Mountain Leopard (Eric Tsang) returns to Hong Kong after spending the last thirty years in Brazil. After arriving in Hong Kong, he enlists the help of a small triad gangster Smokey (Nic Tse) to find his old nemesis Nine Dragons (Chan Wai-man).

Seeing that Leopard has a bag stuffed full of US dollars, and a promise that a share would be given to Smokey, he goes out of his way to help Leopard find Nine Dragons. A father and son relationship begins to develop between Leopard and Smokey, whose real father remains a mystery to him. In the days to come, Smokey comes to respect Leopard, but things start to crumble when Smokey realises that Leopard may be telling complete fibs about his past life, and that he may not be the powerful gangster he claims to be.

The film starts with a montage of shots in Brazil where we see Leopard getting ready to leave his home and return to Hong Kong. Although the Brazilian landscapes are photographed quite beautifully, it serves no purpose to the story and should have been cut from the final film. Things start to hot up when he arrives in Hong Kong and meets Smokey, a street wise kid whose mother is a hooker working in the notorious Temple Street. Being without a father for all his life, Smokey becomes attached somewhat to leopard when he becomes aware of Leopard's so-called glorious past.

We begin to understand Leopard's past in stages throughout the film, with the most comprehending around the middle, where we witness a young Leopard (played by Stephen Fung) fighting it out with his bitter rival Nine Dragons (played by Sam Lee), and their subsequent rivalry with a woman (Shu Qi). Throughout the movie, we hear Leopard's sworn oath to kill Nine Dragons and win back his love, but as the story gradually folds, we slowly realise that all what was said of Leopard's famed past was a lie, completely fabricated by Leopard. In a moving scene, Leopard tells Smokey that he is suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, and he may lose his total memory. His only wish is to see his love one more time.

Metade Fumaca is a well constructed narrative tale. The relationship between Leopard and Smokey works very well, especially that of Nicholas Tse, who would surely become one of Hong Kong's greatest actors in time. His performances in many of his films are truly astounding for an actor of his young age, and he deserves to be given better scripts to work with.

Metade Fumaca features a ton of famous Hong Kong actors in various cameo roles, most notably Kelly Chen and Shu Qi. Although given preferential listing on the cast list, they are in the film for only a very short period of time. The same goes for Sandra Ng, Chan Wai-man, Vincent Kuk and Anthony Wong. It seems like that all of these characters must have walked onto this set from another movie of the same genre.

The flashbacks which tells the story of a younger Leopard and Nine Dragon are fun to watch, and makes the narrative thread that bit stronger. But seeing Stephen Fung play the younger Eric Tsang is amusing; you just can't imagine Tsang looking anything like Fung.

For a triad genre film, there is hardly any action - most of them feature in the flashbacks, which is a good thing. It gives more screen time for the development of the main two characters, and their interaction with each other as they begin to understand how different and similar they really are.

A totally pointless plot twist sees how Smokey is infatuated with a policewoman (Kelly Chen) who had arrested him before. He videos her all day coming and going from the police station opposite his flat. Although amusing in its tone, it serves no purpose to the main story.

Overall, Metade Fumaca is an engrossing film that is enjoyable to watch. All of the performances are spot on; even the lesser characters seem to be more than two short planks put together, and adds depth to the whole package.

Starring:

Eric Tsang (Mountain Leopard)
Nicholas Tse (Smokey)
Shu Qi (Mysterious woman)
Kelly Chen (Police officer)
Sandra Ng (Triad boss)
Anthony Wong,
Stephen Fung (Young Mountain Leopard)
Sam Lee (Young Nine Dragons)
Chan Wai-man (Nine Dragons)