Judged by action
sequences alone, Special ID has some
memorable moments that make it worth recommending. It is just unfortunate that
the rest of the film couldn’t live up to the same expectations. Uneven is the
best way to describe this latest Donnie Yen vehicle, almost as if filmmaking
and plot were secondary to the opportunity to highlight Yen’s martial arts
abilities. They are still impressive, though this is far from his best film,
even in that regard. Still, action fans will appreciate a few of the action
sequences enough to make the rest of the sloppily constructed film worthwhile.
Taking the
undercover cop narrative a step further, Donnie Yen plays a cop named Detective
Chen Zilong, a man so deep undercover that he has tattoos and has spent more
years living as his alias than as an actual police officer. When his undercover
operation is threatened from several predictable and unimportant plot twists,
Chen is forced to pair up with a brave and experienced female cop (Jing Tian).
More things happen and it leads to additional reasons for Yen to fight a bunch
of guys.
Although you
could say that this film shares the same storyline as The Raid 2, it really wouldn’t be fair mentioning that film in the
same sentence as Special ID. There
are moments of enjoyable escapism amongst some of these scenes of action, but
this film lacks any of the creative inspiration seen in The Raid 2, even if some of the photography has a more polished
look. This is all familiar territory, and it feels like filmmaking churned out on a production line.
The Blu-ray
release includes a making-of featurette and a trailer.
Entertainment Value:
8/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 6/10
Historical
Significance: 4/10
Special Features: 3.5/10
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