HARD BOILED (1992, BLU-RAY) HARD TARGET: UNRATED (1993, KINO 4K UHD)
It no coincidence that John Woo's last Chinese movie after his early prosperous Honk Kong era (late '70's to early '90's) and the first feature from his American period (early '90's to mid-aughts) both have the word 'Hard' in their respective titles. That's just the way John and his team of Chinese stuntmen rolled back then when delivering the real action goods. ;-)
"Hard Boiled" finds Woo leaving the island at the top of his directorial game with a heroic-cops-vs.-bloodthirsty-gangsters tale that pushes the violence/action quota to bordering-on-cartoony-mayhem extremes. Cool-as-shit Inspector 'Tequila' (Chow Yun-Fat) guns down gangsters by the dozens whenever he isn't playing jazz at a club to relax. With supervisor Tang (Philip Chan) on his case for the recent death of Tequila's partner and the latter's office girlfriend (Teresa Sun-Kwan Mo) getting white rose bouquets from a stranger, things take a turn when new gun-for-hire assassin Alan (Tony Leung) injects himself between the old (Hoi-San Kwan's traditional Uncle Hoi) and new regime (Anthony Wong's hothead Johnny) of mobsters bringing illegal guns to H.K. You know 'Tequila' and Alan are headed for a showdown, but the eventual team-up of these supercops (!) is what we're here for. "HB's" already a winner from the opening teahouse shoot-out that would be the climax of top-tier American action flicks, but here it's merely an appetizer. The hour-long hostage standoff/epic shooting gallery in a hospital full of ̶h̶u̶m̶a̶n̶ ̶s̶h̶i̶e̶l̶d̶s̶ patients and unattended babies with a basement full of hidden arms/explosives has yet to be topped by any action movie (then or now, there or anywhere) as the ultimate display of cinematic balls-to-the-wall badassery with which to close the show. 5 MAD DOGS BRAWLING LIKE ZEROES BUT DYING AS HEROES (out of five).
Doing "Hard Target" seems like the safest pick for many a Junesploitation! day ('90's Action, Revenge, etc.) but I'll use any excuse to rewatch this first crack by an American studio to bring the Hong Kong action template to U.S. cinemas, especially now that the Unrated cut (NC-17 back in '93) is widely available on streaming/physical media. Like the above-mentioned "HB" this one ends on a relentless hour-long pursuit/never-ending action sequence through New Orleans (city and then swamplands) with heroic good guy (Jean-Claude Van Damme looking cool but with acting/English below his latter/better efforts in "Sudden Death" and "Time Cop") protecting a damsel in distress (Yancy Butler) while putting an end to the for-profit-human-hunt-of-homeless-veterans-by-bored-rich-a**holes illegal business of uber bad guys Fouchon (Lance Henriksen, whose literally on fire here! :-D) and van Cleaf (Arnold Vosloo). Unlike the cool teahouse and warehouse action scenes of "HB," though, the first act of "HT" drags... like a lot. I seriously considered skipping to 50+ mins. in when the death of scummy Randal Poe (Eliott Keener) kicks off the Woo spectacle we came to see. That long, self-indulgent and ultimately pointless first third is the main reason this otherwise sumptuous buffet of tasty JCVD/Woo cinematic mayhem "only" gets 4.35 'MICHIGAN BAR 312' PLATES ON NAT'S CONVERTIBLE (out of five).
BONUS HONG KONG ACTION: GHOST IN THE SHELL (2017, 4K UHD)
Yes, it's an American studio-released, English adaptation/remake of a beloved Japanese manga/anime that takes place in a "Blade Runner"-inspired futuristic Tokyo with Japanese culture as its backdrop. But (a) Chinese money (Shanghai Film Group, etc.) co-financed the production, (b) a Chinese actor (Chin Han) is part of the multi-cultural cast playing an important...ish role (Section 9 team member Togusa) and (c) recognizable Hong Kong landmarks (Quarry Bay, Lai Tak Tsuen public housing, etc.) are digitally enhanced and featured often. I've been playing "Cyberpunk 2077" on the Xbox recently and felt inspired to watch "GITS '17" because at times its world building/cyber-enhancements themes feel closer to the CD Projekt Red game universe than Mamoru Oshii's '95 anime.
