Exiled

I love spaghetti westerns and I love action movies and I tend to dig mob/gangster flicks, so when you put 'em all together I am one happy camper. But I've never seen it done so well before. The movie not only featured an awesome spaghetti western soundtrack, it managed to seamlessly integrate certain tropes of the western in really brilliant ways. Why wouldn't a bunch of mobsters in Macao sit around a campfire playing the harmonica? Exiled manages to achieve what I think Tears of the Black Tiger was going for - a fantastic bricollage of genres. Although Black Tiger was more visually adventurous, it ended up going overboard and turning itself into Andy Warhol's wet dream, whereas Exiled manages to stay grounded and deliver a kick-ass gangster flick. 

Bullets fly in fantastically complicated action sequences where you're half enjoying the suspense and thrill, half trying to figure out the logistics. Also, there's this really great effect where anyone who gets shot emits a kind of red cloud of blood, which is awfully pretty.

But what I really adored about the movie was its wonderfully sentimental side - it's a really touching depiction of a gang of guys who adore each other. There are some marvelous scenes where they're just playing around and having a great time, as well as some really poignant emotional moments.

A great movie. I found myself getting more and more absorbed in it as it progressed, and loving it more with every passing moment.