Chuen zik dai do

I rented The Group more because I'll watch anything from HK I can get my hands on, than the story which didn't fill me with confidence; A group of orphans raised as children by father Martin, a gentle and loving man who they all respect, when he's killed 'The group' decide (in a very Robin Hood 'Take from the Rich, give to the poor' way) to get a shedload of money to help the kids Father Martin was looking after overseas before he was killed.

It seems that the quickest way to get a lot of cash is to rob a casino, not exactly legal but they don't seem too bothered, strange in a way as one is Lawyer heh. It struck me that that they might have some spare cash lying around themselves as one of the group is a movie director, and another claims to own 10 x more surveillance equipment than the HK government, but when do movies like this let things like that get in the way of action :)

Cue a clever robbery, involving filming a very public gun fight in the streets by the director to disguise what's really going on, and the usual cat and mouse games with the cops that follows, concluding in the bog standard all guns blazin' showdown, there's nothing new here and I didn't even find it that fun to watch, it'd be hard to recommend this to anyone but a serious HK movie fan, it's no surprise this hasn't receive m(any) votes as I write this.

So a let down in pretty much all departments, but it's biggest flaw for me was having Anthony Wong in and totally wasting him, true he's been in some poor films (just a few!) but he has given some electric performances throughout his career (Beast Cops springs to mind) and he is always worth watching, though sadly not in this

A disappointment, passable at best

Six successful friends, raised in an orphanage, use all means at their disposal to raise money for needy children.

"Tarantino action... Hong Kong style": so boasts an unattributed 'quote' on the back of my DVD of The Group. Sadly, it's all lies designed to sell the movie to unsuspecting HK action fans such as myself... even Tarantino at his most self-Indulgent couldn't turn out something as incomprehensible and mind-numbingly banal as this mess from director Alfred Cheung.

Trying to keep track of the story for The Group is a mug's game: once the characters have been introduced, the film rapidly become a muddled hotch-potch of boring shootouts, dull police procedure, and ridiculous plot developments that are harder to follow than my A-level maths teacher (I got an 'F'). Anthony Wong, featured prominently on the cover, is totally wasted in a small role as a triad member.

A major disappointment. The whole film appears cheap and made in a rush. The whole film is way below the standards of everyone that was involved.

It is billed as an action comedy, but neither the comedy or the action works. Francis Ng does his best with one of the poorest roles he has been given in years. Poor Anthony Wong doesn't even get a chance to make an impression.

On the action front everything is mediocre and even Martial Arts master Ken Lo as a crooked cop can't do much to enliven the finale. Definitely one to miss.