I hardly bother with HK movies nowadays. Too many disappointments. Too too many...
But boy, did I "drop my glasses" [lit. translation of 跌破眼镜] this time!!
Noticed the DVD of 杀破狼 (Saat Po Long in Cantonese, Sha Po Lang in Mandarin) many months ago. A few glances at pirated wares. Only noting the title of this movie with a pic of 洪金宝 (Sammo Hong) on the cover.
Noted the title, only because 杀破狼 was the name of a 'power move' by a memorable character in the 风云 universe. That's the HK comic by 马荣成, which got made into a so-so movie a few years ago. Followed this comic for a while, cos after 金庸 retired from writing, the only sword-fighting stories worth reading are 马荣成's comics.
Anyway, I just happened to find this movie in my housemate's harddisk, and I copied it over for a watch.
It's a cop movie. Sammo Hong is the evil gang lord. A team of bad-good cops have become obsessed with bringing Sammo to justice, to the extent that they were wiling to frame Sammo for the murder of an undercover cop, the death of whom Sammo was innocent of, since he only 4-Iron-ed the undercover half to death.
The bulk of the action happens on one Father's Day. There is some sort of a plot somewhere. An assassin under Sammo's employ kills a few cops. Donnie Yen, the good-good cop kills the assassin and Sammo.
The acting was OK. The plot was OK. The directing was OK.
The martial arts choreography was STUNNING!!
I was floored by the penultimate battle between Donnie wielding a telescopic baton, and Wu Jing with a Yakuza tanto. It was a vicious, go for the throat battle... fast and furious. It's like watching Bruce Lee, if he went full throttle and didn't have to slow down his punches for the sake of the limitations of the slow cameras of yore.
Donnie's baton fighting is as deadly as a viper, and Wu Jing's knife fighting has the fatal grace of a tiger. This battle even overshadowed the final show-down with Sammo.
There's no wire-fu. No fantasy, like fighting on bamboo. No flying shadow kick. No stylish Jackie Chan fighting with props. No Bollywood brawl where no less than 500 punches are thrown before somebody stays down. No Matrix's style over substance. And don't even compare it to VanDamme or Seagal flicks!
It's like a sword-fighting flick, but grounded in reality. Real martial arts masters going away at each others' jugulars.
I've really paid too little attention to HK films. But I'm grateful for this opportunity to find out more about Donnie. I didn't recognise him from the history-making fight against Jet Li in Once Upon A Time In China 2, nor as the evil eunuch from Dragon Inn (新龙门客栈), nor as 长空 (another name derived from 马荣成's creations) the spear-wielding assassin in Hero, nor in Tsui Hark's pathetic 七剑 (Seven Swords). And apparently in Blade 2, Highlander: Endgame and Shanghai Knights too. He'll be coming again in 龙虎门 (lit translation: Dragon Tiger Gate), which will be based on an ancient HK comic, from the time when Adam West was still Batman. Wasn't going to give two hoots for this movie, but I may have changed my mind now, though I still have to find a way to deal with my revulsion of Nicholas Tse....
Wu Jing had the misfortune of being obscured in disastrous films, like Tsui Hark's (again) embarassing Legend of Zu. But here's hoping that SPL will bring him better roles in future.
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