SYNOPSIS: One day, Ken a hairstylist went to do the bridal's hair. Much to his surprise, he bumped into his first lover, Bobo... It was the first day of summer vacation, the doctor diagnosed that Bobo's mother should take a kidney transplant surgery immediately. Bobo was told that she could buy a kidney from the Mainland about $60,000 - an enormous sum for a destitute family like Bobo's. She was then referred by Wendy, her previous neighbour to work as a high-class prostitute to earn quick money. Unable to offer a better option for Bobo, Ken could only support her decision. After escorting Bobo to "work" for a week, Ken finally bursted and snapped at her in discontent and jealousy. Bobo then decided to go to work alone. Meanwhile, Ken also decided to go camping with his friends. When he got home, he was told by his mother that Bobo's mother had passed away unexpectedly. Bobo and her younger sister were taken away by her relative. Bobo's sudden disappearance ten years ago still lingered Ken's heart. Their reunion forced them to walk through the time tunnel which stirred up every bit and piece of their past memories. Life is like a roller coaster with ups and downs and is ever-changing. What exactly have Ken and Bobo missed? Would they eventually have a happy ending?
MOVIE REVIEW:
Patrick Kong, one of HK’s younger generations of prolific screenwriter and director helmed this tearjerker that stars newcomers Edward Ma and Angel Chiang.
The material which smells liked recycled trash from TVB station has Ma and Chiang playing two long-lost lovers, Ken and Bobo who reunite at a friend’s wedding after a span of 10 years. Growing up in the same village, Ken and Bobo are two childhood friends who grew to become teenage lovers. But with Bobo’s mother in ill health and desperately in need of a new kidney, Bobo turns to prostitution hoping to raise enough money for the surgery. Expectedly, Ken’s jealousy begins to rear and their fate is forever changed as a result of a dispute.
In the hands of a more capable, subtle filmmaker and storyteller, A Secret Between Us might leave viewers with wet tissues and red eyes. But Kong who does better job with contemporary romance tales such as L For Love, L For Lies and Love Is Not All Around filled the flick with clichéd dialogue, awkward camera angles/edits and a ham-fisted story plot that involves gang rape. There is an early scene of the young couple trying hard to have sex for the first time and Kong’s execution of the tryst is as embarrassing as the two fumbling characters.
Still, the indie movie boasts a stellar cinematography by O Sing-Pui and other veteran stars Elena Kong, Lo Hoi Pang, Kiki Sheung, Koo Ming Wah and Evergreen Mak contributes to the Wong Jing’s produced drama.
Although it looks like a satire, the final act, which had the two leads hugging and crying in the street, is played out in all seriousness. It’s hard to root for the two to be together again since they are already had their respective partners and its amazing to watch Ken’s girlfriend standing there calmly admiring the emotional outburst by Bobo. Don’t ask me how weird this is. That’s Patrick Kong’s version of a romance tearjerker.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Visual is respectable and the audio comes with both Cantonese and Mandarin soundtracks.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: CG Animation
Director: Eric Darnell, Simon J. Smith
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Peter Stormare, John Malkovich, Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, Ken Jeong, Annet Mahendru, Werner Herzog
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins
Rating: G
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website:
Opening Day: 27 November 2014
Synopsis: The Penguins of Madagascar are back in their very own feature film! Featuring the enterprising Penguins from DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar franchise, this 3D comedy adventure stars Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private in their very own spy thriller.
Movie Review:
No longer just scene-stealing sideshows, the penguin quartet from the ‘Madagascar’ trilogy get their own feature-length spinoff in the palpably-titled ‘Penguins of Madagascar’. Skipper (Tom McGrath) is their natural-born leader. Kowalski (Chris Miller) is the brains of their hare-brained operations. Rico (Conrad Vernon) is too honest with his words and too eager with his flippers. And then there’s the cute and cuddly Private (Christopher Knights), whose role in the team seems only to provide the occasional amusement for Skipper, despite his sincerest attempts at trying to convince the latter that he can do more.
