On May 28, 2019, Well Go USA is releasing the Blu-ray for Lin Zhen-Hao’s The Unity of Heroes (read our review), starring martial arts star Vincent Zhao (True Legend), who will once again be playing real-life folk hero Wong Fei-hung.
Throughout the years, Wong Fei-hung has been portrayed by various stars, most notably Kwan Tak-hing (Story of Wong Fei-hung), Jackie Chan (Drunken Master), Jet Li (Once Upon A Time in China), and Eddie Peng (Rise of the Legend).
The Unity of Heroes (read our review) marks the 5th time Zhao will be playing the iconic character (not counting the sequel). He previously played him in Once Upon a Time in China IV-V, the Wong Fei Hung TV Series, and of course, Kung Fu Alliance.
“Quan Dao: A Journey of a Boxer” Theatrical Poster
Danny Chan Kwok-kwan (Keep Calm and Be a Superstar), the actor mostly known for portraying Bruce Lee in Legend of Bruce Lee,Ip Man 3and the upcoming Ip Man 4 (not to mention the Bruce Lee-inspired goalie in Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer), is back in Willam So’s Quan Dao: A Journey of a Boxer.
Quan Dao: A Journey of a Boxer also stars Ka Nin Ngo (Ip Man 2), Awayne Liu (Unbeatable), Ashina Kwok (Ghost Net), Dominic Lam (The Four) and Kwok Pong Chan (Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky).
At the Trailer hints below (via Alejandro Torres), the thriller looks to be more of a dramatic role for Chan what we’re used to seeing him in. Expect the film to see a release later this year.
Director: Felix Chong Cast: Chow Yun-fat, Aaron Kwok, Zhang Jung-Chu, Joyce Feng, Catherine Chow, Alex Fong, Liu Kai-chi, Yao-Qing Wang, Alien Sun, Carl Ng, Leung Kin-Ping Running Time: 130 min.
By Paul Bramhall
When a trailer gets released for a movie, it has one job – to make people want to come and see it. Most trailers do that through editing together some of the key moments in order to grab the viewer’s interest, and make them want to see more. But sometimes, trailers don’t play by the rules .Such is the case for Project Gutenberg, which featured a trailer proudly teasing a scene of Chow Yun Fat lighting a dollar note on fire, recreating the famous moment from the seminal A Better Tomorrow. While the 1986 classic was the movie responsible for putting Chow on the map, and credited as creating the Heroic Bloodshed genre, Project Gutenberg is a production being made in a very different era. So different in fact, that it’s now deemed acceptable to swindle your audience, as director and writer Felix Chong later admitted the scene had been filmed especially for the trailer, and is nowhere to be found in the movie itself.
The title, so called after Johannes Gutenberg, the German who introduced printing to Europe with the printing press in the 15th century, is director and writer Felix Chong’s first attempt at directing solo. Usually paired with Alan Mak, together they wrote and co-directed the likes of The Overheard series, and perhaps most famously wrote the Infernal Affairs trilogy together (which Mak co-directed with Andrew Lau). Most recently Chong penned the script for the excellent Extraordinary Mission (which Mak co-directed with Fletcher Poon), so Project Gutenberg marks the first time to truly strike out on his own in the capacity of both director and writer, and brings with him some major Hong Kong talent in front of the camera.
Chow Yun Fat marks his first time to star in a movie which isn’t a sequel since Johnnie To’s 2015 musical Office, and as always it’s a pleasure to see him onscreen. He plays the mysterious ‘Painter’, the leader of a counterfeit currency operation, who takes an interest in the forgery skills of a lowly artist struggling to make ends meet in Canada, played by his Cold War 2 co-star Aaron Kwok. While Chow gets to stretch his rarely used villainous acting chops (2006’s Curse of the Golden Flower feels like a lifetime ago), Kwok appears to be channelling Louis Koo’s performance in 2013’s Drug War. I like Kwok, but he needs a good director to guide his performance, one that can reign in his legendary tendencies to overact. Chong for the large part keeps him in check, with his sullen demeanour only occasionally offset by his jitterbug reactions to the violence he has to witness, in which you can almost feel the effort he’s putting in to restrain himself.
While the performances may be commendable, the pacing is less so. Taking place in the 1990’s, Project Gutenberg’s narrative is told using the same framework utilised in the likes of The Usual Suspects. Kwok, who we meet being transferred from a Thai prison to Hong Kong, tells his story from the interrogation room in flashback. His arrest is seen as a major breakthrough for the father and daughter cop team of Alex Fong (Angels 2) and Catherine Chow (Husband Killers), and they leverage his ex-lover (Zhang Jung-Chu, The Adventurers) to make him start talking about his relationship with the Painter, who no one has ever seen. While Kwok’s own art may not have made the cut, his talent for imitation soon sees him responsible for creating the ‘superdollar’ – the ultimate counterfeit $100 bill – and it’s this process which sees the pace come to a grinding halt.
The main issue is that Fong spends so much time dedicated to Chow and Kwok figuring out how to create the perfect counterfeit, it almost begins to feel like a documentary on true crime. There’s no real threat to keep the suspense simmering, it’s not clear what the end game is (apart from, well, making the perfect counterfeit), and none of the characters have a particularly engaging motive for doing what they do. Instead, an inordinate amount of time is spent watching shots involving paper and ink, set to a mildly exciting score, as if this is considered to be sufficient to keep the audience’s attention. It’s kind of like if A Better Tomorrow was 30 minutes longer, with a bunch of additional scenes detailing the counterfeit process, before Chow and Ti Lung get to their iconic dollar burning scene together. While the level of research Chong’s done is admirable, every last detail of it didn’t necessarily need to make it to the screen.
