For this reviewer, watching Aaron Kwok in a movie is akin to getting a root canal without the benefit of anesthesia, or even a couple of asprin. His wooden performances are the type of stuff to make many viewers itch for the fast-forward button. Thankfully, though, a good supporting cast and some tight action makes The Shootout tolerable enough to actually sit all the way through.

In the movie, Aaron plays a rookie cop named Hui, who manages to capture one of the suspects from a brazen armored car robbery. On the way into the station, the robbery gang's leader, Han (Elvis Tsui), kills Hui's prisoner. Under pressure from the chief, Hui's captain teams him up with Ma (Leung Kar-Yan) and Liu (Lau Ching-Wan), whose petty squabbles disguise the fact that they are two of the top cops in Hong Kong. Along with the spunky Li (Ngai Suet), the group begins to make headway in their investigation -- but things become more complicated when Hui falls for Han's girlfriend, Min (Fennie Yuen).

The Shootout's big problem is that it doesn't seem to know exactly what kind of movie it wants to be. Does it want to be a funny mis-matched buddy cop film? A kleenex-inducing weepie? A serious heroic bloodshed picture? The Shootout attempts to be all of these things, and more, and fails to truly deliver on any of the tangents presented. Cinematic schizophrenia is to be expected in Hong Kong movies, and under the right director, the blitzkrieg style can work well. But Michael Mak isn't that type of director.

His output has been average at best, with his more solid efforts being more concentrated pictures like Long Arm of the Law III. When given a script that has infulences from a multitude of genres and being expected to juggle them effectively, Mak usually falters -- and The Shootout is another example of that. During its' running time, one wishes that Mak had kept the focus on a singular style instead of throwing everything at the viewer and hoping something sticks. In particular, the Leung Kar-Yan and Lau Ching-Wan dynamic seems to work very well, and probably would have have a satisfying enough movie on its' own, as obviously derivative of Lethal Weapon as it might have been.

Even with as many mis-fires of the celluoid variety as The Shootout has, it does get some things done right. Some of the comedy actually creates laughs, particularly the bits involving Leung Kar-Yan (who plays a schlubby semi-pervert) and Aaron Kwok doing a stakeout inside of a seedy brothel. And, like always, Elvis Tsui seems to relish playing a villain, giving his character enough panache to be effectively menacing without going into the realm of cariacture. There's also a couple of solid action sequences, courtesy of producer Jackie Chan's stunt team. Though this is by no means a "great" movie, or really even a "good" one, if you're a fan of low-budget Hong Kong action movies from the 80's and 90's and have already seen the major entries in the genre, The Shootout is worth checking out.

RATING: 5