Final Justice
 
Director: Parkman Wong
Year: 1988
Rating: 7.5
One thing I am slowly picking up on is the fact that during the first couple years of Stephen Chow’s career, he was more a dramatic actor than a comedic one. And a pretty damn good one at that.  These projects were not his own and it wasn’t until a little later that he moved into the world of comedy. There are certainly hints of humor in his work, but the elements of drama and action take precedence.  That is definitely the case with this film. This is more a Danny Lee film than a Stephen Chow film and it contains Lee’s trademarks of police action and male bonding.


In a Fluff article of Sanney’s,  Lee made a statement that he gave Chow his first big break in the movie industry and now Chow will not even acknowledge him. Truth be told, Lee does give Chow a great role here and Chow takes it and runs with it. In fact, he won the Best Supporting Actor award for his performance.  Chow is a small time car thief who steals cars upon request. Danny Lee is a street-smart cop – who is not well educated and doesn’t get along with his superior. A taut tense story develops between these two characters. Chow steals a car for Shing Fui-On and his gang. They use it for a robbery in which a few people are killed. Lee by chance finds out that Chow has stolen the car and begins pressuring him to inform on the gang. Chow finds himself in a difficult predicament – be framed for the killings and go to jail for life or inform and likely be killed by them. His turmoil is very believable.



As in any Danny Lee story there are some good action scenes, but it is the relationship that develops between Chow and Lee that makes this an excellent film. In some ways it foretells another film relationship between a cop and a killer that is made the following year. Here though, Chow is certainly no tough professional killer – more someone confused and not knowing which way to turn. Another performance that I enjoyed in this was Shing Fui-On’s. He is very tough – somewhat honorable – and very dapper. The only real weakness in the film is the use of that old standby - the superior officer who is a by the book idiot and tries to sabotage Lee at every turn.