The biggest elephant in the room with Project Gutenberg though, is also its biggest asset – Chow Yun Fat. To put it bluntly, he’s miscast, the irony being that it appears to be a character written specifically for him. On paper his role is one of a ruthless villain driven by greed and little else, however onscreen, there’s a burden to recall his days of being the Heroic Bloodshed genres most iconic thespian. There are three shootouts, and two of them feature Chow front and center, however it’s only the one where he has the least involvement that feels like a natural part of the narrative. The first one literally starts in the middle of a road with zero build-up, and finishes with Chow brandishing a handgun in each fist. I’m sure it’s supposed to be a crowd cheering moment, however onscreen it comes across as a gratuitous and unnecessary piece of fan service. Like the scene in the trailer, it would have been better to leave it out altogether.
Then there’s an awkwardly inserted flashback within a flashback, which almost feels as if came from another movie entirely. Decked out in a white suit, and laying on the charm that’s made him such a legend of HK cinema, Chow and his cohorts visit a general in the Golden Triangle (do characters in HK movies ever go to there for any other reason!?) to negotiate a deal. However there’s a side motive – the General is also the one responsible for the death of Chow’s father. Cue a completely over the top action scene, which has Chow brandishing an assault rifle in each hand like a one-man army, and even throws in the patented flying through the air while shooting at the same time shot (only performed with wires, he is 63 after all). Again, it’s a scene in which you feel obliged to be excited because, well, it’s Chow Yun Fat shooting people. But it’s so disconnected from the actual plot, it becomes impossible to connect to as an audience.
It also has to be pointed out that Hong Kong cinema hasn’t improved much in portraying Canada since the likes of Return Engagement and Women on the Run (ok, admittedly there’s no thugs playing soccer with a puppy here). It’s ironic that the best English line delivery comes from its Asian cast, in the form of David Wang (Wine War) and Carl Ng (Operation Mekong), with the delivery and lines attributed to the ‘Canadian’ cops best described as an assault on the ears. You would think that if the budget allowed for a whole village to be rigged to explode in spectacular fashion, it could also stretch to hiring a gweilo actor that could enunciate their single line of dialogue correctly.
Project Gutenberg opts for a big twist in its final reel, not all of which is completely believable. I have a theory that Chong had probably watched Kwok in 2009’s Murderer, and figured if they got away with what they did there, then even the wildest twist they could come up with can only pale in comparison. He’s partly correct. However even the big twist can’t escape the newly re-branded NRTA (formerly known as SARFT – China’s censorship board for media). With an even more stringent set of regulations of what is and isn’t considered acceptable to be shown introduced in 2018, the closing moments resort to a generic, safe, and entirely predicable conclusion. The kind which make you let out an audible groan, combined with an involuntary rolling of the eyes.
It’s something we can expect to see more of moving forward, as the more a story focuses on criminals and moral ambiguity, the more the ending will need to emphasise that they all got punished accordingly. Project Gutenberg ticks those boxes like it should, but with such predictability making these tales a foregone conclusion, the real punishment is inflicted on the audiences that watch them.
On May 21st, 2019, be on the lookout for Well Go USA’s Blu-ray/DVD release for Donnie Yen’s Big Brother(read our review), an action/comedy directed by Kam Kar-wai (Color of the Game).
In the film, Yen plays a high school teacher who is caught up by his dark past in the underworld and is forced to use his fighting skills to find and rescue one of his students who has been kidnapped.
The movie features MMA fighters, stuntmen and other players in the action film genre, including Jess Liaudin (Night Fare), Brahim Acchabkhe (Boyka: Undisputed IV), Craig Miller (The Brothers Grimsby), Tom Caserto (My War), Semiquaver Iafeta (Unbeatable), Lockhart Ogilvie (Level Up) and industry figure, Mike Leeder (Ultimate Justice).
Here’s a look at some of the titles that were presented at the HKFilmart 2019, which took place on March 18th-21st at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Minamata: HanWay Films is promoting Andrew Levitas’s Minamata, an upcoming thriller starring Johnny Depp. In the film, Depp plays celebrated WWII photographer W. Eugene Smith, who ventures to the sleepy Japanese town of Minamata, which was the scene of one of the world’s greatest environmental disasters when it was poisoned by mercury in the 1970s (via Variety).
Fly by Night: Currently being shopped at HKFilmart is Zahir Omar’s Fly By Night, a Scorsese-esque Malaysian crime thriller starring Sunny Pang (Headshot, The Night Comes for Us) and Bront Palarae (Nova). The film is about a gang of petty thieves, two brothers and their respective best pals, who get in over their heads when the younger gets cocky and fails to heed the advice of his more cautious elder (via THR).
The Long Kiss Goodnight 2: While promoting Bodies at Rest, noted Hollywood director Renny Harlin, who now directs films in China, talks about expanding his 1996 hit film The Long Kiss Goodnight: “Several people, producers and financiers, here in China, have talked to me about doing either a Chinese remake or doing an English language sequel and yeah I’ve played with the idea” (via THR). It’s unofficial, but sounds like some pre-sale buzz to me.
Khun Phaen Begins: Thailand’s M Pictures has launched sales for this Kongkiat Khomsiri-directed period action comedy starring Mario Mauer (Pee Mak). The film is set for an October release.
Nemesis: Also from Thailand’s M Pictures is Gunparwitt Phuwadolwisid’s Nemesis, an action thriller about a female psychiatrist and a patient with split-personality disorder, who becomes violent at night (via SD).
Legend of the Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber: Mega-Vision Project Workshop head Wong Jing (City Hunter) will direct/produce this film based off Louis Cha’s wuxia novel of the same name. Production begins this year for a 2020 release (via SD).
Paradise Guesthouse: Wong Kar-wai (The Grandmaster) will soon begin production on the web series Paradise Guesthouse from Huanxi Media. According to SD, the series will revolve around the female proprietor of a guesthouse and her interactions with different guests. Wong is also working on Blossoms, which will be a follow-up to In the Mood for Love and 2046.
Raging Fire (aka Crossfire): Donnie Yen (Big Brother) will soon find himself in Emperor Motion Pictures’ Raging Fire (previously known as Crossfire) an action thriller directed by veteran Hong Kong filmmaker, Benny Chan (Call of Heroes). Joining Yen for the film is Nicholas Tse (As the Light Goes Out).
