By virtue of being an action film filled with female stars, So Close prompted some in the Hong Kong press to dub it Hong Kong's answer to the Charlie's Angels movies, as if they were worth emulating. Not that So Close director Corey Yuen (who last year made his Western directorial debut with The Transporter) has lofty aspirations, but as films about sexy female assassins go, So Close makes for tough competition. A rollicking example of how Hong Kong action directors have evolved to survive in the post-Matrix age, the film kicks off with an action setpiece involving killer sunglasses, heels that allow their wearers to suspend themselves from ceilings, and a security-system-jamming version of The Carpenters' "Close To You." All these gimmicks are employed to help the acrobatic Shu Qi take down a corrupt businessman situated high atop a glass skyscraper. Keeping her business in the family, Qi works with her sister Zhao Wei, a computer expert itching to try her hand at the bloodier end of their collaboration. Of course, life isn't just intricately choreographed hits for the sisters, who otherwise seem to spend a lot of time thinking about clothes and men as they lounge in their luxurious apartment and toy with the elaborate spy device left behind by their murdered parents. That lifestyle threatens to come to an end, however, when tough-minded police detective Karen Mok launches an investigation into their most recent crime. Like many Hong Kong action films (and American ones, for that matter), So Close does little but string together action scenes, but the cast members invest their roles with more heart than usual, and Yuen deserves credit for investing time in making his characters seem less absurd by giving them time to stretch and breathe. Still, this sort of film lives or dies by its promise of bullet-dodging, stylishly clad women throwing themselves into impossible feats of daring, and when the time comes for action, Yuen displays a rare gift. Joining martial arts, wire-fu, and digital effects, the director keeps the action fast and ridiculous, whether he's staging a fight between two handcuffed characters or concentrating on a brutally intense climactic sword fight that would cause Charlie's angels to call time out for a nap.