Not only does the film never question the ethics of a war on drugs in which dealers and manufacturers are subject to the death penalty, it appears to enthusiastically endorse it.

| Nov 4, 2013

Another inkling of the style limitations perhaps most responsible for To's lower visibility stateside compared with, say, his countrymen John Woo and Wong Kar-wai.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 17, 2013

Few other working filmmakers display this degree of visual sophistication and old-school craftsmanship.

| Aug 15, 2013

As always, To delivers fantastic set pieces ...

| Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 15, 2013

Drug War is a deeply intelligent, exhilarating and eminently satisfying adult crime story, one of the best thrillers you're likely to see this year.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 15, 2013

An intense and constantly surprising crime story in which destiny seems to fold in on itself ...

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 8, 2013

To has a great mastery of timing; he knows just how long to let a look linger before cutting away, how little he can reveal without losing us.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 1, 2013

While it takes a while to come to a full boil, Drug War is an atypically grim gangster film from the typically inspired Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 26, 2013

Cars go crunch, bullets fly, blood spurts, bodies splatter and an unbelievable amount of cocaine is snorted. The climactic shootout, which goes on for 15 minutes and has an astronomical body count, is a masterpiece of its kind.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jul 26, 2013

While Mr. To may not fill the movie with rousing speeches, either by inclination or out of political necessity, the brilliant, unsettling action scenes - ugly, savage, dehumanizing - speak volumes.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 25, 2013

The big budget and big social canvas have called forth one of [To's] best movies, a dense and involving police procedural with a dash of the grotesque and a persistent undertone of doom.

| Jul 25, 2013

The story's apparent hero is a police captain without the quirks and complications of To's usual cops. But a scriptwriting team that includes co-producer and longtime collaborator Wai Ka-fai takes the story in satisfyingly unexpected directions.

| Jul 25, 2013

Drug War becomes both weightier and more playful with each transition, building to a harrowing finale.

| Original Score: A- | Jul 25, 2013

While Drug War is ultimately more an exercise in craft than a movie with a lot on its mind, it's a remarkably skillful exercise, and hardly devoid of ideas.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 24, 2013

It doesn't attempt to raise the stakes on its genre, but instead fully exploits what's there, piecing together an elaborate narc campaign tale out of classic clichs and tight-knot plotting ...

| Jul 23, 2013

The genre thrills are as potent as the story's themes ...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 23, 2013

...features a tense, unstoppable momentum, a morally ambiguous protagonist and hugely involving action scenes, all of which provide a welcome alternative to many of the less precise spectacles released on American screens this summer.

| Original Score: A- | Jul 23, 2013

The film is a singularly huge, relentless, all-encompassing set piece that mutates and spasms with terrifying lack of foresight. It's all business, business, business.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jul 17, 2013

Hong Kong action maestro Johnnie To takes his genre filmmaking savvy to the mainland in Drug War, a nail-biter that's actually quite light on action but so well-scripted and shot, it's nonetheless edge-of-your-seat material.

| Jul 2, 2013

Dynamic chase film hits all the right buttons to fascinate edge-of-seat cop op addicts.

| Jul 2, 2013