Run and Kill
Reviewed by YTSL
In the introduction of their chapter on “Over
the Edge” films (that includes reviews of Doctor Lamb”, “Remains of a Woman”
and “The Untold Story”), Stefan Hammond and Mike Wilkins vouchsafed that
the Category III movies that fall into this category: “aren’t for kids,
the overly sensitive, or the easily queased. Most of ’em aren’t even
for vegetarians. But that doesn’t mean that they are cheapo road-show
quickies, no matter how bad they sound. After all, try explaining
the plot of “The Silence of the Lambs” to someone who hasn’t seen the film.
Then explain why you liked it, then why it won a truckload of Oscars...”
(See their ““Sex and Zen” & “A Bullet in the Head””, 1996:227).
What with its containing that which no less a
Hong Kong cinema authority as David Bordwell has described as “one of the
most famously barbarous scenes in Hong Kong film” (In his “Planet Hong
Kong”, 2000:155), the boldly titled RUN AND KILL is one of those violent
-- as opposed to supernatural -- horror movies that the faint hearted should
steer far away from. At the same time though, this 1993 “Bloody”
Billy Tang helmed work that is all the more powerful for starting off slowly
rather than with an almighty bang -- and which reunited the co-director
(with Herman Yau) of the 1992 Category III hit whose main character was
a murdering, body dismembering plus sometimes necrophilic taxi driver with
Kent Cheng, Simon Yam and Danny Lee -- also is one of those cinematic efforts
that I honestly believe has more to offer than the kind of sights and sounds
that may shock even the most jaded along with experienced of gore hounds.
Among other things, RUN AND KILL’s main dark tale
of the personal disaster and woe that befall an extremely unfortunate Hong
Kong man -- and involve (three female members of) his family along with
certain, not entirely innocent, acquaintances -- is one that this (re)viewer
found to be pretty absorbing plus gripping as well as coherent. Additionally,
especially for those who are apt to have been put off by the often painfully
unfunny sections of “comedy” relief that were inserted into the likes of
“The Untold Story”, here’s pointing out that this well written -- by the
same Bryan Chang who went on to script, direct and produce “After the Crescent”
and “Among the Stars” plus is a prominent Hong Kong film critic -- offering
is largely bereft of such annoyingly intensity disrupting sections of celluloid.
RUN AND KILL is further distinguished by its lead
actor, Kent Cheng, having turned in an absolutely terrific performance
as a propane gas shop owner -- known as “Fatty” because of his large size
as well as more properly as Mr. Ng Kam Cheung -- whose world started to
fall apart on his wedding anniversary. Earlier in the movie and day,
there already had been some indications that, for all of his doting on
his physically attractive spouse (an individual who came in the nubile
form of Lily Lee) as well as cute young daughter and caring widowed mother,
Fatty’s domestic life was not as entirely blissful as he would like for
it to be. Nonetheless, one can sympathize with his not realizing
how bad things were until he returned home that afternoon to find his woman
happily having sex with one of his workers. And to make things worse,
neither of the cheating pair seemed at all apologetic for doing so nor
looked like they were going to cease meeting after their illicit relationship
was uncovered by the cuckolded individual.
Faced with this unsatisfactory state of affairs,
a disturbed Fatty phoned his mother and asks her to keep her visiting granddaughter
over at her place for a while more, then proceeded to wander off in a daze
around town. At some point, he ended up in Lan Kwai Fong and a bar
there named 1997 with a “gwailo” bartender along with a “mixed” clientele
that included a young woman (named Fanny played by Esther Kwan) who Fatty
ended up pouring out his sob story to and, in return, suggested that he
get mad and find someone to beat up his wife and her extra-marital sex
partner. After convincing the now extremely drunk as well as emotionally
upset man that this would indeed be the ideal course of action, Fanny proceeded
to introduce the near comatose Hong Konger to a Vietnamese thug who would
be willing to commit violent acts on his behalf for a not insubstantial
fee.
In a nearby alley, the hoodlum (thinks that he)
hears Fatty stating that “I want her dead” and “Dead...no problem then”
in between muttering such else as “I’m dead drunk” along with having bouts
of vomiting before the urge to fall into a deep sleep got the better of
him. The next morning, he woke up with -- like the troubled man was
to report to a skeptical Danny Lee’s Inspector Man and that policeman’s
subordinates -- only the faintest recollection of what had transpired the
night before. However, as the rotund protagonist of RUN AND KILL
soon would learn with a vengeance (and by way of some truly terrible experiences
that would get inflicted on him and his loved ones -- most notably by a
demented Mainland Chinese ex-soldier named Ching Fung portrayed by Simon
Yam -- that most people wouldn’t even want to encounter in the form of
nightmares), he still was going to be held responsible for his drunken
words plus actions, and so much more besides.
My rating for this film: 8.