Chasing the Dragon

                                                     
Director: Wong Jing
Year: 2017
Rating: 7.0
A strange film for 2017. It would have fit more thematically back in the 1990s when Hong Kong was producing bunches of true crime films of real-life triads and corrupt police. This film was produced by Mainland studios which is important in that portraying corrupt cops in modern times is verbotten, but apparently showing corrupt cops in Hong Kong under British rule is just fine and portraying the Brits as swine gets you bonus points. Wong Jing, the director, of this film had gone down this true crime road before with Casino Tycoon which supposedly was based on Stanley Ho (father of Josie Ho) who ran the casinos in Macau. Here he takes on two legendary figures in Hong Kong crime - Lui Lok aka Lee Rock who was a corrupt cop who made millions and fled the city before going to trial. And on the opposite side is Ng Sik-ho aka Crippled Ho, the biggest drug dealer in Hong Kong who in 1975 was convicted and sentenced to prison. In this film, they are the heroes. There are no conventional good guys. Heroes, I suspect because Lee Rock is played by Andy Lau and Crippled Ho by Donnie Yen.



Amazingly, Lau portrayed the same character 35 years earlier in Lee Rock. In fact, Lau had also played him in Arrest the Restless and The Prince of Temple Street. Other portrayals were from Kenneth Tsang in To Be Number One, Simon Yam in Powerful Four and Francis Ng in H.K. Triad. Ng Sik-ho did alright as well in film with Ray Lui in To Be Number One and Queen of the Underworld, Victor Hon in Lee Rock and Lau Ching-wan in H.K. Triad. Clearly, the two are tied together.



This is a beautifully shot mess of a film. It often feels almost like a montage as it jumps too quickly from scene to scene and from year to year as the two characters work their way up the ladder of their respected professions. But trying to keep track of the other characters and what their relationship is gets confusing. It didn't help that the English subs looked to be done by AI and often made no sense. One small error was consistently translating brother as sister. But damn, it looks great. The cinematographer Jason Kwan who had similar duties in Cold War, Love in a Puff, Aberdeen frames it perfectly, makes good choices on how to shoot it and the action set piece in the Kowloon Walled City is brilliant. Beginning with a passenger plane flying right over and then an extensive chase and fight in the alleys and dens of the Walled City. The area - destroyed in 1993 - was also the setting for the recent Twilight of The Warriors.



Crippled Ho and three friends are smuggled into HK from the Mainland and go from cheap hires in gang on gang rumbles to being a top drug dealer. Rock begins as a junior officer with those above him servicing the triad bosses. He moves up and with his fellow officer Piggy (Kent Cheng) become wealthy. Rock spots Crippled Ho pre-crippled fighting and makes friends with him. Later in the astonishing Kowloon Walled City scene, Ho saves Rock from the triad swarms and they partner up big time. And again, they are the heroes because everyone is worse and they at least show loyalty to their friends. Then the 1970s arrive and with the Independent Commission Against Corruption set up, the fun times end.



At over two hours it tested my patience a bit with even a few short scenes after the end credits roll but it is a big budget film with terrific period recreations, a lot of action and a good cast. Besides Yen and Lau, there is also Ben Ng as a nasty triad boss, Kenneth Tsang, Kent Tong, Niki Chow and Michael Chan. Both Lau and Yen are too old for playing their characters when young, but they are fine when they are older; even with Yen in a series of bad wigs. It is ambitious and in its way a throwback to Hong Kong films pre-Handover.