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Exiled
Magnolia Pictures


6.6

based on 22 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 5 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for strong violence and some sexual content

Starring Francis Ng, Simon Yam, Nick Cheung, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, and Richie Ren

The time is 1998. The setting is Macau. Every living soul jumps at every chance to make quick money before the Portuguese colony ushers in a new era under the Chinese rule. For the jaded hit men, they wonder where this journey will end. Against this background of fin-de-siècle malaise come two hit men from Hong Kong sent to take out a renegade member trying to turn over a new leaf with his wife and newborn baby. They soon find themselves in the throes of a dilemma when two of their former associates also show up, intent on thwarting them at every cost. (Magnolia Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Crime \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Tin-Shing Yip Kam-Yuen Szeto
DIRECTED BY:	Johnny To
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: August 31, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	110 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Hong Kong
LANGUAGE(S):	Cantonese

Alternative Title: Fong juk

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

TV Guide Ken Fox

The final confrontation is a slow-motion, De Palma-esque massacre in a hotel lobby that begins and ends in the amount of time it takes for a high-flying can of Red Bull to hit the floor. Breathtaking.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Funny and weird and surprising and action-packed and genuinely beautiful.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Exiled brings To back to lighter ground, and it’s one of his most assured, enjoyable pictures, refreshing fun that’s sure to satisfy anyone’s action jones.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

Nothing about Exiled is as resonant as To's best work, but it's a clever homage to Sam Peckinpah, right down to the clouds of bloody mist that fill the barroom as To's anti-heroes make their last stand.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

It's a fantasy of a crime epic, to be sure, but it's a glorious fantasy in which the unspoken bonds of brotherhood bathe every shootout and sacrifice in the light of myth.

The New York Times Matt Zoller Seitz

The movie is consistently engrossing and sometimes touching, thanks to its hard yet subtle characterizations and Mr. To’s refusal to condescend.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

This is an accomplished suspense-action piece that touches on universal themes of brotherhood, exile, love and honor.

Newsweek David Ansen

To blends sentimentality, shoot-outs and cool humor into a bewitchingly entertaining brew.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

To packs the moments of contemplation with as much suspense as the action sequences and is a master of ratcheting up tension through small details.

Chicago Reader Fred Camper

An entertaining product that presents a powerful artistic vision.

San Francisco Chronicle G. Allen Johnson

Creative and bizarre, maybe too bizarre, but since most action films adhere to a cookie-cutter formula, its quirkiness is most welcome.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The more you like Leone's work the more you'll likely respond to To's latest. Which is odd, considering Exiled is a gangster picture by strict definition.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

A grabber from start to finish that should win new fans for cult-favorite To.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

This intriguing story, like many tales of mid-20th-century American art, is fueled by testosterone.

Variety Derek Elley

Cast of regulars blends like those in a late-on Howard Hawks' movie.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

By Hong Kong standards, To's policiers have been fairly down-to-earth, but Exiled--which begins with a tribute to Sergio Leone and ends by acknowledging Sam Peckinpah--exists solely in the world of the movies.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

I'd put To's Exiled -- into the category of Hong Kong movies that even people who think they don't care about Hong Kong movies should see.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

If you’ve never seen a Johnnie To crime picture, Exiled is a simple, stylish, and utterly delightful introduction.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Johnnie To, the director, is highly respected in this genre, and I suppose he does it about as well as you'd want it to be done, unless you wanted acting and more coherence.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The Macao settings are beautifully rendered, and the dark humor is often very funny. But it is noisy.

Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirschling

One of those wearisome Hong Kong action movies where characters engage in Mexican standoffs not so much to ratchet up excitement or generate tension but rather to look cool for as long as possible.

Empire Kat Brown

With not enough balls to be fun, and not enough brain to be cerebral, there’s not much going on behind those pained Western expressions to entertain.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Sabrina M. gave it a6:
This picture does boast great acting, impeccable fashion sense and a taste for cinematic aesthetics, but the plot is unfortunately quite weak. Anthony Wong may have been effective in his portrayal and delivery of the "hangdog" uneasiness that characterizes the person split between loyalty to a brother and inevitable duty to perform a killing for his boss, but in general the brotherhood trail lacks a strong, coherent backbone. The exile into the sand dunes is symbolic of the film's title but sheds little contemplation on the tragedy of Wo's death, or the gangsters' inner turmoil.

Andre P. gave it a1:
Couldn't sit through it, don't know how the critics did.

John M. gave it a10:
This film is a masterpiece from one of film's true living masters, maddeningly following up his near-perfect Election dulogy with a near-perfect genre-blender. By the way, Metacritic has as their picture a still from Bong Joon-Ho's excellent THE HOST, not EXILED.

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Exiled Magnolia Pictures

Exiled
Magnolia Pictures