If you’re looking for a Korean Gangster Movie that’s in the same vein as New World and Gangnam Blues, look no further than The Faceless Boss, a gritty crime thriller from director Song Chang-Yong (Oh! My God: Returns).
Kwon Sang-Gon (Chun Jung-myung) is a gangster who wants to have a cool life. He becomes a gang boss and expects to reap the rewards of the top position. He soon realizes his life is a living hell, filled with conspiracies and betrayals (via AW).
The film also stars Lee Shi-ah (Lucid Dream), Jin Yi-Han (Break Away), Lee Ha-Yul (The Heaven is Only Open to the Single!), Kwak Hee-Sung (My Sassy Girl series), Kim Do-Hoon (Gate) and Kim Young-Jae (Heart Blackened).
The Faceless Boss hits domestically on November 21, 2019. Don’t miss its Trailer below:
Henry Golding is undoubtedly hot property in Hollywood and the movie world right now. The British-Malaysian actor looks set to melt hearts in upcoming festive romantic comedy Last Christmas, but he is also edging towards becoming an action star after being linked to a role in new GI Joe spin-off Snake Eyes and his involvement in Guy Ritchie’s latest movie The Gentlemen.
However, while Golding undoubtedly has plenty of projects on the go – and rumors about James Bond won’t go away either – his breakout role in Crazy Rich Asians continues to be the gift that keeps on giving. In fact, it was recently confirmed that the movie’s enduring popularity means that Golding will soon pop up in the world of gaming.
New slot
Released in 2018, Crazy Rich Asians was based on the novel of the same name by Kevin Kwan and proved to be a huge success with audiences across the globe. The film is estimated to have made more than $238 million at the worldwide box office, with experts claiming that it is one of the highest-grossing romantic comedies in recent years.
In October, it was confirmed that Aristocrat had partnered with Warner Bros Consumer Products to launch a slot game based on the movie. Launched at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, the title features both audio and visuals from and inspired by the big screen success – which means Golding is likely to feature heavily.
The launch makes it just the latest Warner Bros movie to be adapted into a game by Aristocrat, as the company’s portfolio also includes experiences based on the likes of Mad Max: Fury Road and Westworld.
A common trend
While adapting a romantic comedy into a slot game may seem like a bit of a curveball, such trends are more common than many may realize. A host of different films have been adapted into offline and online slots in recent years, from the likes of Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Ted to even Bridesmaids.
Taking such a step with popular movies also makes more sense when you consider how both slots and casino gaming, in general, are big business at the moment. While land-based casinos remain very popular, online casinos are also a major way that people access such gaming. Sites like Manekichi offer a range of different games, from online slots to live casino experiences where classics like roulette and blackjack are hosted by a real-life dealer through a video link.
According to research, the global gambling market is expected to reach revenues of more than $525 billion by 2023, with more and more people being drawn into betting and playing casino games.
Hugely popular
Henry Golding’s career is going from strength to strength and the fact that he looks set for a prominent role in the new Crazy Rich Asians slot game is undoubtedly further evidence of his huge popularity.
With an intriguing number of new movies on the horizon, it will be fascinating to see whether his future roles go on to have the same impact that his turn in Crazy Rich Asians has had.
On December 10th, 2019, Kino Lorber will release the Blu-ray & DVD for 1992’s Aces: Iron Eagle III, an actioner directed by veteran 007 filmmaker John Glen (For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights, License to Kill).
Aces: Iron Eagle III stars Louis Gossett Jr. (An Officer and a Gentleman), Rachel McLish (Raven Hawk), Paul Freeman (Raiders of the Lost Ark) and Sonny Chiba (Soul of Chiba, Kill Bill Vol. 1).
Veteran Air Force pilot Charles “Chappy” Sinclair (Louis Gossett Jr.) is drawn into international intrigue when Anna Morales (Rachel McLish), the sister of a recently deceased friend, asks for his help. Anna reveals that her brother died at the hands of Gustav Kleiss (Paul Freeman), an ex-Nazi who runs a drug ring in Peru and is holding her father hostage. Sinclair enlists a number of his air-show buddies to join the mission, and they depart for Peru to take on the ruthless criminal.
