VR Fighter | aka One More Shot (2021) Review

“VR Fighter” Theatrical Poster

Director: Tang Qiaojia
Cast: Fan Siu-Wong, Yiyi Jiang, Diego Dati, Jiang Yi-Yi, Wang Zhipeng, Song Ziqiao, Tang Hu
Running Time: 80 min.

By Paul Bramhall

The web movie has become something of a cultural phenomenon in China. While what can be considered the first official Chinese web movie is up for debate, it’s a trend which has continued to grow at a rapid rate since their inception in the mid-2010’s. Fuelled by the trifactor of a rapid uptake in smartphones, a successful 4G network rollout, and the boom of online payment systems like Alipay, the number of web movies being produced per year in China currently sits in the hundreds. While it’s easy to disregard such output – these are ultimately throwaway productions that don’t go beyond 80 minutes, likely to be watched on a smartphone during a commute to work – the Chinese web movie industry has also become a place that Hong Kong stars of yesteryear can continue to find work.

One such former star is Fan Siu-Wong. Known for his roles in the likes of cult classic Story of Ricky and Ip Man, after an embarrassing turn as a gay butler who lusts after Lee Min-ho in 2016’s horrendous Bounty Hunters, Siu-Wong threw himself into the world of web movies like they were going out of fashion. Since 2018 he’s headlined the likes of Wolves Action 2, Taoist Master, The Bravest Escort Group, The Bravest Escort Group 2: Howling Wind, Monster Undersea, Monster Undersea 2, Southern Shaolin, and Special Mission – it’s possible to go on. The nature of web movies needing to hold a viewer’s attention, and resist the temptation to tap into TikTok or Instagram, has seen the kung fu and monster genres come to the fore, with Siu-Wong frequently dabbling in both (although thankfully the former much more than the latter).

While the likes of Well Go USA’s streaming channel Hi-YAH! has made a successful business model out of licensing many of these web movies to offer more exposure to them for U.S. based audiences, the thought of a web movie getting an actual release on physical media is as laughable as it is implausible. That is, until 2021’s One More Shot, which as of the time of writing is due to get a DVD release (c’mon, it was never going to be a Blu-ray) in both the UK and U.S. in October 2022. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s Fan Siu-Wong who headlines. Re-titled VR Fighter for its western debut, I guess the distributors figured it’s more bankable to riff off the similarly themed 2004 Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson flick Sci-Fighter, than it is to risk being mistaken as a sequel to a Scott Adkins flick. The burning question of course, is what exactly warrants a web movie to secure it an overseas distribution deal and land on DVD?

The plot sees Siu-Wong as a special forces team leader based in the U.S. (?) who we meet assigned to protect a western businessman. The gig goes wrong though and his whole team gets wiped out, and then his wife gets blown up, and his daughter is left with a blood clot on her brain from the explosion. Basically life sucks. However he’s thrown a ray of hope after saving a scientist, played by Jiang Yi-Yi (Counterattack, Undercover Sweetheart), from a particularly rowdy customer in a bar. After seeing his martial arts prowess, regardless of his obvious PTSD and rage control issues, she decides he’s the perfect candidate to trial a mechanical exo skeleton that the outfit she works for has created, which has been designed for intensive combat scenarios. Initially reluctant, when he realises the payment will cover his daughter’s surgery, he agrees to sign up for the virtual reality test candidates must undergo to assess their capabilities.

Of course, in the middle of the test armed terrorists attack the facility, looking to steal the data on the exo skeleton for themselves, and Siu-Wong becomes the traditional right guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. All of this, tied up in a punchy 80-minute runtime. Plus, almost 90% of the dialogue is in English, not always intelligible English, but still, English nevertheless. Despite the web movie being around for several years already, surprisingly there hasn’t really been any one director who’s become known as the go-to for low budget web action flicks, and here as is usually the case One More Shot is the single credit to director Tang Qiaojia’s name. Similarly for action choreographer Tang Hu, who’s only other credit is as an underling in 2013’s Pay Back, ironically another Fan Siu-Wong low budget actioner.

However regardless of their seeming lack of experience, the brisk pacing and frequent action make for an entertaining 80 minutes. The ambush on Siu-Wong and his team that kicks off proceedings lasts for a satisfyingly long 10 minutes and is suitably bloody, allowing Siu-Wong the opportunity to take on multiple attackers with each room he barges into in an attempt to escape. The camera work is frantic and fluid, but never in a way that obscures what’s going on, and there’s an energy to the sequence that belies the low budget, a tendency that used to practically define HK action cinema. Even the bargain basement CGI has its charm, with Siu-Wong’s eventual escape onto a connecting bridge at the top of two towering skyscrapers recalling the kind of effects you’d see in late 90’s DTV flicks. Either that, or perhaps it’s just more noticeable when you’re watching on a 70-inch screen rather than on a smartphone.

The unintended charms of One More Shot can be found in other areas as well. The nature of the short runtime usually means plenty of shortcuts, some more absurd than others, as is the case for the setup of Siu-Wong’s rescue of the scientist in the bar. The scene starts with 3 guys having a drink who eye her up when she passes them on the way to the bathroom. Pretty stock standard guy behaviour, and nothing particularly sinister about it. However one of them then breaks into a grin and says he’ll be right back, before attempting to rape her in the bathroom! It’s completely illogical, purely there so Siu-Wong can stumble in on them and lay the beat down on the perpetrator, however even knowing this, it still seems a little extreme just so she and Siu-Wong can meet. The scene is worth it though just to see Siu-Wong quote James Dean, as he tells the other patrons “I don’t want any trouble”, who ever thought we’d see the day?

My other personal highlight was when Siu-Wong goes to break the glass on a fire alarm button, but instead of the glass breaking he punches the whole thing through the wall, clearly made of some flimsy plasterboard and likely that there wasn’t time to repair the wall for a 2^nd take. However these incidences are forgivable thanks to the fact the most time and attention has clearly been paid on the action scenes. There’s a well-crafted first-person one versus multiple opponents fight that takes place in a container yard (where else?), recalling the similar first-person action opening of 2017’s The Villainess, and Siu-Wong even gets a nicely shot elevator fight against Diego Dati (Vanguard, Killer Bee Invasion). Compared to many kung fu web movies, where slow motion is used so much that any sense of impact or rhythm is lost, the choreography here relies on camera work and brutality to sell itself, which it does with aplomb.

The elephant in the room of course is the actual exo skeleton, which after seeing a demo of it in action during the opening, it’s assumed will eventually be utilised at some point for a super powered throwdown. Such assumptions will only result in disappointment, as ultimately beyond being an object that the terrorists want to steal, in terms of actually being used it doesn’t factor into the plot at all. You might think that sounds a bit like watching Iron Man and never having Tony Stark wear the Iron Man suit, but as the end credits rolled on One More Shot, somehow I was left feeling perfectly ok that it was never used. Perhaps that’s because if it was, it’d be CGI rather than Siu-Wong doing his thing, and frankly, I’d rather be watching the latter.

It’s safe to say that if you’re looking to venture into the world of Chinese web movies, One More Shot is the best place to start. For those wondering whatever happened to Fan Siu-Wong these last few years, the recommendation would be to check this out and avoid everything else, no matter how much your will power tests you to look up Monster Undersea 2. For a dose of that old Hong Kong action flair sprinkled with a hint of sci-fi, One More Shot delivers its intention to entertain with flying colors.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6.5/10