Killed My Wife: Mirovision is launching sales on Killed My Wife from director Ha-ra Kim (Ready For Start). The film – about a man whose wife is found dead the night after he completely blacked out – stars Si-oen Lee (Tough as Iron), Ji-hye Wang (Le Grand Chef 2: Kimchi Battle) and Nae-sang Ahn (Detective K: Secret of the Living Dead).
Ip Man 4: No introduction is needed for this one. SD reports that Mandarin Motion Pictures has sealed a record number of sales for Ip Man 4, including Well Go USA, which has acquired rights for North America and the UK. Click here for the film’s newly released Poster and Teaser Trailer.
Knockout: Media Asia is promoting Knockout, a boxing thriller from director Roy Chow (Nightfall). According to AFS, Knockout is about a former champion’s comeback to the ring after a prison sentence. The film stars Han Geng (Transformers: Age of Extinction), Vivian Wu (Snow Flower and the Secret Fan), Janine Chang (Girls 2) and Philip Keung (SPL II). Watch the Trailer.
Project Gutenberg (Korean Remake): A Korean remake of Felix Chong’s Project Gutenberg(read our review), which starred Chow Yun Fat and Aaron Kwok, is in-the-works. So far, Korean writer/director Kim Whee (The Tooth and the Nail, Haeundae) is attached (via SD). The film is produced by South Korea’s Noori Pictures and Just Creative Studio.
Vanguard: This upcoming action film will reunite Jackie Chan (Railroad Tigers) with director Stanley Tong (Police Story 3). Chan will play the head of an international security agency who is on a mission to stop a terrorist group that takes him from Africa to the United Arab Emirates (via SD). The cast also includes Yang Yang (Once Upon A Time), Ai Lun (Hello Mr Billionaire) and Mu Qimiya (Kung Fu Yoga). Production company Golden Dragon, headed by Clarence Tang, is presenting the film’s sale. Click here for a first look at Jackie Chan in the film.
Climbers: Jackie Chan (The Foreigner), Wu Jing (Wolf Warriors 2) and Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) are set to to star in Climbers for director Daniel Lee (Dragon Blade). The film, which is produced by Shanghai Film Group, also stars Jing Boran (Monster Hunt) and Hu Ge (1911). Climbers is a real-life story of Chinese climbers who made a historic ascent up Mount Everest’s North Ridge in 1960 (via THR).
The White Storm: Drug Lords (aka The White Storm 2): Andy Lau (Switch) will star in a sequel to 2013’s White Storm. The original’s lead, Louis Koo (Three), co-stars. Director Herman Yau (Shock Wave) is taking over for the first film’s original director, Benny Chan. Universe has sold the film to 11 territories. The White Storm 2 is due in the fall of 2019 (via THR). Click here for Trailer.
Storm Cloud (aka Storm Riders 3): Ma Wing-shing, the creator of the comic books that The Storm Riders and The Storm Warriors were based upon, will co-direct and produce the third adaptation, Storm Cloud. Jonathan Lee (The Brink) and David Lee (Insanity) will co-direct. The film is scheduled for a 2022 release from One Cool Pictures (via THR).
Be Water, My Friend: Anthony Pun (Extraordinary Mission) will direct Chow Yun-fat in Be Water, My Friend, which is presold by Bona Film Group’s sales arm Distribution Workshop. Chow will star as a troubled, pathological gambler who seeks a way to connect with his autistic son (via THR). The film is written by Felix Chong (The Lost Bladesman). The title is in reference to Bruce Lee’s famous philosophical quote.
Rise of the Machine Girls: Nikkatsu is launching sales for this remake of Noboru Iguchi’s The Machine Girl, which will be directed by Yuki Kobayashi (Death Row Family). Just like the original, expect female killing machines and human cyborgs (via SD). Rise of the Machine Girls is produced by Yoshinori Chiba (The Machine Girl) and Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police).
Shadowfall: Also from Nikkatsu comes Shadowfall from director Tetsuo Shinohara (Flower And Sword). The film is about a professional thief who has to clear his name of murder by using his burglary skills (via SD). Also stars Masayoshi Yamazaki (One More Time, One More Chance) and Takumi Kitamura (I Want to Eat Your Pancreas).
“Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” Korean Theatrical Poster
Visionary director Park Chan-wook (Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, The Handmaiden) will be directing The Brigands of Rattlecreek (aka The Brigands of Rattleborge), an ultra-violent Western written by up-and-coming filmmaker S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cell Block 99 and the upcoming Dragged Across the Concrete).
The Brigands of Rattlecreek, which has been picked up by Amazon Studios, follows a sheriff and a doctor who seek revenge against a group of bandits who use the cover of a torrential thunderstorm to rob and terrorize the occupants of a small town. Zahler’s script topped the 2006 Black List but has languished in development, likely due to its violent content (via Collider).
Producer Bradley Fischer (Shutter Island) is hoping to get Matthew McConaughey to play the film’s lead role.
We’ll keep you updated on this exciting project as more news arrives.
Director: Jesse V. Johnson Cast: Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Tiger Hu Chen, Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White, Michael Bisping, Celina Jade, Jeeja Yanin, Ron Smoorenburg, Michael Wong, Dominique Vandenberg, Sile Zhang, Jennifer Qi Jun Yang Running Time: 96 min.
By Paul Bramhall
There’s something undeniably daunting when you look at the cast list of Triple Threat. For many fans of martial arts cinema, it’s one that looks too good to be true, the kind of movie that you read about but almost certainly never comes to fruition (just look up Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson’s Blood Raid). However Triple Threat’s cast is very much the real deal, and with it come some lofty expectations. When you fit such a who’s who of the genre into a 90 minute action flick, it’s fair to say that some fans were hoping more for a non-stop action reel than they were any semblance of a movie. But a movie it is, and it’s the latest one from director Jesse V. Johnson, the guy responsible for the recent string of superlative Scott Adkins flicks (Accident Man, The Debt Collector).
