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Shu (Wu Chien-lien) is a contract killer. She doesn't know her real
name, doesn't know her parents, has no photographs of her childhood, no
roots nowhere because she's used to move every 3 months for security
reasons, and for as long as she knows, her only friend in the world was
Sister Mei (Shirley Wong), the woman who has brought her up and trained
her, and who now acts as her agent. Long (Lau Ching Wan) owns a little
noodle shop, nothing glamourous, nothing to get rich from, but it's honest
work. True, Long has a past in the triads, but he has long given up that
life, and now he even refuses to pay them protection money because that's
against his honest principles. One night, after a hit, Shu stops by
Long's noodle shop - and falls in love with his noodles. It doesn't take
Long long to fall in love with her, and even though she at first acts
inapproachable, it soon becomes clear that she is for some reason
attracted to him as well, and since Long is a man with a lot of patience,
he eventually wins her around. Of course though, she doesn't tell him what
she's doing for a living ... Shu is sent to South Korea to kill a man,
and because she manages to kill him and get away with it despite being
chased through half the town by his henchmen, the dead man's head
bodyguard Chau (Han Jae-seok) loses face, and now he figures he has to
kill Shu to regain his honour. Chau has soon tracked down Shu, also
thanks to Sister Mei, who was more than happy to sell her protegée for
the right price, ansd Shu manages to escape being killed only just, and
with the realisation that she has been betrayed. She confesses everything
to Long before trying to leave town for good, but Chau cuts off her
escape, and almost manages to kill her when Long comes to her rescue. A
furious finale leaves everyone dead ... Probably no other film
industry has churned out nearly as many contract killer movies as Hong
Kong - and quite honestly, most of these movies are hardly worth a
mention. Beyond Hypothermia however is the film with a difference,
it doesn't only feature highly inventive, tense and sometimes even
self-ironic action sequences, it also manages to bring romance to the
genre in a completely unpretentious and uncheesy way, turning the film
into not only an action- but also an emotional rollercoaster. Add to this
a self-confident and smooth directorial effort and a very fine cast, and
you quite simply get a great movie.
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