"Special Identity" Chinese Theatrical Poster
THE MOVIE: A cop and his team of comrades go undercover in one of China’s most ruthless underworld organizations to stop a gang leader, only to put themselves in great danger after being exposed one by one.
Special Identity is directed by Clarence Fok, who directed the original The Iceman Cometh that Donnie Yen happens to be remaking. He also helmed the classic Category III flick Naked Killer and the underrated 1998 film Cheap Killers.
Updates: Mtime.com reports that Flash Point’s Collin Chou has joined the Special Identity cast. | HKtop10 reports that Mainland director Tan Bing (who was originally going to direct Special Identity back when it was still known as The Ultimate Codebreak) held a press conference and made several accusations against Donnie Yen. | Asian Movie Pulse has more on the issue, with claims that Donnie Yen may be taking Vincent Zhao to court.
Via Twitch, Donnie Yen’s official website has a gallery of pictures, including many behind-the-scenes photos and action shots from Special Identity. | Andy On speaks! In a new interview, the veteran martial artist/actor stays pretty quiet about the Donnie/Vincent feud but lets it slip that he and Donnie share a 10 minute fight scene in the film. In fact, Andy makes it sound like he and Donnie went ‘full contact’ for their fight – and we believe him! Thanks to Martial Arts Action Cinema for the story. | New English-subtitled trailer. | New behind-the-scenes featurette.
New TV spot. | Behind-the-scenes footage by action choreographer John Salvitti. | Another behind-the-scenes feature. | International promo. | Trailer #3. | 2-minute fight scene! | New poster art to be had (more here), featuring Donnie Yen, Andy On and others. | Behind-the-scenes clip involving car stunts. | Donnie Yen vs. Andy On action clip. | Donnie Yen vs. Ken Lo action clip, courtesy of Film Combat Syndicate. | Impressive “Donnie Yen vs. Bruce Lee” clip.
BREAKING NEWS: Watch the new North American trailer. Well Go USA’s release is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com.
Guess there won’t be a fight between both Beggar Sus.don’t like Andy On don’t know why.
Andy On can’t fight like Vincent Zhao.. bleh
I agree. I mean, Andy On had some pretty slick moves in “Bad Blood”/”King of Triads” but he just doesn’t have the screen presence of someone like Vincent Zhao. Zhao commands the screen, Andy On is just kind of ‘there.’
I know right? Now im not really looking for this movie as before.
I agree I watch his movie Black Mask II and I was like disappointing. Story suck. Action also suck.
Lesson of the day: don’t be taller than Donnie Yen if you want to star alongside him! Ha. Just kidding, I don’t think Yen is that conceited. It just sounds like everyone involved in this movie – the stars, producers, film crew – all had varying egos and agendas. Vincent Zhao seems kinda fed up with that Hong Kong style of filmmaking, where the script is never really set in stone. He should try to learn a little English and make a break for Hollywood while he can.
According to Brett Rattner,Zhao was supposed to be the villian in Rush Hour 3,but couldn’t make it due to scheduling.
And according to hkcinemagic.com Wu jing’s picture is put there instead of Andy On
Wu-jing was better choice instead of andy on.
Let me disagree. Wu Jing looks too Beijing-school-trained, he lacks flexibility.
Is donnie hollywood poisoned, I mean can’t he leave hong kong and do a hollywood movie while he still young
I guess, it is even better that Zhao left the project. he is too …self-possessed. Andy is younger, not fed with his screen glory. it means he is more modest, and he is younger as well. So I guess, being more flexible he made up a good partnership with Donnie, and it was first of all easier for Donnie to work with him, they have already collaborated in the Lost Bladesman. Moreover, if we know that Donnie action-choreographed the movie himself – so what’s the point in saying that Andy is not as good as Zhao? Donnie Yen will make everything look as cool as possible. Let’s give Andy a chance.
I agree with your sentiments. The only thing I would say is that, yes, we have seen Donnie and Andy fight before. And it was a great battle in The Lost Bladesman but the prospect of Donnie fighting someone he has never faced before onscreen – Vincent Zhao – was more exciting. Unfortunately, it seems that it was not meant to be.
well, let’s see what we will get. I still think Andy is a decent variant… At the end of the day it was DONNIE who picked him. the only thing which troubles me is…WHEN the movie will be released?!
Good question! We haven’t heard anything about the movie since September ’12…filming has been completed since at least then and Donnie is already shooting his next movie. I don’t know why there would be such a lengthy post-production process, but maybe the studio is just waiting for The Grandmasters and CZ12 to leave the theater.
and I’ve heard the rumors that the mighty people standing behind Zhao team are working hard to suspend the movie… but I think, it is unlikely))))
A staff member involved in the production revealed that Special Identity is now in post-production. This means a release in Q1 or Q2 this year.