Adkins is back on board for Triple Threat, clocking in his first villain role since 2015’s Wolf Warrior. A ruthless assassin, when we first meet him he’s being rescued from captivity in Thailand, courtesy of his former crew. The crew itself contains enough talent to carry an action flick (or 2) alone – it’s led by Adkins’ Undisputed 2 co-star Michael Jai White, who’s ably backed up by former UFC fighter Michael Bisping, Thai femme fatale Jija Yanin, high kicker Ron Smoorenburg, and Dominiquie Vandenberg (soon to headline Johnson’s Legion Maxx). Navigating them through the jungle is a pair of mercenaries for hire, played by Tiger Chen (Man of Tai Chi) and Tony Jaa (SPL II: A Time for Consequences). After breaking Adkins out, the crew massacre the villagers in the area where he’d been imprisoned, including the wife of Iko Uwais (The Night Comes for Us). As the sole survivor, Uwais swears revenge on those responsible for her death.
The above plot description may puzzle those who’ve been following Triple Threat for a while, as the synopsis usually focuses on how the three protagonists (Uwais, Jaa, and Chen) have to protect a Chinese billionaire’s daughter (played by Celina Jade). The reason for this focus is likely due to Triple Threat being funded by China, and it’s no doubt an easier sell to Chinese audiences than ‘Indonesian guy seeks revenge for his murdered wife’ (which also isn’t very Chinese censor-friendly). Onscreen there’s little mistaking that it’s there to appease the Chinese distributors, as awkwardly inserted news broadcasts inform us how crimes against the Chinese community in the (fictional) city of Maha Jaya are on the increase. Jade, who’s inherited a fortune from her father, wishes nothing more than to donate it to improve the cities infrastructure and make it a safer place to live. Such a selfless and giving model Chinese citizen.
Thankfully Jade has a likeable onscreen presence, allowing the initial tonal shifts to not feel as jarring as they potentially could have, and in all fairness, without China there wouldn’t be a Triple Threat. We have Tiger Chen to thank for the original idea, who came up with the concept to bring himself, Tony Jaa, and Iko Uwais together 3 years ago, in what was then going to be called Makeshift Squad. While Chen himself is lacking in any form of screen presence or charisma (has anyone actually seen Kung Fu Traveler and its sequel!?), the fact that he saw the idea through to the end, is enough of a feat that the martial arts cinema genre owes him a debt of gratitude. It’s also thanks to China that Triple Threat clearly has a decent budget behind it, with a welcome reliance on real explosions and in-camera stunt work, rather than CGI. The other good news is that, when it comes down to the violence, Johnson hasn’t decided to skimp on it.
From the Predator-esque opening in the jungle through to the numerous fights, for those who’ve become tired of the ‘clean’ action aesthetic that most Hong Kong flicks now find themselves forcibly adhering too (Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy, I’m looking at you), this should be your remedy. Blood squibs are used with joyous abandon, usually through being on the receiving end of some seriously heavy artillery (if you ever wanted a movie that features Jija Yanin running around with a grenade launcher – this is it!), and the fights also don’t shy away from what grievous bodily harm can be inflicted by a fist or a foot.
Which brings us to the fights. It’s a reasonable statement for me to say I can’t remember the last time I’ve been so happy to use the plural of a word. Johnson has chosen wisely to stick with what he knows, bringing fight choreographer Tim Man on-board to orchestrate the action. I’ve been a huge advocate for Man ever since he first came on my radar as a fight choreographer (and screen fighter) in 2013’s Ninja: Shadow of a Tear, and he’s gone from strength to strength since then, usually collaborating with Scott Adkins (they faced off again in Accident Man). Here he stays behind the scenes, but I suspect that’s only because he had his hands more than full putting together the abundance of action, and performers executing it, in front of the camera. I’d go so far to say that Man has delivered the goods here more so than any current HK choreographer could have done with the same cast.
For fear of turning the review into a laundry list of who fights who, I won’t go into every pairing. However for those who were left frustrated at the pairing of Chen and Uwais in Man of Tai Chi (was there anyone that wasn’t?), their match up here more than redeems, and takes place at only 20 minutes in. Likewise for Jaa, who after spending a disproportionate amount of time in Hong Kong being attached to wires, here is allowed to unleash wire-free, and you can feel the spark is back. Johnson wisely allows for Adkins and Jai White to remain ominous threats for most of the runtime, seemingly very much aware that the best should be saved for last, which it is.
I recall in an interview Adkins did to promote Undisputed 3: Redemption back in 2010, he spoke of his hopes to one day have a chance to fight Jaa, and a little under 10 years later the match-up is the highlight of the finale (Jaa notably receives top billing in the credits, with Uwais billed second). Adkins unleashes against the star of Ong Bak like it’s still 2003, and Jaa visibly lifts his game to square off against the British powerhouse. It’s a joy to watch, and when Uwais also gets involved to make it segue into a two-on-one, the joy of watching 3 of this era’s top screen fighters go at each other is an immeasurable one. Uwais himself gets some seriously heavy lifting to do going toe to toe with Jai White (because, well, we already got a Jaa vs Jai White fight in 2014’s Skin Trade), who’s sheer power gives him an almost Hwang Jang Lee-like aura of invincibility against his more slender opposition, while Chen battles it out against Bisping.
While the audience for Triple Threat will mostly be clocking in for the action, it’s worth noting that at no point do you find yourself impatiently waiting for the next action scene to kick in. The storyline is surprisingly engaging, with Uwais almost coming across as a Yojimbo–like character in the way he plays Adkins and co. against the double crossed pairing of Jaa and Chen. Considering none of our trio of protagonists speak each other’s native language, Uwais, Jaa, and Chen have a likeable chemistry between them, and their conversing in English is not only passable, but at times genuinely affecting. Kudos to Johnson for hiring a Dialect Coach, as it’s clearly paid dividends.
I was left feeling like Triple Threat is the 2019 equivalent of a PM Entertainment flick. It knows it’s there to deliver action, and does so in a joyously unpretentious manner, with a cast that are fully aware of what they’re there to do. Throw in Michael Wong in a role credited as ‘Old Man’, a blink and you’ll miss it reference to “Donnie and Sammo”, and Jija Yanin exiting proceedings via one of the greatest death scenes in recent action movie memory, what you’re left with is a pure shot of celluloid adrenalin. Or to use lines from the movie itself, a tale of “three little imps” versus some “really bad guys”.
