Seoul Raiders is a relatively stress free caper film, with little suspense or mystery. What the film has going for it are some amusing fight scenes, such as in the opening when Leung and Shu are chased by henchman, and the two toss the valuable silver case between each other while arguing whether they are partners or rivals. In another set piece, Leung and his team chase Ren through the streets of Seoul and into a subway where Leung grabs onto Ren's scarf on the inside of the train, while Ren is holding onto the outside door, inches from being dashed against the tunnel wall. One other scene that elicits chuckles is Leung defeating a hang of thugs by hurling plates at them. Shu Qi mostly laughs, smiles and generally looks cute. If you want to see Shu as an action star, she is used to better advantage in So Close.

Tommy Wai's score seems to have been lifted, with very little alteration, from one of the music themes used by Quentin Tarantino for Kill Bill. Jingle Ma may be taking his queues, both musical and visual, from American films. There is the nervous camera, the editing of shots to the beat of the music and again, the seemingly inevitable slo-mo action shots. There's very little in Seoul Raiders that hasn't been seen before. But with Tony Leung having made his mark most significantly with Wong Kar-wai, and Shu Qi graduating to the artistic heights as Hou Hsiao-hsien's muse, a lighthearted romp may have been in order.