Eschewing the ‘lion/zebra/giraffe/hippopotamus-out-of-water’ routine of the ‘Madagascar’ films, their solo outing sees the penguins caught up in international espionage with a certain Dr Octavius Brine (John Malkovich). Turns out that the penguins and Dr Brine share some common history together at the New York Central Park Zoo – Dr Brine was the eight-legged centrepiece attraction at the Zoo named Dave until the penguins came along and stole all the limelight and attention. Faced with the same fate at every other zoo since, Dr Brine then hatched a plan to steal every single penguin from each of the zoos he’s been at and turn them into something else altogether using his ‘Medusa’ serum.
Those expecting an origin story will realise soon after a hilarious prologue set in the Antarctica that this was never meant to be that. Instead, the opening is as much background to the penguins as you’ll get, beginning with a young Skipper inciting Kowalski and Rico to break away from their flock in order to find greater purpose in their lives than simply conforming to nature. So when an egg (which will eventually hatch to bear Private) rolls along their way, they decide to give chase, with a documentary crew (bearing Werner Herzog in voiceover) in hot pursuit. A run-in with some leopard seals and an unintended explosion later, our heroes are set adrift on a bed of floating ice.
How they eventually end up in Central Park Zoo is a story for another day, as the trio of screenwriters - John Aboud, Michael Colton and Brandon Sawyer – fast-forward to the point in ‘Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted’ where they separate from Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria by blasting off in a cannon at the circus (remember Marty’s ‘Afro Circus’ dance) and infiltrate a highly secured facility filled with gold bars in order to get at a different kind of gold – that is, a whole vending machine of golden-coloured ‘Cheesy Dibbles’ just for Private on the occasion of his birthday.
Alas, Dr Brine lies in wait for them, and their globe-trotting adventure that starts in Venice spent escaping Dr Brine’s tentacled army of octopuses spans Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro and finally New York. Each destination is an opportunity for directors Eric Darnell (who co-directed each one of the ‘Madagascar’ films) and newcomer Simon J. Smith to stage a massive action setpiece that unfolds with the kind of unpredictability and inventiveness true to the penguins’ improvisational nature. There’s no point trying to describe any of them to you, because they really are meant to dazzle and astound on a visual level; and that they do with plenty of whiz-bang energy and pizazz, the sheer gloriousness of it even more amazing when viewed in 3D.
It isn’t just the action that forces you to keep up; just as fast and furious are the witty one-liners that had us in stitches. Skipper is responsible for many of them (Dr Brine: “I see you’ve met my old zoo mates”; Skipper: “We were never mates. There was no mating.”), while Dr Brine gets most of the rest, most notably a recurring gag involving celebrity-name puns (“Nicolas, cage them!”, “Drew, Barry, more!”, “Charlize, they’re on the ray!”). Kudos to the writers for putting something in there for the adults, even though this is ostensibly a kids-driven animation.
The frenetic pacing does come at the expense of characterisation though, so besides Skipper coming into his own as a valued and significant member of the team, there isn’t much – or for that matter, anyone – else that you’ll identify with. Indeed, even lesser attention is paid to the undercover task force dubbed ‘North Wind’ that also has the mission objective of stopping Dr Brine in mind, whether the headstrong wolf leader Agent Classified (Benedict Cumberbatch), the appropriately-named explosives specialist seal Short Fuse (Ken Jeong), the cool and beautiful owl Eva (Annet Mahendru) whom Kowalski has a crush on, or the brawny polar bear Corporal (Peter Stormare) who can’t resist hugging them penguins.
That said, we hardly suspect that you or the kids will mind. ‘Penguins of Madagascar’ is made with but one intention, and that is as a fast-paced, quick-witted, high-energy action adventure to thrill, entertain and delight its audience. On each and every one of those counts, it succeeds tremendously, and we dare say that we had more outright fun in this movie than in any other animation we’ve seen this year. If there’s one thing we’ve learnt from this solo outing, it’s that ‘Madagascar’ has gone the way of the penguins.