Like my "Dirty Dancing: The TV Event" review a few days ago, comparisons between OG "GITS" and live-action are unflattering to the latter, especially when key scenes (Major diving from a boat, invisible cloak fight in a shallow water pond, the Spider Tank battle, etc.) are recreated in CG and don't come close to matching the intensity/artistry of the decades-old animated version. Even the ultimate reveal of the origin of who Mayor is/was before she was turned into a super soldier machine with a human 'ghost' (aka spirit) feels like co-screenwriter Ehren Kruger ("Scream 3," anything "Transformers" directed by Michael Bay, the upcoming "F1" Brad Pitt movie, etc.) doing another of his notorious 'dumbing it down for mass consumption' hack jobs. Special effects/production are as good as $110 million could buy eight years ago (!) and the cast ranges from passable (Juliette Binoche, Peter Ferdinando) to not good (Michael Pitt's meant-to-be-tragic-but-comes-across-as-whiny Kuze, Pilou Asbæk's poor man's Batou) with a few inspired choices (third-billed Takeshi Kitano commanding the screen without speaking a word in English as Section 9 boss Aramaki! :-D ). Then hot-off-the-MCU Scarlett Johansson is neither asset nor liability as the protagonist, with the kindest complement I can give her and the movie that they're better than Charlize Theron in the 2005 "Æon Flux" movie... ouch. 3 BAGS OF MEAT FOR HOMELESS STREET DOGS (out of five). 'It's fine' but there's better "GITS" media out there.
Watching Burning Paradise, I could not help thinking about how, barely two decades away from the heyday of Shaw Brothers’ dominance, the filmmaking styles of Hong Kong had change so much. Ringo Lam was one of the influences toward a new form of action cinema there. So was the producer, Tsui Hark.
Burning Paradise is my second encounter this year with the character Fong Sai Yuk. Here he is a disciple at the Shaolin Temple at the time when the new Ching Dynasty is destroying the temple and hunting down the monks. Captured after a fantastic set-piece fight against an entire Ching military unit, Fong is sent to a prison with other monks. This prison is underground, full of dead-ends and countless hidden traps to thwart any escape. The warden, a cruel Ching general with formidable fighting powers, has an assortment of lackeys to put down any attempt at escape.
Fong tries to get out anyway, and there is no shortage of fights. It is fighting with fists, feet, and numerous weapons, sometimes all at once. Firearms even make an appearance. The action gets very heavy toward the end. With so much going on, following everything can be a challenge.
Don’t let the title fool you - this isn’t really a sequel to John Woo’s Hard Boiled (in fact, I’m pretty sure it was shot before that one). What we’ve got here is an action-comedy from the endlessly chaotic Wong Jing.
There are definitely some shared vibes with Hard Boiled: a cop teaming up with a criminal, tons of bad guys on motorbikes, and a final showdown in a hospital where people really love crashing through windows.
Sure, you get John Woo-style shootouts every ten minutes, but deep down this is a broad Hong Kong comedy — loud, goofy, and totally over-the-top. Definitely an acquired taste.
Still, it’s always fun to stumble on early roles from Andy Lau (Infernal Affairs), looking cool and doing his thing before becoming a true superstar.
I've enjoyed all the "Hopping Vampire" films to various degrees but this one's takes awhile to get going with the action. The humor is beginning to feel a little strained but Wu Ma and Anthony Chan go all out with the physical comedy.
Way too many homophobic jokes even by 1980s Hong Kong standards.
NEW KILLERS IN TOWN (1990) Two gifted martial arts students travel from their remote school to the mainland, where they get caught up with a pretty girl and a bunch of gangsters. It’s all the good stuff we love from Hong Kong action. What it lacks in budget and resources, it makes up for with flashy visuals, kinetic action, and eye-popping stunts. Actress Moon Lee gets top billing, and she’s very charming. I’m curious to see what other movies she’s in. The YouTube transfer is all grainy and muddy, though. Hopefully one of those boutique Blu-ray/4K labels can give it a proper restoration someday.
30 days of Georges Melies, day 24: THE MAGIC LANTERN (1903) Two clowns build a magical telescope which they use to spy on people all over the world, and then even more supernatural wackiness happens. This includes a whole lot of dancing girls. Here’s a movie for all the theater kids, in that it has a real old fashioned “Let’s put on a show” vibes.
The mid 80s to early 90s saw a wonderful evolution in Hong Kong Action cinema. By mashing up the classic Kung Fu martial arts/stunt/acrobatics with dramatic Cops vs Mobs* dramas it opened the door to endless options. It also expanded the scope of conflict with regards to set pieces, stunts, combat styles, and weapons. Decades later we are still seeing this evolve and grow. LOVE IT. For today i picked an exceptional example of this mashup.
