"Doing business is like shitting, smoothness is most important"
I've owned this Ringo Lam-directed Hong Kong action flick on an old VHS for many years now but thanks to it's super-generic title I just recently got around to watching it and that's too bad because I probably would've appreciated it more back in the 90's. It does veer towards the predictable action sequences, especially towards the second half of the film. You even get star Chow Yun Fat in the typical training-to-get-revenge montage popularized back in the 80's. It starts off pretty cool though with an interesting gang of bad guys, including a nymphomaniac lady named Virgin, a large Bolo Young-looking muscular fellow with a punk rock mohawk haircut and a flamboyantly gay leader, all robbing some golden Buddhas. From there we end up at a what might be the world's worst strip club where nobody gets naked and everyone does interpretive dance routines while the song "Get The Funk Out" by 80's hair metal band Extreme plays. The whole movie is packed with cheesy metal-sounding riffs which add unintentional laughs and drive home the point that Hong Kong was at least a few years behind when it came to popular culture at this point.
Probably the biggest plus this movie has is that our hero, Mr. Fat, is the most bad-ass that I can recall him being in anything. He wears denim and leather, has tattoos, is a biker and a criminal who doesn't mind shooting people. Also he shoots a guy in the neck and tells him to "masturbate in hell". I think that's pretty bad-ass myself. It's not until he gets the old double-cross that he becomes the guy we all know from those John Woo movies. Apparently this was a big flop in Hong Kong since people there didn't like the idea of Fat not being a super goody-goody which is a shame cuz he woulda made a great villain. Worth a look for the kung-fu, gun-fu, knife-fu and all around crazy action if you're into that kind of thing.
This American trailer makes this movie look super serious which it isn't:
No comments:
Post a Comment