Movie Rating:
(Everything you’ve loved about the penguins and more – this fast-paced, witty, and visually dazzling action adventure will have you in rapture)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: CG Animation
Director: Jorge Guttierez
Cast: Diego Luna, Channing Tatum, Zoë Saldana, Ice Cube, Ron Perlman, Christina Applegate, Kate del Castillo, Cheech Marin, Placido Domingo, Hector Elizondo, Ana de la Reguera, Eugenio Derbez, Gabriel Iglesias, Ricardo “El Mandril” Sanchez, Danny Trejo
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website: http://www.bookoflifemovie.com
Opening Day: 30 October 2014
Synopsis: In this animated comedy adventure, a rich mythology including never-before-seen magical and wondrous worlds is brought to life in spectacular 3D CGI Animation. In THE BOOK OF LIFE, audiences will join its hero Manolo, a cast of remarkable characters – and a few meddling gods – on an epic journey through astonishing lands as he tries to find his way back home to be reunited with his loved ones.
Movie Review:
Jorge Gutierrez does a fine job for his maiden film directing effort. A slight pity though that this film has producer, Guillermo del Toro’s, creative touches all over it rather than showcase Gutierrez’s personal style.
With a somewhat predictable plot about a love triangle that transcends the boundaries of death (think Romeo and Juliet without the tragedy), it would have been easy for Gutierrez to fall into the trap of overusing archetypes but thankfully he treads the line carefully.
Gutierrez’s fine treatment is complemented by an apt casting of voice actors - you can imagine the fun Channing Tatum must have had voicing the narcissistic but good-hearted Joaquin whose signature battle-cry is actually “JOAQUIN!”
This fine treatment is also evident in the subtle use of 3D technology such that it is never jarring and helps actually make the actions more real and engaging.
Although death is a heavy topic, it’s given a family friendly treatment where the dead quite pop up in the living world on an annual basis and as long as you remember those who passed on, they ‘live’ forever in the Land of the Remembered. The fact that the living and the dead looks similar except the latter is of a slightly different shade of colour and some patterns on their faces make them more cutesy than creepy. It also helps that the Land of the Remembered is actually more colourful than the land of the living.
Adults would be amused by how the filmmakers also poke fun at their own insecurities they may have about the treatment of death and their own culture at this portrayal of death. This is done through lines delivered by precocious school kids who, at one point, ask exasperatedly,“ What is it with Mexicans and death? We are just KIDS!”
Movie Rating:
(The Book of Life is a delightful animation that the whole family can enjoy. Adults would be able to have fun catching the snide references to clichés and the Latin treatment of Radiohead while kids will marvel at the amazing use of colours as well as superbly cute animals)
Review by Katrina Tee
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SYNOPSIS: Set in 79 A.D., POMPEII tells the epic story of Milo (Kit Harington), a slave turned invincible gladiator who finds himself in a race against time to save his true love Cassia (Emily Browning), the beautiful daughter of a wealthy merchant who has been unwillingly betrothed to a corrupt Roman Senator. As Mount Vesuvius erupts in a torrent of blazing lava, Milo must fight his way out of the arena in order to save his beloved as the once magnificent Pompeii crumbles around him.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Taking a leaf out of James Cameron’s Titanic and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, Paul W.S. Anderson’s Pompeii sets against the backdrop of one of history’s biggest disaster is another testament why his works are often flamed and forgettable.
While we are easily invested in the romance between Jack and Rose or the sufferings of Maximus, you probably yawned at the romance of a gladiator, Milo (Kit Harington from Game of Thrones) and the daughter of Pompeii’s ruler, Lady Cassia (Emily Browning).
