Brink, The (2017) Review

“The Brink” Theatrical Poster

Director: Jonathan Li
Producer: Soi Cheang Pou
Cast: Max Zhang Jin, Shawn Yu Man-Lok, Gordon Lam Ka-Tung, Janice Man Wing-San, Wu Yue, Yasuaki Kurata, Tai Bo, Cecilia So, Derek Tsang, Kumer So
Running Time: 100 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Martial artist Max Zhang may have been showing off his stuff since the early 00’s, however it’s only in recent years that he registered on the radar of many kung fu cinema fans. With scene stealing supporting turns as the villain of SPL II: A Time for Consequences in 2015, and the conflicted antihero of Ip Man 3 from the same year, it was only a matter of time before he was given leading man status. That time is upon us, with 2018 promising a barrage of Zhang goodness in the form of the Yuen Woo Ping helmed Ip Man spin-off Master Z: Ip Man Legacy, and Fruit Chan’s The Invincible Dragon, in which he’ll fight alongside UFC legend Anderson Silva.

Before either of those though, The Brink is first out the gates, giving Zhang his first legitimate starring role. Thrusting martial artists who are used to shining in supporting roles into leading star status is always a risky business, with the pressure of carrying a whole movie on your shoulders being considerable. Xing Yu failed miserably in 2013’s The Wrath of Vajra, displaying all the screen presence of a wet leaf, while Philip Ng’s ropey acting often made 2014’s Once Upon a Time in Shanghai a cringe inducing experience. As much as I tremendously enjoyed watching Zhang lay the beatdown on the likes of Wu Jing, Tony Jaa, and Donnie Yen, I kept my expectations firmly in check for his turn as a good guy in director Jonathan Li’s debut.

While The Brink may be Li’s debut, he’s certainly no stranger to the art, having worked as assistant director on several of Andrew Lau (Daisy), Soi Cheang (Dog Bite Dog), and Derek Kwok’s (Full Strike) productions over the last 15 years. Here Soi Cheang is on-board as producer, and likely provided a guiding hand. It’s a big relief then, that the combination of debut director and first time leading man proves to be a winning one. Zhang plays the angry cop with an attitude that Donnie Yen had all to himself through most of the 00’s, strutting around wearing shirts that look like they’re made out of curtains from the 1970’s, and beating the living daylights out of any criminal in his path. Even before the first scene is over, which has him rampaging through a dilapidated Hong Kong apartment full of junkies, it becomes pretty clear – this guy has it.

In terms of plot, The Brink feels a lot like an updated version of the 1979 Ho Chung Tao actioner The Gold Connection. Shawn Yue plays a Sea Goddess worshipping, pocket harpoon wielding skipper of a ramshackle ship, one being utilised by a smuggling operation to transport a stash of unmarked gold into Hong Kong, currently residing at the bottom of the sea. Yue is a relatively small fry on the ladder, answering to both the captain (played by a grizzled Tai Bo) and his son, who work for a Japanese gangster, played by the legendary Yasuaki Kurata (clocking in his 4th movie of 2017). However Yue has grander ambitions, and when he finds himself double crossed by his employers, he wages a warpath to seize the gold for himself.

On the right side of the law, Zhang gets pulled into Yue’s scheming when his partner, played by Wu Yue (the highlight of Paradox), is kidnapped by the smugglers and held for ransom. It’s a simple setup, but the setting of The Brink makes it stand out in a way that few Hong Kong movies of late have been able to achieve. Eschewing the usual HK Central locations and Kowloon backstreets, much of The Brink unfolds alongside the territories waterways, be it in bustling wet markets, or the moored boats docked in Aberdeen Harbour. The maritime feel provides The Brink with a unique atmosphere, with small touches, like the worship of the Sea Goddess, adding a layer of depth seen all too rarely in today’s Mainland-friendly filmmaking climate.

Zhang is given plenty of opportunities to let loose on the action front, and for the first third seems to spend almost every other scene he’s in running after the bad guys. A chase across the various moored boats will likely bring to mind a similar scene with Jackie Chan in The Protector, and the initial confrontation with Yue and his gang allows for both Zhang and Wu Yue to show off their action chops, fending off knife wielding attackers from all angles. The choreography is handled by Nicky Li, who is known for his fondness of wires, however here (as in Extraordinary Mission from the same year) he keeps them largely in check, keeping it grounded and efficient. It’s refreshing to witness this side of Li’s action directing, which I like to think we’re seeing since Wu Jing never called him back to choreograph Wolf Warrior 2, so perhaps he decided he needs to up his game.

One of the biggest pluses of The Brink is Yue’s character, tattooed and a man of few words, he recalls the more complex villains of Hong Kong’s yesteryear, even if his actual motives don’t stretch far beyond striking it rich. Yue himself is a distinctly Hong Kong actor, and has proven he’s more than capable of performing action several times before, with roles in the likes of Dragon Tiger Gate, Invisible Target, and Reign of Assassins. He’s joined here by what feels like one of a few remaining Hong Kong actresses in Janice Man, whose relationship to Yue is ambiguous, but they clearly have a history. Minor scenes like when he enlists the services of a prostitute, while Man cooks outside, do their part to provide a level of characterisation to the often overlooked villain character.

However Yue’s sadistic streak comes to the fore when he’s backed into the corner, and his unwillingness to let go of the gold is what ultimately sets him on a collision course with Zhang. Li doesn’t shy away from getting down and dirty in The Brink, with Yue at one point demanding one character gut another (which allows for some Chang Cheh style red filter usage), and in another he literally rubs salt, whole handfuls of it, into another characters open wound. All of this of course provides Zhang all the more reason to take him down, and events eventually build up to a confrontation on the boat in the middle of a fierce typhoon, as Yue tries to retrieve the gold in conditions he knows nobody else would dare sail into.

It’s a fantastic finale, with the two going at it in treacherous conditions which see them frequently thrown over by torrents of gushing water, and a boat which is being lurched around like a toy. From a technical standpoint, if two people were attempting to kill each other while on a boat in the middle of a typhoon, this is probably exactly what it would look like. Ok, so make that two people that know kung fu. Kudos is well deserved to all involved for pulling off such a scene while being completely saturated. Similarly, The Brink throws in a thrilling underwater action sequence which I believe may be a first for a Hong Kong movie, as Zhang and his superior (played by a scraggly haired Gordon Lam) tussle with Yue and his gang while they attempt to intercept the gold.

Being a directorial debut, it’s not all calm waters for Li. There’s a completely throw-away sub-plot involving Zhang being the legal guardian to the daughter of a criminal he may or may not have accidentally killed, which feels like filler. Especially when she reveals she’s pregnant, and Zhang doesn’t even both to ask her who the father is (I guess that would have stretched the scene out too long). Other details are so delightfully random they draw unintentional laughs, such as when Zhang avoids being charged for the death of the same criminal, after spending a few months in prison he comes out with dyed yellow hair. I guess he must have signed up to a hairdressing course while he was inside. Thankfully it wasn’t a vocation he chose to pursue.

These are small gripes though, and overall The Brink ticks all the boxes when it comes to being an exciting thriller with a healthy dose of action. Perhaps most significantly, for fans of Hong Kong cinema, it signals that we don’t just have Max Zhang’s upcoming movies to look forward to, but also that there’s a new director in town to keep an eye on. For every person that declares the Hong Kong action movie is dead, it’s good to know that movies like The Brink still come along to remind us there’s life in it yet.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7.5/10