

Director: Andrew Lau, Alan Mak
Cast: Jay Chou, Edison Chen, Shawn Yue, Anne Suzuki

The film was invited to Venice Film Festival 2005 out of competition ...

In the recent Golden Horse Awards, it also garnered the Best Supporting Actor and Best Newcomer awards.

The official website (in English)
click

My thoughts ...
-- As this is a film based on a Japanese manga about car racing, the expectations have to be set right. Also, it is preferred that you watch in a cinema to create the "sound effects" of a good "car race" and a big screen to appreciate the cinematography ... After all, they filmed the entire movie in Japan at Mount Haruna (for the fictitious Mount Akina). But to be honest, I thought the initial car races weren't as exciting or speedy as the very last one which I thought was much more exciting ... hee hee ...
-- In terms of story, 
(i) it is pretty faithful to the original manga, and you do have to recognize that the "comical" moments are rather Japanese in style ... 
(ii) I actually like the second half hour of the film better than the first ...
(iii) in terms of acting, Jay Chou is the most controversial ... some fans do think he has carried the role very well, while others will argue that he cannot act ... but to sum all in Jay's own words, "I am acting back myself" (which he claims is rather similar to the character) ... so viewers, watch it and decide for yourself!

Conclusion:
Given that it has broken some box office hit in Asia, I do feel that it is watchable, though not a wow. If you go with no expectations, it is a nice teenage flick, but if you go with tons of expectations, you will think what is the hype all about ... 

It targets mainly at those who like the original Japanese manga, or those who are simply "in love" with all the young male leads ... after all, they are the new generation in HK films ... hee hee