Obviously, narrative and storytelling is not one of Anderson’s strong traits. The only excitement happens only when Mount Vesuvius opens up and make a lot of noise. We shall give credit when it’s due, the fireballs, hot ash and large spewing smoke are indeed done spectacularly in CGI. But before all the mayhem, you got to suffer through one hour of clichéd dialogue, half-baked political nonsense and some PG13 friendly arena action courtesy of Milo and his fellow gladiator companion, Atticus (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).
And the year’s cheesiest acting award has to go to Kiefer Sutherland for his portrayal of the evil Senator Corvus who conveniently massacred the family of Milo (he managed to escape death by pretending to be dead) and lusting for the flesh of Lady Cassia to become the movie’s main antagonist. Kit Harington looking incredibly chiseled opposite an out-of-place Emily Browning hardly convinces audience their tragic bound destiny.
Pompeii offers nothing new to the masses if you are familiar with Anderson’s past works such as The Three Musketeers and Alien Vs Predator in which visual is the most outstanding factor of all. This is merely another filler to his resume until the next Resident Evil comes along.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Even with a 2.0 soundtrack, the sound effects are rich and loud. The DVD imaging transfer is detailed and superb.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: Set in a mythic New York City and spanning more than a century, “Winter’s Tale” is about miracles, crossed destinies, and the age-old battle between good and evil. Peter Lake (Farrell) is a master thief, who never expected to have his own heart stolen by the beautiful Beverly Penn (Brown Findlay). But their love is star-crossed: she burns with a deadly form of consumption, and Peter has been marked for a much more violent death by his one-time mentor, the demonic Pearly Soames (Crowe). Peter desperately tries to save his one true love, across time, against the forces of darkness, even as Pearly does everything in his power to take him down—winner take all and loser be damned. What Peter needs is a miracle, but only time will tell if he can find one.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Winter’s Tale marketed as a time-travelling romance is far more interesting when you actually sit down and watch it. Apparently, the trailer forgot to showcase its themes of angels, demons and miracle to the unsuspecting audience unless you read the book by Mark Helprin.
Akiva Goldsman, self-proclaimed die-hard romantic, writer of Batman Forever, I Am Legend and A Beautiful Mind and Producer of many other hits and misses wrote, produced and direct this fantasy tale about love and magic.
Peter Lake (Colin Farrell), a small-time thief in New York met and fell in love with a rich dying heiress Beverly Penn (English actress Jessica Brown Findlay) during one of his shady outings. While she is not expected to live for another year, Lake is determined to take their relationship further. At the same time, he is wanted by his ex-mentor, sinister underworld figure Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe). With a lingering message about how everyone is born with a miracle, Lake believes he is the one destined to save the sick Beverly.
Your imagination and level of acceptance is severely tested once a flying white horse appears on the street in early 1920’s New York. Somehow without much explanation, this flying pony is tie to the fate of Lake and always trusts the horse to arrive in time to rescue his master from the hands of the evil Pearly. Perhaps the source material has much more to offer considering Pearly is some sort of demon and he reports frequently to his superior, Lucifer also known as Judge. And for that matter, an uncredited Will Smith plays Lucifer. It’s a pity nevertheless. Goldsman probably stripped off the less attractive aspects of the novel and concentrates his tale of an ordinary man made immortal by love.
Despite the somehow shoddy storytelling, Colin Farrell and Russell Crowe are at their very best serving out what is good versus evil. Farrell putting on a complex, layered performance as Lake while Crowe taking on another yet another dark character after Les Miserables is effortless. Jessica Brown Findlay and Jennifer Connelly (who appears in a small role in modern day New York) adds icing on the cake. Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel’s lensing is a beauty to behold and Rupert Gregson-Williams with his one-time mentor Hans Zimmer contribute an easy on the ears, piano heavy melody.
