Turning Up the Heat

Director Benny Chan has packed Heroic Duo with sophisticated weaponry, high-speed car chases and dizzying stunts, including one stomach-quivering sequence in which a character traverses two skyscrapers using a wobbly, metal stepladder. Noticeably absent are high-wire kung fu acrobatics; Chan, who first gained notoriety with kung fu fantasy Magic Crane, apparently no longer wants anything to do with Chinamen in robesunless they're behind the wheel of a Ferrari Testarossa.

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Heroic Duo's plot, however, is as creaky as any martial artsploitation flick. Leon Lai makes his action-hero debut here, playing a police hypnotist drafted to foil evil Francis Ng, who...