christopher-underwood I had not even heard of this film when I bought it, the director Johnny To, neither despite his have a considerable output. I don't know about 'mad' but certainly crazy is a word that comes to mind. I was completely at sea for the first quarter of an hour or so and then in some difficulty for most of the remainder of the film. I still enjoyed it, however, and knew there was a key to unlocking the complete sense that I had every confidence was there. By the end I am grinning madly at the arranging and re-arranging of the bodies and the guns so that the final shoot out will make the right sort of 'sense' to the senior police. Basically our ex-cop, helping out with a new case is able to see people's inner personalities. This results in more than one person representing them on screen. There is also some confusion as to the whereabouts of the guy's wife who may or may not be there, or elsewhere, most of the time. I hope I haven't made this too easy to follow because having watched this open-mouthed and my brain struggling to make sense of the action, I recommend the same to anyone else.

Korto Malteze Before this I haven't watched a single movie for a while (for about 4 months) and I decided to give an opportunity to Asian cinematography. And I certainly did not regret. This movie isn't as complex as other crime movies but it contains great amount of drama and humor. This "weird" detective is one of the best roles I have seen in a while and in my opinion he carries this whole movie to the next level. If you want to give a chance to Asian cinematography I would highly recommend you this movie.

politic1983 July was Johnnie To month. This time, however, it is a film I have actually seen before. Viewing it on its UK release, I could confirm that it was indeed worth the few HK$ that I paid for it, but still took approximately 51 weeks to get round to watching it. 'Mad Detective' - a co-directing with Wai Ka Fai - is a little different from other Johnnie To works that I have seen; being less about the violence and conflict within power struggles and more around character development.Bun is a tad…well, mad. Forced out of professional detectiveing, he answers the call of Ho (Andy On), a younger detective out-of-luck in a case involving the disappearance of a police officer 18 months previous, and puts his thinking ear on to aid the detective now in possession of his old police pistol.But as previously stated: Bun is mad. Claiming to see people's inner- selves, he will see multiple personalities in individuals to our one, and is 'aided' by his wife, who left him many moons ago. It's not long before Ho realises his mistake and sees why he was kicked-out of the police originally, despite his knack for solving crimes involving suitcases.Starting off with comedic moments – with multiple personalities visiting the little boys' room together at once – the film becomes more tense as it progresses towards the climax, as everyone's inner-self is revealed and the truth uncovered.Lau Ching Wan does a good job in the lead role, as do the make-up department in making his hair just messy enough to create the illusion of madness and Johnnie To and collaborator Wai Ka Fai shows he can make a film a little different from his norm, with some nice camera-work for an 'Enter the Dragon' like ending.Kitano's 'Violent Cop', To's 'Mad Detective', I am now left to watch William Lustig's undoubted 1988 classic 'Maniac Cop'.www.politic1983.blogspot.com

Yaaatoob Johnnie To & Wai Ka-Fai's Mad Detective is a film that turns the Hong Kong crime genre upon it's head. Based around the simple concept of a man that can see everyone's hidden persona's, Mad Detective is anything but formulaic and right from the very start dissuades any notion that this is just another flashy HK crime flick. Lau Ching-Wan stars as the eponymous Mad Detective, Inspector Chan Kwai-Bun, a brilliant detective forced into retirement when his methods and actions become a little too bizarre. Alongside him Andy On plays young Inspector Ho who tries to enlist the aid of retired Inspector Bun to solve a complex murder case involving a missing police officer and a suspect with multiple personalities.What follows is a highly ingenious, highly inventive and above all, highly entertaining piece of cinema. Paced perfectly, this viewer sat on the edge of his seat, intrigued and enthralled in equal measure and delighting and the simple, unrestrained freshness of this film and it's premise. Lau Ching-Wan plays his part exceptionally well as the oddball Inspector Bun, throwing all semblance of logic out of the window as he investigates the case, but it's a straight faced performance; there's no comedy here as the plot and it's characters take themselves very seriously. However, despite this it's hard not to find humour in some of the scenes involving multiple personalities, and whether this was the directors intent or not, it does provide a handful of light hearted moments that help to break up this complex and down-right weird film into more palatable pieces.Overall, if you're looking for a crime film that's as inventive and intriguing as it is enjoyable, you can't go wrong with Mad Detective. See it now before Hollywood does an inevitable remake.