Features and Specs:
Image Gallery
Theatrical Trailer
Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature
Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for Belly of the Beast, starring the one, the only Steven Seagal (Cartels, Contract to Kill).
Directed by popular Hong Kong filmmaker Ching Siu-Tung (Duel to the Death, The Raid), Belly of the Beast is about an ex-CIA agent’s quest to find his kidnapped daughter leads him on a trail of political intrigue, corruption, danger and betrayal; he will stop at nothing to save her.
The film also stars Byron Mann (The Corruptor), Monica Lo (Naked Weapon), Tom Wu (Kick-Ass 2) and Sara Malakul Lane (Kickboxer: Retaliation).
Director: Jang Jae-Hyon Cast: Lee Jung-Jae, Park Jung-Min, Lee Jae-In, David Lee, Jung Jin-Young, Hwang Jung-Min, Jin Seon-Kyu Ji Seung-Hyun, Yoo Ji-Tae, Moon Sook, Ok Joo-Ri Running Time: 122 min.
By Paul Bramhall
I’m not sure if there’s something in the air, but the South Korean film industry has been cranking out a steady stream of evil ass-kicking Christians in recent years. From Kim Yoon-seok and Kang Dong-won in 2015’s The Priests, to Ahn Sung-ki and Parks Seo-joon in 2019’s The Divine Fury, and now Lee Jung-jae and David Park can join the ranks thanks to their roles in Svaha: The Sixth Finger. If we keep going at this rate, soon there’ll be enough characters for a Korean Christian themed version of Avengers.
Leading the charge is Jang Jae-hyeon, who returns to the director’s chair with his sophomore feature Svaha: The Sixth Finger. Jae-hyeon’s debut was The Priests, and in the 4 years that have passed since, he wrote the script for the Im Dae-woong directed House of the Disappeared. That movie, perhaps unsurprisingly, featured a priest attempting to get to the bottom of a murder mystery that takes place in a haunted house. For his second time both directing and handling writing duties, Jae-hyeon looks to combine the more traditional priests from his debut, with the mystery angle that he introduced in his most recent script.
For a guy who was able to cast Kim Yoon-seok in his debut, Jae-hyeon proves that his stellar casting choices were no fluke the 2nd time around, enlisting Lee Jung-jae as his lead. This is the first time for Jung-jae to headline a movie since 2017’s under-seen Warriors of the Dawn, having only appeared on the big screen in the intervening years as a special appearance in Kim Yong-hwa’s Along With the Gods franchise (The Two Worlds and The Last 49 Days). Here he plays a pastor who can best be described as a cross between Mulder from The X-Files and Philip Marlowe. Running a kind of private detective agency for religious groups, Jung-jae and his apprentice (played by David Lee of Swing Kids) investigate religious organisations that are fronts for either cults, pyramid schemes, or various other types of scam.
His latest focus is a newly formed Buddhist group that worships the Four Heavenly Kings (for those wondering, yes, the same Four Heavenly Kings from the latest entry in the Detective Dee series). It turns out Jung-jae doesn’t only limit himself to investigating Christian groups. Or at least that’s what I assume, actually we don’t see him investigating any for the duration. He is close with the local Buddhist monks though, and comes armed with a seemingly encyclopaedic knowledge of Buddhist practices, which are enough to make him suspicious of this latest groups intentions. All we know as an audience, is that they’re somehow connected to a teenage girl that we meet in the opening, played by Lee Jae-in (I Can Speak). Jae-in has a demonic twin who everyone believed would die shortly after her birth, but 18 years on and the twin is still alive, locked in a solitary room behind the kennels of the dog farm that she lives on.
The opening sets up a suitably foreboding sense of horror, both thanks to some in utero cannibalism and a grizzly birth scene, however as Svaha: The Sixth Finger settles into its narrative it becomes clear its more interested in being a noir styled mystery than it is a straight-up horror flick. The biggest frustration that we encounter as the viewer, is around the opaqueness of exactly what that mystery is. Considering the narrative starts with the horrific premise of a demonic sibling that’s been locked up and neglected for the past 18 years, there’s a disproportionately small amount of time spent on this particular element of the plot. Instead, most of the runtime is dedicated to Jung-jae’s investigations into a mysterious monk who allegedly achieved enlightenment, and may be responsible for reincarnating the Four Heavenly Kings in the present day.