SPL follows a small group of police officers trying to bring down a mob kingpin (Samo Hung). Things start dark and stay there as the kingpin will eliminate anyone that could get him put away. As such the police team resorts to unethical moves in their mission. One officer, newly joined, questions this approach (Donnie Yen). I dont want to further as if y'all havent seen this one, i HIGHLY suggest it. The fight set pieces are incredibly fast and furious. These include several with actor Wu Jing who is just amazing (knife fights! knife vs baton! you name it). And, obviously, seeing two of the best to do it, Sammo and Donnie, go toe-to-toe is a treat!
One additional note: there are several downright greek tragedy aspects of this movie. This includes a typical "wrap everything up ending" that pulls the rug out in a unbelievable way. This is yet another movie ive watched this month where i was blown away with how they ended it.
(*The idea of mashing up genre's with cops/mob has worked out well in other areas. For example, some of the best Batman graphic novels of the early 80s incorporated mob storylines wonderfully (falcone/maroni). Decades later it was these very stories that "inspired" or in many cases were directly adapted and thus responsible for the gritty "realism" that many such superhero films and shows now have.)
I guess technically this movie has a plot, but it couldn't matter less, because you're treated to wall-to-wall kung fu fights, sword fights, ninja tricks, ninja throwing stars, ninja backflips, ninja eyeliner, teleporting ninjas, toy robots delivering death messages, two extremely awkwardly shot sex scenes, a library of four different sound effects that are used constantly in every fight scene, wonky ADR, a Korean actor with a ridiculous blonde wig, a Garfield phone, and Jean-Michel Jarre's Zoolookologie on the soundtrack. I thoroughly enjoyed every single minute of this nonsense.
I watched this on YouTube in what looked like a bad digital transfer of a VHS copy of a VHS copy, but once it ended, I instantly ordered the Blu-ray. Excited to see it again in better quality.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete'DOING THINGS THE H.K.-HARD WAY' DOUBLE DECKER!
ReplyDeleteHARD BOILED (1992, BLU-RAY)
HARD TARGET: UNRATED (1993, KINO 4K UHD)
It no coincidence that John Woo's last Chinese movie after his early prosperous Honk Kong era (late '70's to early '90's) and the first feature from his American period (early '90's to mid-aughts) both have the word 'Hard' in their respective titles. That's just the way John and his team of Chinese stuntmen rolled back then when delivering the real action goods. ;-)
"Hard Boiled" finds Woo leaving the island at the top of his directorial game with a heroic-cops-vs.-bloodthirsty-gangsters tale that pushes the violence/action quota to bordering-on-cartoony-mayhem extremes. Cool-as-shit Inspector 'Tequila' (Chow Yun-Fat) guns down gangsters by the dozens whenever he isn't playing jazz at a club to relax. With supervisor Tang (Philip Chan) on his case for the recent death of Tequila's partner and the latter's office girlfriend (Teresa Sun-Kwan Mo) getting white rose bouquets from a stranger, things take a turn when new gun-for-hire assassin Alan (Tony Leung) injects himself between the old (Hoi-San Kwan's traditional Uncle Hoi) and new regime (Anthony Wong's hothead Johnny) of mobsters bringing illegal guns to H.K. You know 'Tequila' and Alan are headed for a showdown, but the eventual team-up of these supercops (!) is what we're here for. "HB's" already a winner from the opening teahouse shoot-out that would be the climax of top-tier American action flicks, but here it's merely an appetizer. The hour-long hostage standoff/epic shooting gallery in a hospital full of ̶h̶u̶m̶a̶n̶ ̶s̶h̶i̶e̶l̶d̶s̶ patients and unattended babies with a basement full of hidden arms/explosives has yet to be topped by any action movie (then or now, there or anywhere) as the ultimate display of cinematic balls-to-the-wall badassery with which to close the show. 5 MAD DOGS BRAWLING LIKE ZEROES BUT DYING AS HEROES (out of five).
