Mainland actor Liu Ye plays Kang, the most ambitious and aggressive of the three. Local heart-throb Daniel Wu plays Fung, an honest man who wants nothing more than to lead a simple life with his childhood sweetheart. Hu (Tony Yang) is a hotheaded and simple-minded young man who, above all things, is loyal to his two brothers.

Predictably, their contrasting personalities leads them down different paths, with the ruthless Kang becoming a villainous mobster, the disillusioned Hu turning into an alcoholic and the righteous Fung returning home after disobeying Kang's orders.

Joining the trio in this complicated web of love-hate relationships is a nightclub singer (Shu Qi) and her lover Mark (Chang Chen), a hitman who never misses. The love birds, who are good friends of Fung, are on the run after betraying Boss Hung, the powerful gang lord (Sun Honglei) Kang is working for.

The film is dull at the start, but finally picks up when the characters stop talking and start shooting

each other.

Don't bother trying to work out how Fung and Mark can emerge unscathed after walking slowly through a hall where at least a dozen gangsters are firing at them. Tan, apparently an ardent student of Woo, cares more about style than logic, and some of his action scenes are spectacular despite their lack of originality.

But overall, Blood Brothers fails to impress because of the unconvincing performances of Liu and Wu. The former, best known for his sad and charming eyes, never looks bad or powerful enough to be a gangster, while the latter looks too handsome and refined to pass as a country boy. Even Chang, one of the better performers lacks the ruthlessness of a killer.

Blood Brothers is, at its best, a second-rate John Woo movie.

VERDICT: WAIT FOR DVD