Woochi: The Demon Slayer Blu-ray & DVD (Shout! Factory)
Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-rayWoochi: The Demon Slayer (aka Jeon Woochi: The Taoist Wizard), directed by Dong-Hoon Choi (The Thieves).
Jeon Woo-chi (Gang Dong-Won of A Violent Prosecutor), an undisciplined, womanizing wizard unjustly accused of the death of his master, is trapped inside an ancient scroll until he is set free in 2009 by the wizards that imprisoned him to help fight against evil goblins that have taken over present-day Korea. The only problem is that Woo-chi is more interested in his new modern home,and the women of Korea, than becoming a hero.
MVD Rewind has announced the Blu-ray for Boogie Boy, a Mark Dacascos thriller from director Craig Hamann (writer of Showdown in Manila) and producer Roger Avary, who is perhaps best known for 1993’s Killing Zoe, 2002’s The Rules of Attraction, and his co-writing credit for 1994’s Pulp Fiction. The film hits retail outlets on May 14th, 2019.
Check out the official details below from MVD:
This title has been out of print for a long time. It was released on a full frame (1.33:1) DVD and has never been seen in it’s original theatrical aspect ratio nor has this ever been on a Blu-ray. MVD has overseen a brand new HD transfer of the film (thank you VinSyn) and we have just begun working on bonus material. In my opinion, this movie never got a proper release and I have been working closely with the director and producer (who have been awesome, by the way) on this one. Many of you probably aren’t totally aware of this one and really hope to get your support. It’s worth a blind buy!
There’s a thin line between friendship and betrayal…
After being released from prison, Jesse Page (Dacascos, Maximum Impact) backs his old friend Larry (Jaimz Woolvett, Unforgiven) up on a drug deal gone sour. With the drug dealers hot on his trail, Jesse has three days to reach Detroit where a new, clean, legitimate life awaits him. Along the way, his ties to his junkie criminal past are put to the test… What is true friendship made of? How far should loyalty go? These are questions Jesse must answer on the road to his new life in this gritty action-thriller from writer / director Craig Hamann (My Best Friend’s Birthday, Showdown in Manila).
The 1990’s cult classic Boogie Boy makes its long-awaited return with a first-ever, brand new 4K high definition transfer supervised by director Craig Hamann.
Blu-ray Special Features:
Brand new director approved 4K High Definition transfer from the original camera negative with the film presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio for the first time ever!
Original 2.0 Stereo Audio (TBD…not final)
Spanish Subtitles
Cast and crew interviews (TBD)
Making of feature (TBD)
Photo gallery (TBD)
Original Theatrical Trailer (SD)
Collectible Mini-Poster
*Special Features May Not Be Rated, Closed Captioned or In High Definition and are subject to change.
Director: Jo Kyu-Jang Cast: Lee Sung-Min, Kim Sang-Ho, Jin Kyung, Kwak Si-Yang, Park Bom, Kim Sung-Kyun, Bae Jung-Hwa, Shin Seung-Hwan, Jung Yoo-Min, Yeon Je-Wook Running Time: 111 min.
By Paul Bramhall
It’s fair to say that violence is as an integral a part of Korean cinema as kimchi is to its cuisine. Sure, you don’t need it with every dish, but when it’s there, it makes for a distinctly Korean experience. I mention this, because the opening of The Witness feels like a textbook template of exactly what audiences have come to expect from a Korean thriller. A car is driving through isolated countryside roads at night, the purpose of the driver’s trip clearly to murder the bound female he has tied up in the trunk. However, after digging a shallow grave, it gives his victim just enough time to break free of her constraints and escape into the forest, before stumbling across civilisation in the form of a new residential village, comprising of blocks of identical apartment buildings. However the killer isn’t far behind, hammer in hand (OldBoy has a lot to answer for), and he’s soon thrusting it into her skull in plain view of the presumably sleeping residents.
Of course, as the title suggests, it turns out that not every resident was asleep. Lee Sung-min plays a salaryman who’s just got back from a night of drinking, to celebrate becoming a home owner of one such apartment, however his early hours of the morning drowsiness is disturbed by a scream coming from outside. Quickly sobering up, he arrives at the window just in time to see the killer delivering the blood splattered blows of death, and while he also gets a good look at the killers face, it also means the killer gets a good look at him.
So the crux is set, and it’s a good one. Who is the killer? Who was his victim? Where The Witness differentiates itself from other similar thrillers though, is the fact that it doesn’t turn its focus to any of these questions. Such a decision frequently allows The Witness to soar as much as it does nosedive, depending on how far along in the narrative you are. Our main character is Sung-min, and proceedings are at their most interesting when watching the social pressure he encounters to not inform the police of what he saw. Understandably, soon the residential village is swarming with detectives, led by the permanently frazzled Kim Sang-ho (Fabricated City). However with a residents association keen to not get involved in anything that would make the prices of their properties drop, Sung-min finds himself torn between doing the right thing, and not putting his wife and child in danger.
It’s a darkly cynical premise, but one that works. As the victim wasn’t a resident of the village, almost everyone living there is willing to plead ignorance to if they did or didn’t see what happened, and soon the detectives are at a dead end. Sung-min doesn’t tell anyone that he saw the murder, including his wife, and is soon having residents association petitions thrust in front of him to sign that he won’t talk to the police, and finds himself increasingly conflicted on what to do. Sung-min delivers a convincing performance, and his lead role here is well deserved after his recent turn opposite Hwang Jung-min in The Spy Gone North, also from 2018. He’s long been a solid supporting actor, but hopefully roles like this one will mean we see a lot more of him headlining.
