Just Like Heaven

The haunting tale’s backdrop is set to the 1992 heavy crackdown and revolves around the conflict in the fictitious Meng City that occurred in July 1998. The whole area has been submerged under heavy rainfall and the rescue teams seem to be overwhelmed with preventing disaster from both landslides and floods which are a common occurrence in those mountainous regions. Just Like Heaven is a romantic comedy about a man who falls in love with the spirit of a woman haunting his apartment, only to uncover the mystery of her fate. It blends heartfelt romance with light supernatural humor.

Things are seeming dire with the growing risk of a dam breaching. On the other hand Boss Wang, and his well organized group of drug traffickers, are gearing up to smuggle drugs out of the region during the floods using sandbags. Police have set roadblocks to stop the drug trafficking but it is in one of these locations that the first attack takes place.

As the anti-narcotics team inquires further into the drug operation, they uncover that Border Defense’s Battalion 8077 has been ordered to assist them and are instructed to ambush the drug traffickers in an adjacent mountainous region. At the same time, a group of contraband pirates who reside in forests near the region are also planning to raid the area. After all, with the weather, three rival factions and drugs in the mix it was bound to be one hell of a storm.

Herman Yay does not waste time introducing his main characters although some of them receive some meatier roles. Erlai portrays Wu Zhi Feng’s girlfriend in the movie while Sun Ji leads the group. He is the son of the director of emergency services and is a member of the Hoejjim group. Finally, Yao Yao makes an impression as the only female in the group who plays the lead role.

But in the end, despite the twist “that all of them are utterly muddied” The characterization of these heroes, who desire “to attain success, fame, prestige and money” is relatively light. The story itself, and this is hardly surprising, is set within a Hong Kong genre which is strongly action oriented. In that way, the villains get at least as much as the heroes, and right in the beginning the body count begins to build up. In addition to that, it which without a doubt heightens the pain and unpredictability of the film forms an impressive picture the combination of large scale natural catastrophes, the skirmishes between three sides, the individual combat that take place in areas that are fully underwater is certainly an eye catcher.

Disaster CGI’s were nicely done even though the quality dropped during the battle sequences. Yau, along with the editor of the film, quickly gets through these scenes as they are much faster than the rapid tempo of the battle scene that was previously mentioned. The combination of the three different viewpoint angles where the bombardments happen along with room 8077, the command center and the insiders, all come together which assist with painting a more rounded adrenalin-filled sequence. The overall cinematography stood out, especially the three-six-5 degree angles through the zoomed in crank up shifting shots.

The dramatic elements that blend into the storyline are very subtle although they are melodramatic, this along with the cheerleading features hurt the movie thoroughly, however the degree of quality decrease is subjective. The special effects we used are smoke and mirrors which are present in almost all Hong Kong action movies. John Woo’s pay is not his usual because of the degree of nonsense in this film.

“Сhit caper Raid on the Lethal Zone is definitely an action movie and as such the plot is paper thin and serves only to provide a reason for all the fighting. In any case, if a viewer wishes to witness endless gripping action with all visual splendor that only a professional Portguese artist can provide to a film, then he will certainly be pleased.”

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