In the end, Winter’s Tale is a tale that touches plenty of themes such as religion, whimsical elements and romance but owing to Goldsman’s flimsy treatment, the end results turned out to be unsatisfying and unremarkable. Maybe Martin Scorsese is right to deem it as unfilmable after all.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Winter's Tale: A Timeless Love is a 6 minutes feature in which the various key cast members and crew discuss the theme and making of the movie.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Visual is wonderful with rich details and colours. As a dialogue intensive movie, the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack provides a fairly interesting listening experience. The bass and sound effects come through better during the action sequences.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: The world renowned "Invincible Hand" Ken could identify not only mahjong tiles but also cards with them his fingers which had made him a legend. He retired and returned to his hometown Macau. Ken met his friend Benz, his son Cool and his newel Karl at his welcome banquet. Cool could learn from Ken but Ken claimed that if Cool could successfully cheat him once or win over him, then he would accept Cool as his protege. Cool's step brother Lionel, an interpol agent had been an undercover in an international gambling mafia; they had planned to form an alliance with mafias in illegal gambling from all over the world to control the result of soccer matches. Lionel had recorded the entire conference and record the criminal evidence in an imitated eye. Lionel fled back to Cool's home and hid the eye into the teddy bear that Cool was going to give Rainbow before he continued his flee. Ken worked with Cool and Karl to set up a perfect sting to uncover the evil plan...
MOVIE REVIEW:
Remember Chow Yun Fat and Wong Jing started the gambling craze back in 1989 with God of Gamblers? So it’s to everyone’s good fortune that we finally have a new gambling movie (sort of) starring the great Fat Gor in one of his best roles in years.
To appease the China censors about the touchy topic of gambling, Chow instead of playing Ko Chun now plays the role of Ken, a former God of Gamblers who is now back in Macau doing casino security. With a shady company named DOA dealing in illegal soccer betting, the Interpol decides to enlist Ken to help them uncover the activities of DOA’s owner, Mr Ko (Gao Hu). In the meantime, Ken’s buddy Benz (Hui Siu Hung), his son Cool (Nicholas Tse) and cousin Karl (Chapman To) joins in the fun as Cool yearns to become Ken’s apprentice while Benz’s stepson, undercover agent Lionel (Philip Ng) is killed by Mr Ko’s henchmen over a surveillance went wrong.
Well when it comes to a script written by Wong Jing, expect the usual slew of bad jokes and cinematic conveniences. But fortunately despite the occasional missteps, From Vegas to Macau still looks far more polished than his usual outputs all thanks to the charismatic Fat Gor who literally lights up the entire screen as he turns on his charm dancing, singing and gun playing his way out of every scene and corner. Even the usually reliable Tse becomes a tad wooden opposite Chow and Chapman To’s gags ends up being pale in comparison.
The Lunar New Year release also features appearances from current IT girl, Jing Tian (Special ID), Max Zhang (The Grandmaster) as Mr Ko’s assassin, Annie Wu’s (Police Story 4) as Ken’s personal assistant and everyone’s favourite half ang-moh Michael Wong. But no one can seriously beat Mr Chow. If there’s one complaint, I would say Wong Jing’s flick is actually pretty small scale if you want to bring up the original God of Gamblers series where it has a far more global feel. Much of From Vegas to Macau’s action took place in Ken’s mansionette likely courtesy of TVB’s inhouse décor talents (since the station is part of the financers) and the finale, which took place on a cruise ship, is a mere serviceable attempt to end on a high note.
Other than a few grievances, the return of Chow basically makes up for everything. It has action, comedy, romance and of course 94 minutes of Fat Gor’s irreplaceable cinematic magic.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The DVD comes with Mandarin and Cantonese dual tracks and visually, the imaging are brimming with details and colours stunning.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Martial-Arts
Director: Roy Chow
Cast: Eddie Peng, Sammo Hung, Wang Luodan, Jing Boran, Wong Cho Lam, Max Zhang Jin, Simon Yam, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Angelababy
Runtime: 2 hrs 10 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Some Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 27 November 2014
Synopsis: This is the story of Fei, a young man who is destined to become a master of his time, and an everlasting legend in the world of martial arts.