The handling of the killer doesn’t work so well. Played by Kwak Si-yang (who notably acted alongside Sung-min in 2016’s Familyhood), his killer is the typical genre stereotype – think Ha Jung-woo in The Chaser, or Jung Kyung-ho in Running Turtle, and you get the idea. Black jacket, black cap, lurking in the shadows etc. The issue is that Si-yang doesn’t do much else other than that. His presence feels more like a plot device than an actual character, and it’s a caricatured one at that. Appearing in shots to elicit fear and glimpsed as a sign of danger, we know what it means when he’s around, but we don’t know anything about him. In fairness, the ending confirms that this was the intention, however that doesn’t necessarily mean it works.
Si-yang also seems to come with what sometimes border on supernatural powers. For such a high security complex, he has no trouble coming in and out of it as he pleases, and is even able to steal Sung-min’s family dog. Or is he? Director Jo Kyoo-jang struggles with portraying the more ambiguous themes of The Witness, which often leave the audience to second guess how much they should read into a certain scene. It could well be read that Sung-min is being paranoid about how far Si-yang is willing to go to make sure he doesn’t talk, with scenes of the dog’s disappearance, prank phone calls, and mysterious motorcyclists all leaving room for interpretation. Such scenes are never really given a satisfactory conclusion, as it either means Si-yang is some kind of murdering super villain, or the detectives are absolutely useless.
The everyday reality of Sung-min’s predicament, played alongside Si-yang’s Michael Myers style stalking, result in a somewhat awkward experience with The Witness. It almost feels like a mix of Na Hong-jin’s The Chaser meets Huh Jung’s Hide and Seek, with the threat of a hammer wielding psychopath lurking around a new apartment complex. While there are scenes which differentiate Kyoo-jang’s latest from both, there are also an equal number that feel derivative from these other genre staples. It’s these scenes which hold The Witness back from being one of the great Korean thrillers, as there was just one time too many when I said to myself “This was done much better in (insert another Korean movie title here)”.
With that being said, when The Witness has its focus on the inner-workings of the apartment complex eco-system, and the distinct lack of humanity that comes with it, it’s genuinely engaging. The closing shot, which has Sung-min stood alone surrounded by the various apartment buildings, feels like a legitimate punch to the gut in how it reflects just how hopeless society can sometimes be. The effective quietness of the closing moments play out in stark contrast to the brash finale that precedes it. The Witness gives Kyoo-jang his largest budget to work with to date, after previously helming the drama A Camel Doesn’t Leave Desert and the romantic comedy Mood of the Day, and he obviously wanted to see things out with a bang.
After racing to get back to the apartment knowing that Si-yang is targeting his family, Sung-min decides that enough is enough, and it’s time to put an end to his murdering ways. What follows is a pursuit up the nearby forested mountainside, a brutal throw down incorporating local Korean fauna as weaponry, and a landslide that appears to have taken its inspiration from the 2011 Umyeon Mountain incident. It’s a rather gratuitous, if not entirely unexpected, conclusion, and one which does its best to reconcile Sung-min’s conflicted salaryman with Si-yang’s super villain. The use of the landslide scenes result in some of the most striking imagery in The Witness, with Sung-min rising up from it in a way that wouldn’t be out of place in a Lucio Fulci zombie movie. Like I mentioned, it’s kind of gratuitous.
With a strong supporting cast featuring the likes of Jin Kyung (Master) as Sung-min’s wife, Bae Jung-hwa (Gifted) as another resident that witnessed the murder, and Kim Sung-kyun (Golden Slumber) as one of the victims husbands, it’s difficult to fault their performances, even when the script sometimes defies logic. Indeed if anything the script deserves credit for the fact that, unless you’re paying really close attention, some of the more glaring issues (if Si-yang is such an effective killer, why couldn’t he tie his initial victim’s hands together properly?) only become apparent once you’ve given it some thought afterwards.
All in all The Witness is a movie that has as many strengths as it does flaws, and when the end credits rolled I walked away feeling that it had been an enjoyable 110 minutes. If there’s anything to be learnt from these movies, it’s that if you’re a Korean resident and currently renting your property, then the best thing you can do is continue. Buying your own place in Korea seems to be an open invitation to witness a murder, attract stalkers, vengeance seeking ghosts, and all kinds of trouble. In this case, if we’d been given as well rounded a villain as we do a main character, The Witness could have been another bona fide classic in Korea’s well regarded cannon of gritty thrillers. As it is, for his third feature director Jo Kyoo-jang serves up an enjoyable slice of murder and paranoia. If anyone will still be talking about it 10 years from now the same way they talk about one of its most obvious influences, The Chaser, is another question.
Well Go USA Entertainment is getting ready to unleash their deadliest weapon yet:Triple Threat(read our review), an upcoming action film by Jessie V. Johnson (Savage Dog, The Debt Collector) that’s best described as a martial arts-themed Expendables.
Triple Threat is getting a Blu-ray/DVD release on May 14th (pre-order here), which will feature Interviews with the Cast, Trailers and English SDH subtitles.
Here’s what you can expect from the film’s plot, according to THR: After a billionaire’s daughter becomes the target of a mercenary cartel. Her only protection are two down-on-their-luck fighters and a third who has vowed revenge against the others. Jaa, Uwais and Chen are the protagonists, while American thespians Adkins, Bisping and White are the villains.
Director Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs, Legend of the Fist) will be revisiting Chinese gangsterism with a Live-action, English-language adaptation of the comic book series Teddy Boy, which was also the source material for Lau’s immensely popular Hong Kong franchise, Young and Dangerous.
In addition to directing, Lau will also be producing Teddy Boy along with frequent collaborator Andrew Loo (Revenge of the Green Dragons). Backing the project is Pulse Films, the company behind Gangs of London, an upcoming crime thriller prominently directed by Gareth Evans (The Raid, Apostle).
Written by Hong Kong artist Kai-Ming Man and inked by Yu-Kwok Lun, Teddy Boy follows protagonist Ho-Nam Chan’s dizzying ascent through the ranks of the Hong Kong triad hierarchy. It is being developed with an eye towards a feature film or an episodic series. No word yet whether the adaptation will be set in Hong Kong or transposed to a western setting (via Deadline).
We’ll keep you updated on Teddy Boy as it progresses into production.
