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Exiled is really its own thing in the world of action movies. If you’ve grown bored with the recent Hollywood trend of shaky cameras, incoherent action scenes and split second editing, Exiled is a breath of fresh air. If you want to see action that’s clear, coherent, and carries a sort of odd, dreamlike quality, put Exiled on your movie downloads queue.

The story follows a former gangster who ran from his gang after ripping off their boss. Since, he’s gotten married and had a child. The movie begins when the boss sends a pair of hitmen to take him out. This is complicated by the fact that these two were friends with their target, and furthermore, a couple of retired members of the Triad have come to protect their old friend from the other two.

The five characters are all friends, and so, after a quick, and dazzling shootout, they come to a compromise. Where most gangster movies are fairly cold and impersonal when it comes to “whacking” people, this one is oddly sweet and sentimental, and the five decide to pull off a big score to support the wife and child of the lead character before settling any other business they might have together.

Johnnie To, the Hong Kong action legend, directed this film with a sense of sweetness and sentimentality and nostalgia. John Woo and Ringo Lam defined the Heroic Bloodshed genre alongside To with films like Hard Boiled and City on Fire, and To was always considered sort of the third wheel of the genre. This film, however, is much different from anything you might have seen from that era of Hong Kong action.

The film really feels like a dream, with slow motion shootouts taking several minutes while only carrying about thirty seconds of action were they to be shot in real time. One incredible sequence has a character throwing an empty drink can into the air, and the shootout takes place over several minutes as the can falls to the floor in slow motion just seconds after the final bullet is fired.

The action is clear and coherent, the story isn’t always so clear. This actually helps the film’s dreamlike feel, so if you just watch it for the characters and for the action, the weird, twisty-turny story won’t infringe upon your enjoyment of the film and what it really does have to offer the viewer.

The Heroic Bloodshed era of Hong Kong action flicks was certainly an incredible time for film lovers. Hard Boiled and City on Fire defined the genre, being angry, explosive films, showing independent characters taking on the masses as a symbol of Hong Kong independence against Chinese communism. Lam and Woo went to Hollywood, and you could argue the qualities of their American films. Johnnie To stayed behind and turned the genre into something entirely different.

It’s truly a rare spectacle in the world of action. Even if you’ve seen everything John Woo and Ringo Lam have ever made, this movie will show you something you haven’t seen before. It’s definitely something to watch if you’re looking for an action scene with its own approach to the usual shootouts and fight scenes.

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