Weighted Yet Unbalanced: Story of Woo Viet (1981) Review

Director: Ann Hui

Notable Cast: Chow Yun Fat, Cora Miao, Cherie Chung, Lo Lieh, Gam Biu, Homer Cheung, Lam Ying-Fat, Tong Kam-Tong

 

Story of Woo Viet is a powerfully told, albeit at times unbalanced feature by Hong Kong legend Ann Hui, featuring a subtle but searing performance by Chow Yun-fat, to whom the title Hong Kong legend most certainly applies to as well. This is the story of a Chinese-Vietnamese immigrant looking for a better life when entering Hong Kong, but of course, he and others around him are brought into a world of crime and suffering. Woo Viet will do whatever it takes for a better life. As he says, "Killing here is a lot easier than it was during the war!".

 

Ann Hui pulls together an impressive string of performances by Chow Yun-fat as the titular Woo Viet, Cora Miao as the soft-spoken and emotionally passionate Li Lap-Quan, and even Shaw Bros. badass Lo Lieh gets to brush up his dramatic chops here as Sarm, a co-worker who befriends Woo as they dive deeper into the life of contract killers. Cherie Cheung is fine here, but she doesn't have much to do as Shum Ching, Woo's love interest in the piece.

 

City on Fire (1987)

Director: Ringo Lam

Notable Cast: Chow Yun Fat, Danny Lee, Sun Yueh, Roy Cheung, Lau Kong, Carrie Ng, Maria Cordero, Elis Tsui, Fong Yau, Chan Chi-Fai, Cheng Mang-Ha

For a majority of the world, the existence of City on Fire remains a footnote as a film that inspired Quentin Tarantino to make Reservoir Dogs. For those who have sought it out, they may be horrified to find that it did receive a US release in an edited and terribly dubbed version which in no way or form ably showcases just how effectively brilliant this film is as an action thriller. Even for fans of Hong Kong actioners, City on Fire tends to be overlooked for the more widely available and high-octane films of John Woo. While this is not a knock on films like A Better Tomorrow or The Killer (each of which is a sure fire classic in its own right), City on Fire at least deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as those for being a peak of the artistic merit of Hong Kong action flicks. This long-winded intro serves to simply state what more people need to realize: City on Fire is brilliant and should be handedly ranked up there with the finest crime flicks ever made.

The Blood Splatter: 2016 Action Vol. 2 [The Take, The Monkey King, Rabid Dogs]

THE TAKE (2016)

Director: James Watkins

Notable Cast: Idris Elba, Richard Madden, Charlotte Le Bon, Kelly Reilly, Jose Garcia, Anatol Yusef, Jorge Leon Martinez, Eriq Ebouaney, Daniel Westwood, Alex Fondj


When Bastille Day changed its name to The Take for international audiences, I was disappointed that the film would have such a forgettable and meaningless title. Yet, now that I've seen the film, it might be a fitting warning. While The Take is not a bad film by any means, it is a film that is wholly forgettable and rather meaningless despite a concept that should amount to so much more. Throughout the entire film, the script, characters, and concept would repeatedly give the audiences hints of a better film and still The Take tends to flat line when it’s needed. At times, it feels like a Luc Besson action production and when the film is on its A-game, it fits right up there with some of his underrated action gems. However, those moments are few and far between as The Take is missing any kind of chemistry or fun to be had. Sure, Elba takes a few hard ass wise cracks at his would-be spastic thief partner during the duration of the film, but none of the cast has enough on screen pizzazz to sell it. The plot is a decent one, turning current events into a kind of action mystery for our two leads to solve, but it never runs with its social commentary. A corrupt group of people using the heightened tensions of people versus the banking system to cover their tracks? This should have worked as action 101. Yet it just falls into generic action film traps. The biggest problem that arises is that the action is meant to be too Bourne like to capture the badassness that Elba is meant to extrude. It's not terrible like Greengrass or Megaton and his protégé, but it's meant to replicate that style and it undercuts much of the better action that is obviously there.

Cold War II (2016)

Directors: Longman Leung, Sunny Luk

Notable Cast: Aaron Kwok, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Chow Yun Fat, Charlie Young, Janice Man, Eddie Peng, Aarif Rahman, Tony Yang, Chang Kuo-chu

In preparation for the release of Cold War II, I recently went back and revisited the award winning first film. You can read my review HERE if you are so interested. The film holds up surprisingly well and it fueled a fire within me to see the box office crushing sequel. So it’s pleasing for me to be able to say that not only does Cold War II hold its own against its thrilling predecessor, but it might actually out maneuver it in a few ways. Considering how effective the original Cold War is as a thriller, the sequel has action that hits harder, conspiracies that run deeper, and performances even more layered. It’s not quite the same in many ways, but it certainly carries the same surefire intensity and writing depth that makes it one of the more unique thrillers one is likely to see anytime soon (outside of perhaps a third film, considering its worldwide box office success.) Hold on because the Cold War franchise is just getting warmed up with this latest thrill ride.

Hard Boiled (1992)

Director: John Woo
Notable Cast: Chow Yun Fat, Tony Leung, Anthony Wong, Philip Kwok, Teresa Mo, Philip Chan, John Woo

A combination of director John Woo, a stunning cast, bullets, a crime story with triads and undercover cops, and a hospital siege obviously is a concoction of pure awesomeness. Oh, in all reality, Hard Boiled is pretty over the top and occasionally cheesy, but I'll be damned if it isn't a spectacular ride whose adrenaline shots and pure anarchic final act well make up for its faults. This is John Woo at some of his most balanced, igniting the screen with the film's iconic action sequences and giving it an emotive back story that embraces its over the top aspects as gold rather than a burden to overcome.