Updates: Following the above info, Hong Kong media outlet Apple Daily (via FCS) is reporting that Andrew Lau knew nothing about this project.
PM Entertainment is a much-loved film production company from the height of the straight-to-video era. They began with tiny-budget crime and exploitation films but eventually rivaled Hollywood in terms of action spectacle. Their calling cards would become flipping cars, explosions and excessive violence on a large scale. They strived to outdo their DTV competitors by attempting the most daring action and stunt-work in American cinema.
But apart from action, one thing that isnt quite as discussed or explored about PM Entertainment is aesthetic. Before budgets became much bigger in the mid-nineties and they could afford to fill half a film with massive escalating car-chases, PM had a string of cheaper crime films with thick film noir atmosphere. PM also had a unique twist on noir, in that they combined it with martial arts and thus arguably created their own new genre of “Kickboxing Noir”.
These pictures include Deadly Bet (1992) and Final Impact (1992), both filmed in neon-lit and seedy Las Vegas locations. This cycle of films culminated in the pinnacle of kickboxing-noir pictures: Maximum Force. The first two films were shot by Richard Peppin (Peppin being the “P” in PM Entertainment) but Maximum Force would be shot be cinematographer Ken Blakey and directed by Joseph Merhi (The “M” in PM), where they would take the “Kickboxing noir” style to a new aesthetic extreme.
Ken Blakey
Cinematographer Ken Blakey recalls: “The classic film noir from the 40’s and 50’s is always basically a crime story. Film Noir is not funny, nor is there really romance. There may be passion between characters leading to love, but it is usually unrequited or interrupted. There is a protagonist (fighter, cop, everyman) and an antagonist (gangster, rich man, another fighter, or cop), and a woman. Generally the “good” fighter loses the girl who comes under the power of the “bad” fighter (good and bad referring to character traits with which the audience can identify). The hero must defeat the villain usually by conquering him either physically, violently, or by subterfuge, winning a contest or any/all of the aforementioned”
“Deadly Bet” VHS Cover
These narrative elements couldn’t be more true than with Deadly Bet, where Jeff Wincott literally offers his wife as collateral when gambling on a kickboxing match, which he ends up losing. Charlene Tilton literally becomes a possession of villain Steven Vincent Leigh until Wincott can get things together and fight in the ring to win her back.
Such a politically incorrect plot couldn’t exist today in the #metoo era, but its also unlikely to have existed in mainstream Hollywood at the time either. It’s a good example of the kind of risk taking and edginess that can only be achieved in independent film, much like the envelope being pushed in the pre-code noir era. Apart from this, it has many of the hallmarks of the noir genre in terms of gangsters, nightclubs and a down-on-his-luck protagonist sucked back into the underworld.
PM even took this Las Vegas backdrop and fused it with an almost Karate Kid-style narrative with Final Impact (1992). In that picture, Lorenzo Lamas plays a jaded, hard-drinking former kickboxing champion fixated on training a protégé (Michael Worth) to enact revenge on a rival. At this point in time, PM was based in Las Vegas and many of their films inhabited similar casino-strip locations, which meant they could reuse locations, B-roll and make films quite efficiently.
“Final Impact” VHS Sell Sheet
Blakey remembers: “Rick Pepin used to say to me, “I want to see the money right up there on the screen”. Joseph Merhi could, I believe, actually get blood out of a stone, and I mean that with the greatest respect. Joseph knows how to wring out a dollar! Joseph and Rick brought in the best people for every department including the fight coordinators, stunt teams, and special effects. Most of those films from the early 90’s were shot on 15 day schedules so we all had to work fast and make it great. Rick and Joseph knew exactly what the straight to video and international markets (theatrical and video) wanted. There was a formula and the stories were plugged into that formula with over the top action, action, action.”
“I came to L.A. from San Francisco as a commercial photographer/cinematographer. I met Rick Pepin and he liked my showreel even though I had no feature film elements. I had a lot of experience in fashion, product, and corporate work so I could make anything look good. Rick was a good cinematographer, but he needed someone to light for him so that’s how I got my foot in the door just as they were making the transition from 16mm ultra low budget movies to 35mm films with known actors and bigger production values. The film noir look in the martial arts films in 1990/91 were shot by Rick with me as his Gaffer and 2nd camera. They liked the work and the shows did well so they gave me a shot as DP. I was assigned to a picture called A Time to Die with Traci Lords and Richard Roundtree. A police/crime story. I gave it a dramatic look, but I didn’t want to push it on my first outing so I stuck with a more polished commercial look. It turned out well and so next up was Maximum Force,” adds Blakey.
Maximum Force was a rather B-star-studded ensemble featuring Sam Jones (Flash Gordon), Jason Lively (Dukes of Hazard), Sherrie Rose (King of the Kickboxers), and John Saxon (Enter the Dragon). They are a dream-team of cops united together to take on crime boss Richard Lynch (Invasion USA) and his network, which includes corrupt politician played by Mickey Rooney! The film exists almost exclusively at nighttime or inside a mysteriously-lit wearhouse, where most of the second act takes place. This wearhouse would be a space for martial arts training, meditation, contemplation and interpersonal drama amongst the police. The atmosphere here was clouded with dust, smoke and stylistic lighting. One of the most audacious shots in the picture is a wide angle that slowly tracks-in on Sam Jones as he starts to skip with a jump-rope. The ginormous space is surreal, more akin to an art-film than a B-picture and the jump rope creates plumes of dust from the concrete floor that add to this atmosphere.
One of the most audacious shots in Maximum Force.
Martial arts is a less prominent theme, but when it punctuates the film its usually backlit and stylised. A couple of these kickboxing sequences take place on a nightclub stage amongst cigar-smoke and highlighted by theatrical lighting. Another fight scene atop a skyscraper takes place with a background of moonlit industrial exhaust fumes, appearing like white fire, contrasting the physical movement of kickboxing silhouettes.
