommended watch.