Reviewed by: dandan Date: 06/06/2011 Summary: the first of my own duo of benny chan films... ken li (ekin cheng) is a senior police inspector with a no nonsense approach to his job, which does little to endear him to colleagues. when a fellow policeman is caught, having just broken in to a police safe and burned the contents, ken finds his patience being tested when the man claims no memory of committed the crime. hypnosis!!! yep, there's an evil hypnotist on the loose, so ken goes and visits professor jack lai (leon lai): a man incarcerated for a crime he is thought to have committed under the influence of hypnosis!!! that's about as much as i can remember about the plot and probably all you need know. if you want to get really confused, try reading the synopsis of the film on imdb - it would appear that the person who wrote it has confused this and another film, as well as having a writing style that seems to be an attempt to induce a headache... any how, this is a pretty high concept thriller from benny chan. now, i like benny chan and that's despite the fact that he's made a couple of films which i would class as stone cold stinkers. for every 'new police story', he's churned out an 'invisible target', for every 'city under siege', there's a 'connected': sure, there's an often slightly silly, popcorn quality to his movies but, when he gets it right, it really works. this one sits somewhere in the middle ground. it's a very nicely produced film, it's got a pretty good pacing and, despite some silliness, it is a relatively engaging affair. ekin cheng, leon lai, along with supporting players like karena lam and the ever dependable francis ng all put in acceptable performances but, when it boils down to it, the narrative just isn't quite strong enough to elevate the sparkly sets and high concepts this above its reasonably valiant attempt to be a big blockbuster of a film. it aims high, but only manages average. still, a pretty entertaining watch on a rainy afternoon, if you have nothing better to do... decidedly average.

Reviewed by: Hyomil Date: 04/07/2011 Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: Jackal Date: 06/30/2007 Summary: Great Excellent, entertainment and thrilling hit, with mass fascinating stunt, combat scenes, skirmishes and interesting plot. The Excellent play actor. Frensis Ng - as always, splendid Reviewer Score: 10

Reviewed by: j.crawford Date: 02/06/2005 Summary: fun to watch....... This is a big budget, overblown action movie about hypnotism. Are you still with me? Lots of silly things in the script to give each of the male stars plenty of overacting opportunities. Francis Ng steals another movie in his nasty bad guy role. This movie is really fun to watch as it is extremely well made on all technical levels. Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 12/24/2003 Summary: Interesting movie but............. It is a big budget action movie which is a little different. The idea of hypnotism is brought to this movie with mixed results. We understand a little about the subject but how Leon Lai instantly produce results is beyond me. The plot twists are quite interesting, especially the bad guys background played by Francis Ng. Leon Lai looks as wooden as ever and Ekin Cheung.........well being a bad tempered hero is not such a bad role especially if u r to keep having a angry face. The violence is surpisingly brutal at times. The action scenes are entertaining, though i feel Ekin kicks ass a little too easily. The ending is a anti climax, i felt it wasn't that exciting!! You always knew what would happen. Overall a good movie though not as engaging as it should be 6.5/10

Reviewed by: magic-8 Date: 10/13/2003 Summary: Heroic Hokum "Heroic Duo" is a big budgeted action movie, from director, Benny Chan, featuring Ekin Cheng, Leon Lai and Francis Ng. The plot hinges on hypnology: the study of sleep and hypnotic phenomena. Ekin Cheng plays a cop called in to investigate a fellow officer's break in of the department's safe and burning the contents. The clues lead to the possible use of hypnosis on the officer to perpetrate the crime. Cheng enlists the help of an inmate, Leon Lai, who holds a double Ph.D. in hypnology, and is serving time in prison for murder. Francis Ng is in the fold as the catalyst to bring all things together. The filmmakers attempt to generate interest through an intricate plotline, but the writing team of Yuen and Kwan gets a little too convoluted and cute with the story. Ekin chases Leon, who is set up by Francis, who is using Leon, who teams with Ekin, but is chased by Raymond Wong…. Benny Chan does an admirable job in trying to keep things well paced, but the plotting gets so thick that the water gets muddied by not giving the viewer the time to absorb all of the shenanigans. Things start to fall apart without any build up. The scenes flow together without any tension, leaving the second half of the film to dangle in apathy. The cinematography was well handled, but the score was not effective in punctuating the scenes, especially during the denouement of the characters as they face their own demons. Bereft of any tension, the movie becomes a technical exercise that is well crafted, but dull. After the scripts demonstrated by "Infernal Affairs" and "The Colour of the Truth," the bar has been raised to have a good tight story, but "Heroic Duo" overdoses. While an entertaining film for the most part, playing one character’s wits against the others, the script doctors should have edited the draft to take out the redundant elements that create confusion. Leon is a bit more animated in this film, while both Francis Ng and Raymond Wong make the best with the little time they have on screen. Benny Chan made a good decision to have Ekin express his character through a more physical portrayal, particularly when he is being questioned as a suspect by Wong.