Jae-hyeon throws a lot of elements together in his latest, to the degree that the mix of Christian and Buddhist practices is the least confusing aspect of everything that’s been thrown into the blender. We also get shamanism, sacrificial suicides, a lot of talk about reincarnation, ghostly visions, and at one point there’s a literal elephant in the room. Reflecting on my thoughts around The Priests, the same weaknesses are on show in Svaha: The Sixth Finger, the main one being the ideas that Jae-hyeon had in his head have struggled to come across as fully formed once committed to the screen. The most glaring example of this, is that Jung-jae and Jae-in (who plays both twins) never actually meet, which somehow feels like an obvious oversight. One is the main character, and the other at the center of the events he’s investigating, so as an audience we expect them to connect at some point, but it never happens.
Perhaps Jae-hyeon thought the presence of Yoo Ji-tae would be enough to mitigate the lack of such a meeting. Ji-tae is one of the most recognizable faces from many of the early Korean Wave classics, thanks to roles in the likes of Attack the Gas Station!, Old Boy, and Into the Mirror, and this is the first time for him to share the screen with Lee Jung-jae. For fans of Korean cinema like myself, I admit it was kind of cool to see two veterans of Korean cinema sharing screen time together, and Ji-tae plays a pivotal role in the plot which I wasn’t expecting. They even get to share a scene with that elephant I mentioned earlier (yes, there really is an elephant in the movie. No Tony Jaa though).
While I confess to enjoying the sight of Jung-jae running around in his trench coat like a 2019 Korean version of Humphrey Bogart, it’s impossible to deny that the characterisation across the board is weak. Supporting characters especially are given short thrift, from David Park playing Jung-jae’s assistant, to Jung Jin-young (Gangnam Blues) as the police chief investigating the same case. In fact the police force as a whole are made to look pretty incompetent as proceedings progress. From being introduced as a full-on task force when we first meet them in an encounter with Jung-jae, which I hoped would lead to them working together (it didn’t), they barely show up again unless some police information is required to propel the plot forward.
Despite this, there’s enough deep voiced chanting and slick visuals to keep Svaha: The Sixth Finger in the realms of being a pleasant distraction. The narrative is cluttered, and Jae-hyeon takes too long to begin tying the different threads together for the audience to be invested in what’s going on, however it’s definitely never dull. This is most likely because the ideas being presented feel original and fresh, meaning that at no point does it feel like we’re watching an inferior version of another horror flick.
If anything, the vibe that Svaha: The Sixth Finger most calls to mind is that of The Wailing. There aren’t many supernatural tinged Korean productions since the success of Na Hong-jin’s 2016 masterpiece that don’t draw this comparison, with everything from thrillers like Seven Years of Night, to straight-up horrors such as The Mimic, bearing its influence in some way. However while in most instances the comparisons tend to relate to the visuals and cinematography (never have I seen shamanism so prominently displayed in Korean cinema since The Wailing was released!), in Svaha: The Sixth Finger Jae-hyeon draws more on the themes and scenarios to incorporate into his tale. While the influence is there, to his credit it doesn’t feel derogatory, and I actually enjoyed the way it used a similar reveal thanks to how it was effectively executed.
If Svaha: The Sixth Finger didn’t provide you with your required evil ass-kicking Christian fix, then fear not, at the time of writing Bae Sung-woo is next up to put on a dog collar and go head to head with a demon in director Kim Hong-seon’s Metamorphosis. They keep on coming! For all of its failings though, I admit to finding Jae-hyeon’s sophomore feature an enjoyable watch. This year we’ve had a dose of God powered MMA (The Divine Fury), so why not a film noir influenced mystery that can only be solved with some divine intervention as well? A few too many inexplicable moments in the plot, and a focus which is sometimes out of tune with where it should be, stop Svaha: The Sixth Finger from being a strong recommendation. But as a supernatural mystery flick with sprinkles of horror scattered on top, the attempt at an original premise is an admirable one, the finished product just needs a bit more polish.
