Special ID (2013) poster
2013 · drama · action · crime · spy

Special ID

Directed by Clarence Ford1h 38m2013
ElsewhereIMDb5.55kRT56%Metacritic47
  • sombre
  • kinetic
  • extreme
  • cold
Movie DNA

Sombre, breathless, extreme drama / action, grounded in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

A career-long undercover Hong Kong cop is sent to Mainland China when his former protégé becomes the primary suspect in a murder.

Our read · Special ID (2013) reads as a sombre, breathless, grounded drama · action · crime entry — extreme in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, cold in temperature, ambivalent in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of Special ID

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want solid Hong Kong undercover cop action with sharp Donnie Yen fight choreography.

ends bittersweetyou’ll be fine aftergrabs you earlygrips by minute 6attention 3/5breezes bysubtitles: full
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upgraphic violence

Skip it tonightYou dislike subtitles or prefer character drama over violent crime action.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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