Doing "Hard Target" seems like the safest pick for many a Junesploitation! day ('90's Action, Revenge, etc.) but I'll use any excuse to rewatch this first crack by an American studio to bring the Hong Kong action template to U.S. cinemas, especially now that the Unrated cut (NC-17 back in '93) is widely available on streaming/physical media. Like the above-mentioned "HB" this one ends on a relentless hour-long pursuit/never-ending action sequence through New Orleans (city and then swamplands) with heroic good guy (Jean-Claude Van Damme looking cool but with acting/English below his latter/better efforts in "Sudden Death" and "Time Cop") protecting a damsel in distress (Yancy Butler) while putting an end to the for-profit-human-hunt-of-homeless-veterans-by-bored-rich-a**holes illegal business of uber bad guys Fouchon (Lance Henriksen, whose literally on fire here! :-D) and van Cleaf (Arnold Vosloo). Unlike the cool teahouse and warehouse action scenes of "HB," though, the first act of "HT" drags... like a lot. I seriously considered skipping to 50+ mins. in when the death of scummy Randal Poe (Eliott Keener) kicks off the Woo spectacle we came to see. That long, self-indulgent and ultimately pointless first third is the main reason this otherwise sumptuous buffet of tasty JCVD/Woo cinematic mayhem "only" gets 4.35 'MICHIGAN BAR 312' PLATES ON NAT'S CONVERTIBLE (out of five).
BONUS HONG KONG ACTION: GHOST IN THE SHELL (2017, 4K UHD)
ReplyDeleteYes, it's an American studio-released, English adaptation/remake of a beloved Japanese manga/anime that takes place in a "Blade Runner"-inspired futuristic Tokyo with Japanese culture as its backdrop. But (a) Chinese money (Shanghai Film Group, etc.) co-financed the production, (b) a Chinese actor (Chin Han) is part of the multi-cultural cast playing an important...ish role (Section 9 team member Togusa) and (c) recognizable Hong Kong landmarks (Quarry Bay, Lai Tak Tsuen public housing, etc.) are digitally enhanced and featured often. I've been playing "Cyberpunk 2077" on the Xbox recently and felt inspired to watch "GITS '17" because at times its world building/cyber-enhancements themes feel closer to the CD Projekt Red game universe than Mamoru Oshii's '95 anime.
Like my "Dirty Dancing: The TV Event" review a few days ago, comparisons between OG "GITS" and live-action are unflattering to the latter, especially when key scenes (Major diving from a boat, invisible cloak fight in a shallow water pond, the Spider Tank battle, etc.) are recreated in CG and don't come close to matching the intensity/artistry of the decades-old animated version. Even the ultimate reveal of the origin of who Mayor is/was before she was turned into a super soldier machine with a human 'ghost' (aka spirit) feels like co-screenwriter Ehren Kruger ("Scream 3," anything "Transformers" directed by Michael Bay, the upcoming "F1" Brad Pitt movie, etc.) doing another of his notorious 'dumbing it down for mass consumption' hack jobs. Special effects/production are as good as $110 million could buy eight years ago (!) and the cast ranges from passable (Juliette Binoche, Peter Ferdinando) to not good (Michael Pitt's meant-to-be-tragic-but-comes-across-as-whiny Kuze, Pilou Asbæk's poor man's Batou) with a few inspired choices (third-billed Takeshi Kitano commanding the screen without speaking a word in English as Section 9 boss Aramaki! :-D ). Then hot-off-the-MCU Scarlett Johansson is neither asset nor liability as the protagonist, with the kindest complement I can give her and the movie that they're better than Charlize Theron in the 2005 "Æon Flux" movie... ouch. 3 BAGS OF MEAT FOR HOMELESS STREET DOGS (out of five). 'It's fine' but there's better "GITS" media out there.
BURNING PARADISE (1994, dir. Ringo Lam)
ReplyDeleteWatching Burning Paradise, I could not help thinking about how, barely two decades away from the heyday of Shaw Brothers’ dominance, the filmmaking styles of Hong Kong had change so much. Ringo Lam was one of the influences toward a new form of action cinema there. So was the producer, Tsui Hark.
Burning Paradise is my second encounter this year with the character Fong Sai Yuk. Here he is a disciple at the Shaolin Temple at the time when the new Ching Dynasty is destroying the temple and hunting down the monks. Captured after a fantastic set-piece fight against an entire Ching military unit, Fong is sent to a prison with other monks. This prison is underground, full of dead-ends and countless hidden traps to thwart any escape. The warden, a cruel Ching general with formidable fighting powers, has an assortment of lackeys to put down any attempt at escape.
Fong tries to get out anyway, and there is no shortage of fights. It is fighting with fists, feet, and numerous weapons, sometimes all at once. Firearms even make an appearance. The action gets very heavy toward the end. With so much going on, following everything can be a challenge.