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Movies have a strong impact on worldwide cultures and civilizations. Today’s movies leave customers breathless and spur the interest for gambling activity. Most players head to casino venues as soon as they watch casino-related films. If you are one of these customers, make sure to choose no wager platforms and start playing immediately.
If you look for additional casino entertainment, check the following movies in your free time.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is one of the traditional releases in cinematography. The movie is based on a well-known novel that displays the life of Hunter S. Thompson – a popular writer and journalist. The main role in the movie belongs to Johnny Depp which does an amazing job. He is in the company of lawyer Samoan who follows him on Las Vegas journey.
2. Casino (1996)
This is another casino movie with Las Vegas-style. The film is directed by Martin Scorsese who made a tremendous job by bringing casinos closer to the public. The main protagonist of the release is Robert De Niro while the movie depicts two sides of Las Vegas – both cruel and glamourous.
3. Casino Royale (2006)
Casino Royale represents one of the highly recommended movies for casino enthusiasts. The movie follows the previous release from 1967 and targets young generations. The main character of the movie is Daniel Craig who works as a secret agent. Daniels’s mission is to prevent terrorist leaders to make high profits from Texas Hold’em tournament.
Online casinos in France are not completely liberal. According to France Gambling Act, the state allows three gambling activities including poker, sports betting and lottery.To try your luck just go – jackpot city casino en ligne en français.
4. Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Ocean’s Eleven is a unique heist release that depicts one of the most glamorous casinos in the country. The movie is stunning as it gathers some of the leading cinematography names including Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Julia Roberts.
George Clooney plays the role of Danny Ocean who is responsible for the organization of the biggest casino heist. For this purpose, Danny collects a group of professional burglars who prefer taking huge risks.
5. The Gambler (2014)
The Gamblers is another popular casino movie for interested gamblers. The main character of the release is Mark Wahlberg or a literature professor. The professor is a gambling addict who loses a lot of money on blackjack games. At the end of the movie, Mark should compensate an enormous debt to dangerous people. The only possibility to pay the debt is looking for help from his student…
6. Hard Eight (1996)
Hard Eight is another classic release in cinematography. The main roles are reserved for Samuel L. Jackson, Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly and Gwyneth Paltrow. The movie features the story of a pro gambler who takes a rookie and teaches him the basics of ropes. Everything goes very well before he meets a woman character played by Gwyneth Paltrow..
7. Croupier (1998)
The main protagonist of the movie is Clive Owen who plays the role of Jack Manfred. Jack is a successful writer who looks for a job in a big casino. He becomes a croupier at the casino venue where he finds inspiration for a new novel. However, Manfred feels very uncomfortable in the new world where he doesn’t belong…Croupier movie depicts the dark side of the betting world where people struggle for existence in cruel reality…
Female Prisoner Scorpion – The Complete Collection | Blu-ray (Arrow Video)
RELEASE DATE: December 17, 2019
Arrow Video is back it with its ongoing storm of Japanese cult classics. On December 17, 2019, the company is releasing the Blu-ray set for the Female Prisoner Scorpion: The Complete Collection, which will include Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion, Jailhouse 41, Beast Stable and Grudge Song.
Note: The difference between this new set and the previous one (released in 2016) is the new set doesn’t include DVDs and has different main box art (click here for a visual).
Check out the press release below:
Starring the iconic and beautiful Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood, Stray Cat Rock) in a role that came to define her career, the four-film Female Prisoner Scorpion series charts the vengeance of Nami Matsushima, who assumes the mantle of “Scorpion,” becoming an avatar of vengeance and survival, and an unlikely symbol of female resistance in a male-dominated world.
Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion introduces Nami, a gullible young woman unjustly imprisoned, who must find a way to escape in order to exact revenge upon the man who betrayed her. The visually avant-garde Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 sees director Shunya Ito and star Meiko Kaji re-unite as Nami and six other female convicts escape prison once more. The Gothic horror-inspired Beast Stable finds Nami branded public enemy #1 and on the run. She soon finds refuge with a sympathetic prostitute, but runs afoul of a local gang. The final film in the series, #701’s Grudge Song (from director Yasuharu Hasebe, Retaliation, Massacre Gun), shows a gentler side of Nami as she falls in with Kudo, an ex-radical suffering from physical and psychological trauma caused by police torture.
Spiritual kin to Ms. 45, Coffy and The Bride Wore Black, the Female Prisoner Scorpion is the pinnacle of early 1970s exploitation cinema from Japanese grindhouse studio Toei, and one of the greatest female revenge sagas ever told.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
Brand new 2K restorations of all four films in the series presented on High Definition Blu-ray (1080p)
Original uncompressed PCM mono audio for all films
Optional English subtitles for all films
Reversible sleeves for all films featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ian MacEwan
On November 5th, 2019, Universal Home Entertainment is releasing the Blu-ray & DVD for Undercover Brother 2 (aka Undercover Brother’s Brother), the sequel to 2002’s Undercover Brother.
This time around, martial arts star Michael Jai White (Triple Threat, Accident Man) takes over the role of “Undercover Brother,” who was previously played by comedian Eddie Griffin.
Way back in 2002, the brothers were hot on the heels of The Man, the leader of a racist, worldwide syndicate known as The Organization, but accidentally got caught in an avalanche of oppressive, white snow. Sixteen years later, they are discovered, thawed out, and as Undercover Brother remains in a coma, Lionel sets out to finish the job they started. With the help of The Brotherhood, an old foe, and an ethereal vision of Undercover Brother guiding him along the way, Lionel must take on an even more dangerous threat to the black community and the world – extreme “wokeness”!
Netflix has released a Trailer for their original Taiwanese series Nowhere Man, which comes from director Chen Yin-jung (aka Chen Dj). The series stars Joseph Chang (Wild City), Jeremiah Zhang, Po-chieh Wang (Bodyguards and Assassins) and Ming-fu Zhou (Welcome to the Happy Days).
To Ah Quan (Chang) and his fellow triad brothers, fate seems have left them few choices. One mysterious night led the brothers down a convoluted web of love, hate, manipulation, and revenge. As a result, Ah Quan must do whatever it takes to save his family and himself, and finally face the consequences of his past choices.
Season 1 of Nowhere Man streams on Netflix on October 31st. Until then, don’t miss the series’ Trailer below:
“Ghost Move” is the name of a mysterious character in The Divine Move who is known as “the god of Go.” The audience had many questions about the character at the end of the first film and it appears as if “Ghost Move” will be a prequel about that character (via Soompai).
Savage marks the directorial debut of Cui Siwei, who is perhaps best-known for penning Jackie Chan’s Bleeding Steel. The film also stars Huang Jue (The Final Master), Liu Hua (The Monkey King) and Li Guangjie (The Wandering Earth).
Buried by treacherous conditions at the top of Mt. Baekdu, a policeman must brave the extreme weather until his transfer comes through. When a group of thieves stumbles into the station in search of safe shelter, both sides must fight for survival.
On December 10th, 2019, Kino Lorber will release the Blu-ray for 1984’s Iceman, starring Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People), John Lone (Year of the Dragon) and Lindsay Crouse (House of Games).
Read the official details:
From director Fred Schepisi (Six Degrees of Separation) comes Iceman, a suspenseful drama about a team of Arctic researchers who find a 40,000-year-old man frozen in ice and bring him back to life.
Anthropologist Stanley Shephard (Hutton) wants to befriend the Iceman (Lone) and learn about the man’s past; Dr. Diane Brady (Crouse) and her surgical team want to discover the secret that will allow man to live in a frozen state. When the Iceman becomes part of their lives, the results are emotionally shattering.
Beautifully shot on location in Canada’s breathtaking snowy wilderness by Ian Baker (Plenty, Roxanne). The strong supporting cast includes David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck), Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon), Josef Sommer (Witness) and James Tolkan (Back to the Future).