I was looking forward to see Yen and Zhao go at it, but after Zhao dropped out, my excitement went down the drain lol. As for another battle between Chou and Yen, I don’t want to see. The Flash Point fight wasn’t all that great. Maybe Donnie should try to do a different film with Vincent Zhao in the future. Have anyone seen the Korean historical drama Queen Seondeok? Uhm Tae-woong who plays Kim Yu-shin from that show resembles Vincent Zhao quite a bit, and Kim Nam-gil who plays Bidam look a lot like Donnie Yen. The resemblance is undeniable.
The last update is actually an April joke 🙂
Thanks DiP for the heads up. =D April Fools jokes really screw the internet up. As if we already don’t have enough rumors!
To peacify the movie fans,they should reunite and make another movies so that street rumours stops
You guys, I just found something out… apparently Vincent Zhao didn’t drop out of the film. The production crew lied to the press that he wanted to leave. Check out this article http://www.jaynestars.com/news/the-clash-of-the-kung-fu-titans-vincent-zhao-blasts-donnie-yens-domineering-ways/
It seems like Zhao wanted to be apart of the script change, which the production crew didn’t like, so they let him go without telling him. They made the announcement without letting him know. How professional is that? Zhao was to play the main villain, and it was Donnie who wanted to cast him, but he was also the one who demanded changes in the script, so Zhao’s role went from main villain to supporting role. If any of you seen a lot of Donnie’s films… doesn’t this sound very Donnie Yen for some of his films? Since they lied, Vincent Zhao went public with it on a interview. There is other dirt too, but you will have to read the article.
Another thing I want to mention is that, during this mess, celebrities were taking sides… and something went down that wasn’t very pretty. Chapman To, Leon Lai, Kara Hui, Wong Jing, and Shu Qi supported Donnie. As for Zhao, it’s Yuen Wah, Yuen Biao?, Yang Mi, Eason Chan, Timmy Hung, and Leung Kar Yan.
Shu Qi made a statement supporting Donnie, and the people on the internet who were Zhao fans I assume exposed her nude photos from her adult film days. She had a major breakdown… The article about this incident is on that Jayne Star site too.
Many people believe Vincent. The stuff he said sounded very honest and truthful. Umm it’s really just a unfortunate misunderstanding to a disaster. Egos were involved. This incident got so big that there were actually death threats. Please check out the article. Problems like this don’t usually happen to martial art stars.. I could be wrong when I really think about it.
News flash…
Most of those reports concerning Vincent Zhao’s accusations should be taken with a grain of salt. Authority on script changes is not only decided by an action director/co-producer (second handedly) but primarily by other producers as well as studio execs.
Also exposing someone for being demanding/strict on set is one thing but accusing someone for violating terms on a contract is another. It has been reported many times that it was the studio execs (Starlet Film Co) that was in charge of the project and handled Vincent’s contract after signing him to the project after being recommended by Donnie. It’s always a staff at a production company that handles a contract and being in charge of financed projects, not a single actor. If anything, Vincent should’ve taken action against them but he didn’t. Obviously fishy on his part.
Is there anyway or anything we all can do to get this shown in The states THEATRICALLY??? I mean there has got to be something or someway
Depends on where you live. If you live in places like CA or NY they are usually shown in limited release. Just all depends.
Well Go USA recently picked up NA rights so expect a US theatrical release 2-3 months after initial release.
Well I live in Texas, so maybe they will show it at one of the Angelika theaters here in Dallas.
This looks insane. Absolutely insane. Wasn’t sure if Donnie had another Flashpoint in him. There ya go. This kinda looks like Donnie’s Hard Boiled to SPL’s Better Tomorrow.
Trailer #3 for SPECIAL ID! —> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSxsdPk_c-E
Anybody else nose was bleeding while watching that 2 min fight clip? Or was it the cocaine I just snorted?
Donnie’s hollywood movies suck, just as much as jet li’s hollywood movies and jackie chan’s and very soon Tony jaa’s. Hollywood destroys true talent for their own gain.
I remember donnie yen saying he enjoyed making movies back at home in Hong Kong because it was easier to make there or something like that. Hollywood martial arts movies don’t have that good talent of choreography. There are good hollywood movies like undisputed 2 and 3, Blood and bone, etc dont get me wrong but the big time hollywood bigscreen theatre martial arts movies ALWAYS suck shit.
Only reason people say “go to hollywood go to hollywood” are the idiots who dont realize that hollywood destroys the martial artists talent, and have no clue that good martial arts movies are made OUT of hollywood because foreigners dont have a clue about martial arts at all.
also another reason they say “go to hollywood” is because their so damn lazy to put in the effort to learn mandarin or cantonese and want everything handed to them in english, yet back then the chinese were expected to change their ways for white people. white people just want everything handed to them and ruin martial arts, its sad really. Respect to scott adkins though he has true talent and respect for martial arts.
This movie is not bad. Acting suchs but fighting is good.
http://www.senscritique.com/film/Special_Identity/critique/29588682