In 1868 during the late Qing Dynasty, rampant corruption on the Imperial Court inflicts much suffering in people's lives. In Guangzhou, two crime factions run the Huangpu Port: The Black Tiger and the Northern Sea. The gangs rule the port by striking fear into the hearts of the poor and helpless. On the outside, it appears to be a place of opportunities and prosperity; in reality, this is hell on Earth.
For years, the Black Tiger’s fearsome boss Lei Gong has been trying to get rid of the leader of the Northern Sea. One of his latest recruits is Fei, a fearless fighter who takes the Northern Sea leader’s head after a fierce fight. Recognizing Fei’s talent, Lei Gong makes the young warrior his godson and one of his Four Tigers, the most trusted men in the gang. Soon, Lei Gong begins to treat Fei like his own son.
Behind Fei’s rise to the top of the Black Tigers lies a tragic past: At the age of 9, Fei loses his father to a brutal tyrant. Taken in by a Buddhist monk and kung fu master, Fei learns about the true meaning of vengeance and the skills he needs to get the vengeance he seeks.
Just as Lei Gong believes he has total control of the port, a new gang called the Orphans rises in power. Led by Fei’s childhood friend Huo, the Orphans are out to eliminate all the criminal power from the port. Soon, the Orphans strike by hitting Lei Gong’s operations, including his opium warehouses and silver vault. Lei Gong quickly realizes that there is a traitor in the gang. But little does he realize the traitor is indeed his protégé Fei, who’s been secretly working for the Orphans for the past 5 years.
In their ultimate act of revenge, the Orphans spread the news of Lei Gong’s secret warehouse that is kidnapping and imprisoning men for hard labor overseas. The foreign merchants immediately abandon the deal, forcing Lei Gong to release the prisoners. To prevent the people from inciting a riot that will cripple the port, Fei reveals his true identity and openly challenges Lei Gong to a lethal showdown.
With peace finally restored in the city, a hero rises in the name of justice and becomes the symbol of righteousness. This is the beginning of master Wong Fei Hung.
Movie Review:
No less than two decades have passed since Jet Li took up the iconic role of Wong Fei Hung in Tsui Hark’s classic ‘Once Upon A Time in China’ series, and for good reason, no filmmaker for that matter has dared mount a similar big-screen version of the renowned folk hero. Until now of course – ‘Rise of the Legend’ sees Hong Kong director Roy Chow Hin-Yeung step up to the challenge of re-making a legend by way of an origin story, casting rising Taiwanese actor Eddie Peng as the titular protagonist in the hopes of contemporising a famous character for a whole new generation of moviegoers.
We’re sad to disappoint fans of Peng, but the actor is simply no substitute for Li. The comparison, unfair as it may be, is inevitable, because Li had so completely inhabited the character that the very first impression which comes to mind when one thinks of the character is Li himself. While he may project enough confidence and fresh-faced charm to convince as a younger and brasher Wong Fei Hung, Peng simply lacks his predecessor’s poise and nuance to make his portrayal as dignified and compelling.
A lot of Peng’s performance doesn’t go much further than posturing, alternating between a smug self-confident demeanour when with the members of the villainous Black Tiger gang whom he infiltrates to dismantle from within and a spirited show of grit (not unlike that which he displayed in ‘Unbeatable’ as an MMA-fighter) when taking on his opponents fist-to-fist. Only when he gets the occasional reprieve to hang out with his childhood buddies Fiery (Jing Boran) and Chun (Wang Luodan) do we see a more sincere and earnest performance from Peng, but these scenes – given the covert nature of his character’s personal mission – are sadly few and far in-between.