Special Features:
New! Audio Commentary by Director Fred Schepisi
New! Audio Commentary by Film Historian and Critic Peter Tonguette
On October 11th, 2019, audiences will finally see the return of filmmaker Roger Avary, who is perhaps best known for 1993’s Killing Zoe, 2002’s The Rules of Attraction, and his co-writing credit with Quentin Tarantino for 1994’s Pulp Fiction.
In Lucky Day, Avary’s first directorial project since 2004’s Glitterati, Red (Luke Bracey), a safe cracker who has just been released from prison, is trying to hold his family together as his past catches up with him in the form of Luck (Crispin Glover), a psychopathic contract killer who’s seeking revenge for the death of his brother.
Lucky Day also stars Nina Dobrev (xXx: Return of Xander Cage), Clé Bennett (Jigsaw), Clifton Collins Jr. (The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day) and Hong Kong actress Josie Ho (Full Strike). Martial arts film fanatics will welcome the inclusion of Mark Dacascos (John Wick 3, Ultimate Justice, Maximum Impact), who previously worked with Avary in 1998’s Boogie Boy.
Lucky Day will be playing in select theaters and everywhere On Demand on Friday, October 11 from Lionsgate. Don’t miss the New Red Band Trailer below:
Director: Hung Tzu-Hsuan Cast: J.C. Lin, Kang Ren Wu, Nana Lee, Nikki Hsieh, Frederick Ming Zhong Lee, Jack Kao, Ming-Shuai Shih, Ling-Li Chen, Naomi Lee, Ming-Lieh Hsu Running Time: 105 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Modern Taiwanese cinema may be well regarded for its dramas and arthouse fare, however one genre that definitely isn’t likely to spring to mind is the action one. While there have been some notable efforts, such as the Black & White TV series spin-off movies (2012’s The Dawn of Assault and 2014’s The Dawn of Justice) and the 2015 gangster flick Gatao (plus its 2018 Collin Chou starring sequel, Rise of the King), none of the titles mentioned have resonated beyond local shores. It’s a shame, as they’re certainly no worse than many of the big budget Mainland China productions that get distributed in the West, however one movie that’s planning to change all that is The Scoundrels.
Arriving with neither a big budget nor an established director, first time feature length helmer Hung Tzu-Hsuan instead looks to anchor his movies success on the promise of a gritty story and hard hitting action. Well, he has my attention at least. Riffing on the theme of the disgraced sports star who turns to crime, much like the 2014 Korean gangster tale For the Emperor, in The Scoundrels we meet a down on his luck former up and coming basketball star who’s fallen on hard times.
Played by J.C. Lin (The Last Painting), we learn that a while ago his temper sent a heckling fan to hospital during a game, which results in him reluctantly joining a gang of car thieves to pay off his victim’s medical bills. Working amongst the bottom rungs of the gang, Lin’s only role is the menial task of placing hidden GPS trackers on the vehicles the gang want to steal, so that they can easily be tracked. The other scoundrel that the plural of the title refers to is known as the Raincoat Robber. A thief who specialises in robbing armoured trucks during downpours, adorned in a matching black trench coat and motorcycle helmet, his daylight robberies have made him the stuff of legend. Played by Wu Kang Ren (White Ant), when one of the cars Lin places a GPS tracker on turns out to be Ren Wu’s, not only is he caught red handed, but also ends up being forced at gun point to help Ren Wu, leading to the pair forming an uneasy partnership.
It’s the dynamic between the pair that anchors The Scoundrels, with Ren Wu seizing the opportunity for Lin to put him in contact with the gang boss, who he hopes will help him launder the stolen cash, and Lin’s gradual realisation that he may be able to leverage Ren Wu to get a decent pay day for once. All the while Lin has to deal with his nurse girlfriend (Nana Lee, Rookie Chef), who’s written him off as a no-hoper, and Ren Wu knows that an innocent bystander (Nikki Hsieh, The Assassin), hospitalised after being caught in the crossfire of his last heist, could expose his identity to the cops. So you have two amoral protagonists, placed in a situation to make them the equivalent of tightly wound coils, attempting to work together for their own individual benefit. It’s a recipe for an entertaining movie if ever there was one (and indeed there have been several, with the likes of Changing Lanes and Collateral immediately springing to mind).
