Bloody Brotherhood (1989) Review

“Bloody Brotherhood” Theatrical Poster

Director: Wang Lung Wei
Cast: Andy Lau Tak Wah, Michael Chan Wai Man, Irene Wan Pik Ha, David Lam Wai, Shum Wai, Ku Feng, Dick Wei, Philip Ko Fei, Tin Ching, Wong Hap, Cheung Gwok Wa, Ken Lo Hui Kwong, Sham Chin Bo, Lee Sau Kei, Cho Wing
Running Time: 95 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

While Wang Lung-Wei is perhaps most synonymous for his various villainous turns during his tenure at the Shaw Brothers studios, I’ve always considered him to be an underrated director. Sure, he only helmed 9 movies, all made between 1985 – 1992, and none of them can be said to break the mould or offer up anything particularly innovative. But regardless, the guy knew how to crank out lean no nonsense action movies that didn’t skimp on the violence, and contained the kind of frantic high impact fight scenes that audiences today can only dream of. This is the guy who even managed to make Michael Wong look like a bad ass thanks to 1988’s Fury (although it is, admittedly, the weakest of his oeuvre).  Many (including myself) consider Lung-Wei’s sophomore feature, 1985’s Hong Kong Godfather to be his masterpiece (although Angry Ranger comes close), thanks in no small part to its no holds barred blood-soaked finale. 

It’s understandable then that when Lung-Wei secured the talents of HK megastar Andy Lau for 1989’s Bloody Brotherhood, he tried to combine what made his best work so popular with one of HK’s most bankable stars. Lau gets a lot of flak for his performances in the 80’s, with common criticisms being that he looks like a pretty boy teenage popstar (which was half true) and couldn’t act (also open to debate). Personally, I may have been blind to both critiques due to my love of action cinema, and regardless of not being a legitimate martial artist, onscreen Lau looked like the real deal. From his tussle against Lu Feng in The Shanghai Thirteen, to holding his own alongside Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao in Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars, to owning the screen whenever he had to throw down in Magic Crystal, Lau never looked anything less than committed and 100% credible. 

The Heavenly King would clock in his busiest year in 1989, totalling an impressive 16 movies to his name. What’s even more amazing, is that in almost all of them he’s either the star or co-star. While for most actors such a ridiculous number would normally amount to one spreading themselves too thin, somehow Lau is the exception to the rule, as amongst the 15 are such certified HK classics as Casino Raiders and God of Gamblers. The question of whether Bloody Brotherhood fits into the category of HK classic is one which is open to debate, influenced largely by the passing of time. Watching Lung-Wei’s 6^th movie in the director’s chair 32 years later, it delivers just about everything I could want from a HK triad flick. When it was released in 1989, and I’m sure for many years afterwards while the HK film industry was still alive and kicking, I’m sure it was received as just another cookie cutter triad flick that offered up nothing new.

Proceedings open in a way that unintentionally mark Bloody Brotherhood as a product of its time, with Lau and his brother, played by Lam Wai (Royal Warriors, Project A II), being smuggled in a boat to Hong Kong along with their parents from the Mainland. When the coastguards intercept the boat, both parents are killed, and while Lau is able to escape, Wai is captured and sent back to China. Rescued by an old fisherman and his granddaughter, played by Irene Wan (Tiger Cage, Circus Kids), assuming his brother to be dead Lau begins his HK life in earnest by setting up a snack stall, only to have it shaken down by local triads demanding protection money. Hot headed and more than willing to fight, after beating seven bells out of his accosters he goes to confront their boss, a triad head played by Chan Wai-Man (Five Element Ninjas, The Man from Holland) who, impressed by his attackers fighting skills, takes Lau under his wing.