Though he may have the athleticism and physique (we’re talking oiled-up pecs and rippling abs here) to boot, Peng lacks the physicality of someone who’s trained in the martial arts. Indeed, that is too ostensible in the action sequences directed by veteran choreographer Corey Yuen, which in narrower high-walled alleyway settings is filmed with the sort of artistic distractions emulating last year’s ‘The Grandmasters’ – complete with rainwater, (plenty of) slo-mo shots and p.o.v. framing – that sees Peng look rather than truly impress and in more expansive locations relies too heavily on the use of wirework to augment Peng’s moves (or lack thereof). The fact that the fight sequences aren’t as exciting as they should be isn’t Peng’s fault alone no doubt, but, unfortunate as it may be, it still is too clear Peng isn’t a natural performer the way other luminaries like Li, Jackie Chan or Gordon Liu were.
To be sure, Peng is hardly the start of ‘Rise’s’ problems, which, though absorbing in parts, has its obvious flaws. Though intended as a story to explain the origins of Wong Fei Hung, Christine To’s script hardly gives the character much depth. A few flashback sequences show Wong’s father (Tony Leung Kar-Fai) imparting some words of wisdom about saving people which he continues to hold dear as well as how a brief stint at a monastery transformed his sense of vengeance following his father’s death at the hands of some local thugs to one seeking justice, but – whether is it the scripting or Chow’s filming – come off obligatory rather than poignant. There is even less time to get to know Fei Hung when Peng takes over as a young adult, as To has him too busy caught up in the plot machineries of a gangland thriller than to build a multi-faceted portrait of him – other than the already established fact of his inimitable sense of righteousness.
Not that the colourful underworld comprising of Sammo Hung as Master Lei, the leader of the Black Tiger gang, and his adoptive sons – North Evil (Jack Feng), Black Crow (Byron Mann) and Old Snake – isn’t entertaining; there is good fun to be had in watching Fei-Hung, Fiery and Chun destabilise the squabbling trio and their domineering head from within – as Fei-Hung wins Master Lei’s trust by killing the head of the rival North Sea gang to become his fourth adoptive son – and without – with Fiery and Chun leading the poor, hungry and oppressed men on the streets under the banner of the Orphan gang against the Black Tigers. To weaves quite an ingenious scheme here, so much so that Chow’s filming struggles to keep up, and there are scenes which would clearly have benefited from the direction of a stronger helmer.
That is probably also part of the reason why To’s attempt to paint Fei Hung as a man with a big dream of restoring justice to the masses, who stuck with his ideals even though they came at a hefty personal cost, isn’t quite as rousing as it is meant to be. Yes, sacrifice figures heavily in the third act, but because the friendship between Fei Hung and his childhood buddies – including a courtesan he frequents by the name of Orchid (Angelababy) – doesn’t get enough screen time to be fully fleshed out, the eventual denouement awaiting some of them, in particular as it relates to Fei Hung, is less moving and persuasive. Wong Cho-lam does offer some comic relief as his buck-toothed buddy named ‘Big Tooth’, but after their initial initiation into the Black Tiger, he is pretty much sidelined for the rest of the film.
Whereas one would have expected a character-driven narrative for this origin story of Wong Fei Hung, Chow and To (whose previous collaborations include the unintentionally hilarious detective thriller ‘Murderer’ and a middling follow-up ‘Nightfall’) opt instead for a plot-driven one that transplants the elements of a gangland thriller into a martial arts actioner. The result is more the former than the latter, so those expecting some thrilling fight sequences will surely come off disappointed – more so after a lacklustre showdown between Peng and Hung in a blazing warehouse where the two do more staring at each other and asking each other how ‘hot’ it is than fighting. Peng is no Jet Li that’s for sure, but that’s only one of the various flaws in a prequel that should have been much more. For now, this ‘Legend’ remains firmly with Li and Tsui Hark, whose ‘Once Upon A Time in China’ remains the only Wong Fei Hung you need to know.
Movie Rating:
(A moderately entertaining, if uninspired, prequel that works more as a gangland thriller than as an origin story of the legendary Wong Fei Hung – not least for its lack of any truly thrilling fight sequences)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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