For the most part, The Scoundrels does indeed entertain. Tzu-Hsuan has directed several action-themed short films before, and the energetic tone of those endeavours is successfully transferred across to a full length feature. A sizable amount of the credit also has to go to action choreographer Scott Hung, who was responsible for choreographing the previously mentioned Gatao 2: Rise of the King, and puts together a handful of entertainingly chaotic group brawls. While Taiwan is geographically closer to Hong Kong, the style of action on display more closely resembles the rough and tumble aesthetic found in many Korean movies, and there was more than once when the fists and kicks on display reminded me of the likes of The Merciless.
A restaurant brawl is a highlight, with Lin and Ren Wu cornering the gang boss (Frederick Ming Zhong Lee, Petaling Street Warriors) when he’s eating alone, only to discover he owns the whole restaurant. What follows is a highly creative throwdown against multiple opponents, as the pair utilise spicy sauce, a yum cha table, and most amusingly, a CCTV camera. When Lin rips the camera off the wall to brandish as a weapon, the point of view frequently switches to that of the camera itself, as its used as a kind of makeshift brick, in a sequence which shows both a flair for comedy and a welcome breath of creativity. Much like the Ma Dong-seok vehicle Unstoppable, the brawl also incorporates one opponent who’s clearly proficient in taekwondo, and whose kicks lead to some satisfying impacts and falls. It’s a joyous scene to watch as an action fan, and delivers where it counts.
The action scenes are also distinctively filmed in a different way than the rest of the movie, with a switch to hand-held cameras and what I’d guess are most likely GoPro’s, which allow for a variety of creative angles and impact shots. The camerawork adds a welcome franticness to the action, while never obscuring it, and in some scenes recalled the amazing opening to The Villainess. Much like the pedestrian bridges of Hong Kong frequently played a part in the contemporary action flicks of the territories cinematic heyday, so to Tzu-Hsuan makes great use of Kaohsiung’s many alleyways and high density architecture for a tense chase scene. It’s a reminder that Taiwan shouldn’t be ruled out when we discuss Asia’s action movie output, even if such outings are rare.
Action isn’t the only trick that Tzu-Hsuan has up his sleeve though, with the latter half displaying some smart storytelling choices thanks to some surprising twists. The direction The Scoundrels goes down sends it into heist movie territory, and it’s here that the signs of a debut feature length director begin to show themselves. While the execution is effectively executed, the tonal shift from the briskly paced and action sprinkled first half puts a dent in the momentum, despite the plot choices being one of the productions strengths.
The characterisation that I was expecting to develop never really happens either. We know Lin has a violent temper, it’s the trait which led to him being in the situation he’s in, however it’s never explored as to why he’s like that. Similarly for what Ren Wu’s real motivations are, beyond those which are briefly hinted at. We never really have a chance to be invested in his character, as we don’t get to know him enough to understand the why of what he does. Thankfully though with a runtime of 105 minutes, these flaws are forgivable, and The Scoundrels doesn’t stick around long enough to dwell upon them, making for a movie that doesn’t outstay its welcome.
While the inevitable final confrontation between Lin and Ren Wu is suitably punishing, the choreography loses that energetic spark that was present during the group brawls, instead opting for a scrappy showdown that serves to show just how desperate they both are. It’s a worthy finish, however how much audiences enjoy it will likely depend on how much they accept the fact that tonally, The Scoundrels ends feeling considerably different than how it starts. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and for those who find the concept of two guys being able to beat up a small army to be a little on the unrealistic side, the change in direction may even be a welcome one.
The Scoundrels is a solid genre effort, delivering a well-paced crime thriller which has a healthy dose of action. As a feature length debut, it’ll serve as an effective calling card for Tzu-Hsuan to present himself as a leading voice for the action genre in Taiwan, so here’s hoping he gets another chance to use it sooner rather than later. The fact that it’s a Mandarin language production that doesn’t need to end with the cops showing up to arrest all the bad guys and remind us that crime doesn’t pay, well, that’s just a bonus.
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