Based on the title Bloody Brotherhood it shouldn’t come as too much of a spoiler to touch upon which direction the plot goes in. Essentially Wai-Man, who was well known for his triad connections in reality, plays a noble and upright triad, who finds himself at odds against another triad played by Shum Wai (Killer’s Nocturne, A Bloody Fight). Wai wants to get into drug dealing, and their confrontation escalates to a point that Lau decides to go legit, marrying Irene Wan and re-locating to Taiwan to manage a shipping company. When Wai pushes ahead with his plans, they need a shipper in Taiwan to help them out, and Lau’s company ends up in their sights. Of course, Lau refuses to help them, which leads to Wai hiring a group of Mainland guns-for-hire who’ll ensure Lau is left with no choice but to assist. As you can probably guess, one of the Mainlanders turns out to be Lau’s long-lost brother. Drama and violence ensue.

The plot of Bloody Brotherhood is more than cookie cutter, it also asks its audience to invest in coincidences that stretch believability. I mean, out of all the shipping lines that operate in Taiwan, it just so happens that Wai and his lackeys choose the one that Lau is managing?  What are the chances!? However to watch a Wang Leung-Wei flick is to understand that he’s not looking to be the next Wong Kar-Wai, he’s a guy that enjoyed contemporary set narratives, and the opportunities they provide for violence to break out onscreen. To that end, Bloody Brotherhood delivers in spades.

Lung-Wei seemed to be onto a good thing by enlisting fellow former Shaw Brothers players Hung San-Nam (Masked Avengers, The Weird Man) and Tam Chun-To (Crippled Avengers, Two Champions of Shaolin) as the action choreographers. The pair first worked together along with Lung-Wei on City Warriors from the previous year, and Chun-To also choreographed the action for Fury in the same year. Most of the action beats belong to Lau, and while both Sam-Nam and Chun-To were relatively new to the world of action choreography, together they create an action aesthetic imbued with both a sense of immediacy and the assurance that any furniture in sight is likely to end up in pieces. The action here is stripped of any slow motion or acrobatic flourishes, instead relying on a ferocious intensity which in 1989 was probably taken for granted, with bodies bearing the brunt of painful looking falls every time a brawl breaks out.

Speaking of taking things for granted, there’s also the fact that in 1989, most of the talented martial artists that the screen could be populated with probably wasn’t given a second thought that one day the pool would dry up. As such brief appearances by the likes of the legendary Philip Ko, who gets into a brief tussle with Chan Wai-Man, and the equally iconic Dick Wei, who similarly gets into a snappy exchange with Andy Lau, in todays climate only leave you wanting more, even if they serve their purpose within the context of the plot. What’s harder to forgive is a blink and you’ll miss it appearance by Ken Lo, who appears literally for a few seconds and does nothing beyond giving a bow of the head. With that being said, at this point we were still 5 years away from Drunken Master II, which was really the first time that his talents were fully showcased.

If anything, apart from the contrived plot and perfunctory roles that go along with it, it would have been nice to see more of Lam Wai as Andy Lau’s brother. As an actor Wai has always been underused, with 1984’s Long Arm of the Law offering his best showcase, and here comparative to Lau his screen time feels too limited. Indeed during the first half, once the opening wraps up we only get a brief scene of him working as a prisoner in a Chinese quarry, and that’s it. Wai has a strong screen presence, and whenever he’s onscreen in Bloody Brotherhood it becomes that little bit more engaging. His character is also responsible for setting off the trail of events that lead to the titles namesake which, like so many HK movies of the era, will immediately make you think “this would never happen in a Hollywood flick.”

By the time Lau turns up at a dinner attended by Shum Wai and all of his lackeys armed with nothing but an oversized handsaw for the finale, you know that you’re about to witness the type of craziness that only Hong Kong cinema of the era could produce, and it doesn’t disappoint. Taking a leaf out of Hong Kong Godfather’s finale, Lau goes on a one-man rampage against a small army of machete and steel bar wielding attackers, and it’s a glorious sight to behold. Indeed Bloody Brotherhood may have been just another triad flick when it was released, but thanks to its high impact action design and familiar faces in-front of the camera, it’s aged like a fine wine which is best enjoyed, well, as soon as you have the opportunity to do so. 

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7.5/10