MOVIE REVIEW - Legend of the Wolf (1997)

Aka The New Big Boss, Zhan lang chuan shuo

Director: Donnie Yen
Starring: Donnie Yen, Chi Wah Wong, Carmen Lee

With his directorial debut Donnie Yen wanted to do something different and on most levels he did succeed admirably. It is a movie that has been hailed by many as a masterpiece, unfortunately it seems just as many have denounced it as a mess sparking debate in the martial arts movie making community.

The story is relatively simple, but it received flak for being confusing in it’s use of flashbacks within flashbacks. I don’t see it myself. I understood the use of them as exposition especially for Yen’s character’s emotions. He is the Wolf of the title, a man who has lost his memory and arrives in a village threatened by bandits, local boy Wai (Wong), who offers to lead him to a temple for a small fee, assists him. After a run in with bandits in the jungle, showing the Wolf’s kung fu talents, the story is set in motion. Wai and Wolf tell all of this in flashback to a young man who is asking them to kill someone for him. They are telling the tale to set an example for him and show that his actions are not the right way.

Yen is a man at the peak of his psychical prowess and he loves to show this off. The fight scenes can be considered an ego trip of sorts. He is a one man killing machine, when the whole village is being beaten to death he seems to be the only one, other than Wai, able to defeat any of the bandits. Comparisons can be made to Bruce Lee with his use of sidekicks, in fact the UK title is New Big Boss referencing the Lee movie. What loses him points during some of his action sequences is that he likes to bring the camera in tight and you just see a blur of hands and feet in front of people’s faces. Although this does add a visceral feel to the proceedings, I prefer being able to see the punches and blocks connecting.

The acting is okay. Yen doesn’t emote that much, he is stoic and vacant. He speaks with his fighting. The other cast members are just there to help support the emotional impact of the fights. You feel for the villages just because you see them getting massacred not because you have connected with them.

This is a bold attempt at an artistic action film and a good choice if you are looking for something different than the average chop-socky kung fu. Kudos to Yen and this a great comparison piece is his latest work on SPL.

Overall: A dragon punch or two away from a masterpiece. 8/10

MOVIE REVIEW - In the Line of Duty IV (1989)

Aka - Huang jia shi jie zhi IV: Zhi ji zheng ren

Director: Yuen Woo Ping
Starring: Cynthia Khan, Donnie Yen, Michael Wong, Michael Woods

This was Donnie Yen’s breakthrough movie. He was supposed to be in a supporting role to Cythia Khan’s hero cop but he ends up saving her ass several times. With action in the able hands of master Yuen Woo Ping this is one movie that couldn’t go wrong. Released during a time when the market was flooded with similar styled action flicks, the story is average, the script is sloppy and the acting doesn’t help at all. It is the fights that hold this whole mess together.

The plot involving a witness of CIA corruption that Yen and Khan must protect at all costs as he runs from Seattle and hides out in his homeland of Hong Kong. They are sent to bring him back to the US to face prosecution for the crime he witnessed. Of course the hitmen come out of the woodwork trying to kill the trio.

The fight scenes are fantastic, especially Yen versus a beefed up Michael Woods on a building roof top toward the end. But the problem is some of them go on way too long as kick after kick is landed the person on the receiving end invariably seems affected by the damage they sustain.

Overall: A must for any martial arts fan. 7/10

MOVIE REVIEW - Election (2005)

aka – Hak se wui

Director: Johnnie To
Starring: Simon Yam, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Louis Koo, Nick Cheung

This is definitely not to be confused with Alexander Payne’s 1999 black comedy that dealt with a high school president election and the conflicts that come from running for election. Surprisingly this film does actually cover some of the same themes but in the setting of a triad council election. And this is a lot less funny.

Lok (Yam) and Big D (Leung) are the two gangsters seeking the position of chairman but they go about it in different ways. Big D likes to let his money doing the talking, trying to buy his votes from the council elders, where as Lok is a man of the people, garnering respect and admiration from the locals. When the vote doesn’t go the way one man wants all hell threatens to break loose within their triad society.

The subject matter of this delves into the inner workings of a triad society, showing that a lot of the time it isn’t about the muscle of being a gangster. Like in a early scene the elders are discussing their votes around cups of tea. The actual process of election, even within a crime syndicate is ordered and essentially civilized. The society believes in tradition, hence the chairman who is stepping down must back the new one as well as handing over a baton, this item becomes central to the plot.

We are also shown how the police and the triad interact. Triad members are constantly being arrested and held in suspicion, but never charged, in order to keep balance. It seems everything as in all life comes down to the balance of power, the ying and yang. You can’t have it weighed too much one direction or you lose control.

Johnnie To’s low key direction is important to keeping the viewer hooked to the screen, at times not much is happening but you don’t feel that. With the help of great performances from all the actors involved the experience becomes intense building up to a shocking climax that reminds you who these people really are. They are just gangsters and this is life for them.

Overall: Another Hong Kong film worthy of respect. 9/10