Hardboiled 2: The Last Blood
ReplyDeleteDon’t let the title fool you - this isn’t really a sequel to John Woo’s Hard Boiled (in fact, I’m pretty sure it was shot before that one). What we’ve got here is an action-comedy from the endlessly chaotic Wong Jing.
There are definitely some shared vibes with Hard Boiled: a cop teaming up with a criminal, tons of bad guys on motorbikes, and a final showdown in a hospital where people really love crashing through windows.
Sure, you get John Woo-style shootouts every ten minutes, but deep down this is a broad Hong Kong comedy — loud, goofy, and totally over-the-top. Definitely an acquired taste.
Still, it’s always fun to stumble on early roles from Andy Lau (Infernal Affairs), looking cool and doing his thing before becoming a true superstar.
Mr. Vampire Saga IV (1988)
ReplyDeleteDir. Ricky Lau
I've enjoyed all the "Hopping Vampire" films to various degrees but this one's takes awhile to get going with the action. The humor is beginning to feel a little strained but Wu Ma and Anthony Chan go all out with the physical comedy.
Way too many homophobic jokes even by 1980s Hong Kong standards.
NEW KILLERS IN TOWN (1990)
ReplyDeleteTwo gifted martial arts students travel from their remote school to the mainland, where they get caught up with a pretty girl and a bunch of gangsters. It’s all the good stuff we love from Hong Kong action. What it lacks in budget and resources, it makes up for with flashy visuals, kinetic action, and eye-popping stunts. Actress Moon Lee gets top billing, and she’s very charming. I’m curious to see what other movies she’s in. The YouTube transfer is all grainy and muddy, though. Hopefully one of those boutique Blu-ray/4K labels can give it a proper restoration someday.
30 days of Georges Melies, day 24: THE MAGIC LANTERN (1903)
Two clowns build a magical telescope which they use to spy on people all over the world, and then even more supernatural wackiness happens. This includes a whole lot of dancing girls. Here’s a movie for all the theater kids, in that it has a real old fashioned “Let’s put on a show” vibes.
SPL aka Sha Po Lang aka Kill Zone (2006)
ReplyDeleteThe mid 80s to early 90s saw a wonderful evolution in Hong Kong Action cinema. By mashing up the classic Kung Fu martial arts/stunt/acrobatics with dramatic Cops vs Mobs* dramas it opened the door to endless options. It also expanded the scope of conflict with regards to set pieces, stunts, combat styles, and weapons. Decades later we are still seeing this evolve and grow. LOVE IT. For today i picked an exceptional example of this mashup.
SPL follows a small group of police officers trying to bring down a mob kingpin (Samo Hung). Things start dark and stay there as the kingpin will eliminate anyone that could get him put away. As such the police team resorts to unethical moves in their mission. One officer, newly joined, questions this approach (Donnie Yen). I dont want to further as if y'all havent seen this one, i HIGHLY suggest it. The fight set pieces are incredibly fast and furious. These include several with actor Wu Jing who is just amazing (knife fights! knife vs baton! you name it). And, obviously, seeing two of the best to do it, Sammo and Donnie, go toe-to-toe is a treat!
One additional note: there are several downright greek tragedy aspects of this movie. This includes a typical "wrap everything up ending" that pulls the rug out in a unbelievable way. This is yet another movie ive watched this month where i was blown away with how they ended it.
(*The idea of mashing up genre's with cops/mob has worked out well in other areas. For example, some of the best Batman graphic novels of the early 80s incorporated mob storylines wonderfully (falcone/maroni). Decades later it was these very stories that "inspired" or in many cases were directly adapted and thus responsible for the gritty "realism" that many such superhero films and shows now have.)
Ninja Terminator (1986, dir. Godfrey Ho)
ReplyDeleteI guess technically this movie has a plot, but it couldn't matter less, because you're treated to wall-to-wall kung fu fights, sword fights, ninja tricks, ninja throwing stars, ninja backflips, ninja eyeliner, teleporting ninjas, toy robots delivering death messages, two extremely awkwardly shot sex scenes, a library of four different sound effects that are used constantly in every fight scene, wonky ADR, a Korean actor with a ridiculous blonde wig, a Garfield phone, and Jean-Michel Jarre's Zoolookologie on the soundtrack. I thoroughly enjoyed every single minute of this nonsense.
I watched this on YouTube in what looked like a bad digital transfer of a VHS copy of a VHS copy, but once it ended, I instantly ordered the Blu-ray. Excited to see it again in better quality.