Movie: Hard-Boiled

Hard-boiled, probably one of the most epic movies I've seen Chow Yun-Fat in. Everything from the cinematography to the action and the background plots for the main characters was stunning.

It starts off with Chow Yun-Fat's character, Tequila, getting into a shoot-out in the local tea-house. It ends badly when he kills the the man he was suppose to arrest alive. Later you find out that his captain is taking him off a case, in which he wants to handle because the crooks killed his partner. He continues with the case anyway, despite the threats for his job and whatnot. As the story progress you come to find that the captain has a deep cover operative within the gang that Tequila is trying to take down. This part is played by Tony Leung (coincidentally the character is named Tony also). He warns the captain to take Tequila off the case before the man blows his cover, but Tequila doesn't listen. Despite butting heads numerous times Tequila and Tony end up working together to bring the crime lord down.

The most memorable part of this movie was in the hospital scene in which Chow Yun-Fat is killing guys, while holding a newborn infant in his arms while the hospital is on fire. Though very unrealistic, it was an awesome scene to watch. His character Tequila had some major mood swings. It seemed that he would go from angry serious one minute to goofy happy the next. I thought he was on drugs. All in all, it was an amusing thing to watch when he did that. Tequila was out for revenge and had a good sense of humor along the way.

Tony Leung's character was good too. He was the typical brooding angst character. I was a little disappointed with him in the beginning thinking he was just another bad guy, but after finding out he was a deep cover cop, it kinda made sense. He too had an epic fight scene in the hospital with a 'former friend'. Though it ended sadly when the crime boss came in and killed all the innocent patients, which caused his own henchmen to turn against him. Pity...(note sarcasm). In this scene, Tony had pieces of glass sticking out of the side of his face which made him look more badass as he fought with the enemy. And let me tell you...glass in your face hurts like a mother...

Again, this was a beautifully made more and one I would recommend to all Martial Arts and Action fanatics.

Manga: ZombiePowder

<WARNING: A BIT OF SPOILERS>

In order to get Zombie Powder, one must collect all 12 'Rings of the Dead'. With the Zombie Powder, you can either become immortal or bring someone back to life. The trick is the rings are dangerous and if touched by flesh it will devour the life force from them.

So enter Elwood, a 14 year old pick pocket and knife thrower, who happened to feed the wrong person at the wrong time. Gamma Akutabi, the man who was fed and also has a 960 million nit (the currency) bounty on his head. When Elwood's boss's get wind that he had Gamma at his home and didn't tell them, they come to collect. In the crossfire, Elwood's ill sister, Sheryl Ann gets killed while trying to protect him. Gamma comes and saves Elwood from his former bosses, and the young boy ends up following the man in order to get the Zombie Powder to resurrect his dead sister.

The manga is only 4 volumes long due to it being canceled. The reason I first got into it was because I saw it was by Tite Kubo, the man who had done Bleach. Apparently this is his first manga series, and Bleach his second. Go figure the US would get it backwards. No wonder Gamma has a Grimmjow vibe to him (heh).

ZombiePowder is reminiscent of Trigun. In where as the main character holds immense power, a dark secret, and wants to help the weak. And like Trigun, the main character has an upbeat partner who is known as C.T. Smith. This man dresses like a Londoner and I wouldn't be too surprise if this was an anime, that he would have a London accent too.

Not only that, but you also have other minor characters such as Wolfina and her brother Emilio, who had one of the rings nested inside his body. And last you saw of anyone was Gamma had taken everyone to a mad scientist known as Nazna Gemini, who would perform surgery on Emilio if Wolfina would be her test subject for a year. Furthermore, Gamma and Smith left Elwood to see what kind of path he would choose. And that's when it was canceled.

Due to the blantant ending, nothing is known for sure about what happens to the characters. But then again...that's what fanfiction is for. I would not mind seeing this series picked up again, just for the shear fact that in the last chapter of Volume 4, Kubo gave you a lot of hints to some very interesting facts about Gamma's past as well as Smith's. But I highly doubt that would happen anytime soon.