The Big Heat (1988)

Directors: Andrew Kam, Johnnie To

Notable Cast: Waise Lee, Matthew Wong, Phillip Kwok, Lionel Lo, Paul Chu, Betty Mak, Peter Lai, Stuart Ong, Robin Shou

There’s always a sense of shock and accomplishment when one discovers an overlooked diamond of a film out there in the black holes of the cinematic void. This is the feeling that overcame me when I sat down to watch the Hong Kong action flick The Big Heat with my brother the other day. As a fan of the cops n’ criminals genre of Hong Kong action flicks from the 80s and early 90s, I was also a tad shocked that this one has flown under the radar. Not only is this film good, but it’s packed with a phenomenal cast and co-directed by one of Hong Kong’s greatest directors, Johnnie To. The film itself is ripe with wonderful artistic direction, massively entertaining and vicious action sequences, and a darkness to its police team narrative that gives it an impressive depth. The Big Heat, despite its generic title, deserves to be listed among some of the best of the style and belongs up there in the ranks of classics from John Woo, Ringo Lam, and Tsui Hark.

Flag of Iron, The (1980)

Director: Chang Cheh

Notable Cast: Phillip Kwok, Chiang Sheng, Lu Feng, Lung Tien-Hsiang, Chan Shen, Wong Lik, Yu Tai-Ping, Lam Sui-Kwan, Wong Ching-Ho, Wang Han-Chen

Remakes might dominate many of the discussions for cinephiles in many social circles, but it’s not like they are a new concept by any means. For as long as film has been made, remakes, reboots, and reloads have been an option for film makers and studios to employ. However, it wasn’t necessarily as common during certain eras. The Shaw Brothers era of Hong Kong cinema was one of them where remakes were rare. They did exist though and The Flag of Iron is one of them. The Flag of Iron is a remake of the widely praised Ti Lung and David Chiang film The Duel, but this time around it’s not the more dramatic and political aspects that take the center stage. No, this is a Venom mob film and that means even more gimmicks and cheese. Fortunately, the film keeps a lot of the key plot elements that made the story effective and it’s certainly entertaining, but it’s hard not to see the glaring flaws and lack of dramatic heft in this version.