The Hong Kong films are beautiful and the US versions are real. I like them very much.
The Hong Kong version is very clean everywhere, even Leung Tow Wai, who is a gangster, looks very gentle in a black leather jacket, and does not look like a triad at all. Leonardo was not so lucky, he had to be ruthless, risky, had to see a very bloody scene, and then he would see a therapist. However, the Hong Kong version only touches on these.
In the US version, the protagonist’s inner struggles are written more in place, especially Matt Damon. I used to think that Andy Lau acted very well, but after a comparison, I found that his acting was too cool. When Leonardo finally pointed a gun at him into the elevator, he was about to collapse.
Nicholson was not as good as Han Chen. He is too nervous and makes faces, which makes people a little bit aesthetically tired. I have to admit that Zeng Zhiwei's role as the gang boss really has that kind of aura.
Arranging the girlfriends of two people into one person is a bit inconsistent with Chinese values, but it actually makes the plot more compact. Also laid the groundwork for the most girlfriend to debunk the mystery. I think there is another deep meaning here that evil does not suppress justice, even if Leonardo plays a bad person, she can still recognize him from the crowd. In contrast, the Hong Kong version of Sammi Cheng is just making soy sauce.
There are also some American gags, police jokes, and Mark always plays Leonardo's grumpy boss, which is more in line with the American cultural characteristics. The police are also human. Americans express their feelings more directly and truthfully. So they must arrange for the bad guys to die in the end.
The two versions are the same in 80% of the plots, or the screenwriter Mak Siu-fai is more powerful, which really brought Hong Kong movies back to life in 2002. There is no sense of contradiction when the same plot is changed to an American drama.
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