Red Fists
Ouch!! That was my main reaction to this almost
non-stop action film that has some of the most painful looking falls I
have seen in a Hong Kong film. There is a constant barrage of guys getting
hit and falling onto hard objects – often far below – and it looks very
real and very stressful. Yu Rong Guang, who was also responsible for the
choreography of these falls, doesn’t spare himself either. He takes a couple
very hard knocks and one in particular was a doozy. Filmed in one shot
– he jumps out of a second floor window – falls on to the ledge below –
rolls off on to a car far below – bounces off of that and lands finally
on the hard pavement. No damage done of course but don't try it at home!
Clearly this film believes that if something is
not happening on screen that involves a car racing through the streets,
people chasing after others, gunfights full of shattering glass or people
getting beaten to a pulp it is not worth filming. Of the ninety minute
running time, I would have to estimate that at least seventy minutes of
it is devoted to some sort of action – or the lead up to action. There
are only a couple of scenes that are presented to establish character –
one involving a bonding over eating dog meat – and they are done with as
quickly as possible to get back to the good stuff. This was fine with me
since there was nothing particularly original about the plot or the characters.
Cops in Hong Kong are attempting to track down
some counterfeiters, while at the same time unknown to them the cops in
the Mainland are doing the same. In HK the investigation is being headed
up by Sharon Kwok who in my opinion has one of the best smiles in HK films
– her lip curls in a most attractive way. At any rate it isn’t her curling
upper lip that stops crime but instead a lethal trigger finger and some
nice kung fu moves. I am not sure if Sharon’s martial arts training went
beyond being married to Chin Sui Ho for a few years – but she manages to
look fairly good in her fight scenes – with the help no doubt of some imaginative
editing.
Going undercover in the Mainland is Yu Rong Guang
and he is able to infiltrate the gang and is brought to HK to meet the
boss. Sporting longer hair than I recall seeing on his head, Yu gives himself
ample opportunities in this film to show his martial arts abilities – very
little - if any - of it wire enhanced. Things are looking good for him
– though he finds himself in the middle of some internal gang strife as
the gangster’s son (Kong Wa) is being egged on by his Lady MacBeth wife
to take over the gang.
At any rate, his cover is soon blown when Sharon
intrudes and tries to arrest him and send him back to the Mainland. Circumstances
of course force the two of them to work together and after a wild car chase,
a bicycle chase, a helicopter shootout, some solid fights and a number
of shootouts (Mark Houghton and Chi Cheung-hua being two of the baddies)
they close in on their target. All in all it is rather unchallenging but
fun for what it is – and both Yu and Sharon give solid performances and
manage to take a lot of punishment and keep on ticking.
My rating for this film: 6.0