Brick by Brick: Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024) Review

Director: Soi Cheang

Notable Cast: Raymond Lam, Louis Koo, Terrance Lau, Tony Wu, German Cheung, Philip Ng, Richie Jen, Sammo Hung, Kenny Wong Tak-Ban, Aaron Kwok, Fish Liew

 

Director Soi Cheang is on a roll.

After he dropped the long-awaited sequel SPL2: A Time for Consequences almost 10 years ago, renamed Killzone 2 for its US release, Soi Cheang took a wild detour to film two Monkey King movies. Although those films are entertaining, one must wonder if Soi Cheang’s career would be completely derailed by massive blockbuster fantasy.

Yet, he pulled a 180 from that for two films in a row by dropping the award-winning thrillers Limbo and Mad Fate over the last couple of years. It’s a shift that truly indicates just how talented he is as a director. Not only did he direct one of the best modern Hong Kong action films with SPL2, but Limbo was one of the best neo-noirs of recent memory. 

 

Undercover Punch & Gun (2021)

Directors: Lui Koon Nam, Frankie Tam

Notable Cast: Philip Ng, Andy On, Van Ness Wu, Chi Shuai, Joyce Feng, Aaron Mustapha Aziz

 

One of the things that growing up with Hong Kong cinema has allowed me to be comfortable with is tonal whiplash. Nobody does imperfect tonal shifts to perfection like Chinese, Taiwanese, and Hong Kong. As time has gone on, the industry has certainly tried to make their material a bit more consumable for larger audiences and that means many films have pulled back a bit from the sheer insanity of the fast tone slides. I should have been prepared when Undercover Punch & Gun decided to take a potentially gritty undercover cop action flick and inject some wild quirks and humor into it. Does it work all the time? Absolutely not, but there is this kind of postmodern angle to its 80s approach that does have its charms. This allows Undercover Punch & Gun to be oddly charming as it delivers on its action through the dual efforts of its big-name cast. Even if the film feels a bit uneven and hollow as a whole.