“Maximum Force” Theatrical Poster
“The noir aesthetic in Maximum Force was strictly my choice. Of course, I had to give the studio a commercially viable product that they could market, but when dailies started coming in they loved it. At the time I remember seeing two pictures shot by cinematographer Bojan Bazelli. They were King of New York (1990) and Deep Cover (1992). They both had a very dark look and used saturated colors in the lighting. Maximum Force was my third show as Director of Photography for PM and I decided to just let it all hang out. What makes it Film Noir is the lighting and camera. Extreme angles, wide lenses, and most of all DARK. Even in daylight the contrast between sun and shadow is often emphasized. At night faces are back or side lit with little or no fill light. The “unseen” adds to the drama and sense of foreboding,” says Blakey.
“On this one I went all the way since most of the story takes place at night in the dark underbelly of the city. I used large source light to ¾ backlight much of the action and the characters themselves. In addition I triple corrected one side to the blue spectrum and on the other side triple corrected toward the yellow. It was a success and I probably get more comments on Maximum Force than any other film. I was just chasing an aesthetic that I had fallen in love with in my early career and had the opportunity to realize it. I brought in lots of smoke and “radical” lighting and PM loved it,” Blakey adds.
“Intent to Kill” Chinese Poster
Blakey continues: “I don’t recall specifically thinking of Maximum Force as a martial arts picture at the time although it certainly falls well into that category. I saw it as a crime drama with action. During those years martial arts were the default method of physical engagement in movies just like fist fights had been in westerns and mysteries. Those black and white mystery/crime stories of the 1940’s and 50’s were the first things that attracted me to film making and it was really the shadowy lighting that tickled my aesthetic sense. I don’t think I ever really thought about “marrying” martial arts with noir. It just seemed like a natural fit. Funny story … when the film was sold in the German market QC (Quality Control) for television broadcast drained most of the color out of those night scenes. When I heard about it I was apoplectic, but what can you do. I think the DVDs currently available in the U.S.A. market look very good. On my next picture with PM, Intent to Kill (1992), I went really dark as well, but with a different flavor.”
At the same time as these pictures, John Woo was producing crime films in Hong Kong, which made a departure from martial arts, instead choosing gunfire as the means to be balletic. They had elements of noir and French gangster pictures like Le Samurai but took their action from the gory Westerns of Sam Peckinpah. Hollywood took note of these startling Woo pictures and imported the director to America, while PM attempted their own heroic bloodshed pictures with such titles as The Sweeper (1996) that amped-up spectacle. Unlike Hong Kong, which had incredible restrictions and regulations on what film crews could achieve on the roads, PM had much more freedom on the streets of Las Angeles to create real havoc.
“Hard Boiled” Japanese Theatrical Poster
Ken Blakey explains: “I think a big influence at that time was John Woo’s Hard Boiled (1992). He took action to a whole new level in that show using wires, ratchets, and gunfire at a level not seen before. Again, no CGI, and it totally sells today. I still have my Laser Disc! Another influence for me was Steven Seagal’s Out for Justice (1991) both cinematically and the martial arts.”
“The Sweeper represented another step up in the action genre for us at PM. The opening car chase on the pier, the night freeway extravaganza, and then the day freeway chase where C. Thomas Howell climbs onto the wheel of an in flight airplane out of a moving convertible and the subsequent “air” fight and fall of the villain is still amazing. For those Freeway chases, with all the rollovers, crashes, explosions, etc. we were using 9 cameras at any given time. Four or five operated cameras shooting from “camera cars”, or from inside the vehicle, or telephoto shots to stack up the action and in addition four or five Eyemo’s which are small 35mm cameras housed in “indestructible” steel boxes that are placed and disguised on the road where they can be hit by a flying car, explosion, etc. That’s how we get those shots where the exploding car lands on the camera. When that happens I call those the “Bingo!” shots. No crew members or actors were harmed in the making of The Sweeper. And let’s not leave out fantastic stunts, driving, special effects (explosions, etc.) and great editing! Remember, there was NO CGI … It was all real.”
The Sweeper’s “nighttime freeway extravaganza” is a sequence where a dozen falling gas bottles from a truck are shot by a machine gun to explode at certain moments along the road during a conflict between two different speeding vehicles. The pitch-black sky is the perfect backdrop to highlight a series of jaw-dropping explosions and fiery car-flips. In this dark atmosphere, the mixture of glowing yellow headlights zooming past, red break-lights reflecting on the wet bitumen, explosions peppered along the highway and cars flipping and rotating in the night sky evokes a similar light and movement to Van Gogh’s painting “Starry Night”.
“Rage” VHS Cover
The original noir pictures of the 1930s were shot outside mainstream Hollywood in a place or status referred to as “Poverty row”, a series of basic studios that churned out “B” pictures to play after main features. But occasionally these films were innovative and ended up influencing Hollywood itself. In the early nineties, PM would parallel this history as they too used noir-style lighting techniques to create atmosphere and aesthetic on a budget for the DTV market.
But as film critic Paul Bramhall points out about Rage (1995), which was also shot by Ken Blakey, PM would overtly challenge Hollywood and possibly influence it in the process: “Echoes of much of the stunt work on display in Rage, can be seen in some of the most popular mainstream action movies of the last 20 years.. The climax of the chase scene of Rage is more than a little reminiscent of the climax to the epic car chase from The Matrix Reloaded … Another scene has Daniels dangling off a building with the rope of a window washing outrigger, which he uses to run across the buildings side to create enough momentum to launch himself towards a….well, I won’t spoil it for anyone who’s yet to see it. But the same concept would be used 16 years later when Tom Cruise would scale the Burj Khalifa in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.”
Ken Blakey continues: “Selling the punches/hits, continuity of the fight, and editing. Camera angles must be set in such a way as to give the illusion of connection. Stunt people don’t actually hit each other during a fight so the camera must be set at such an angle as to suggest connection and edited with the next shot to carry through on that connection while maintaining continuity of the movement of the players to suggest a real sequence of events. More than one camera is generally used to capture each sequence to give the editor more flexibility to speed up the action and give it impact.”
Scene from Nicholas Ingerson’s student film “Elevator” (2018)
The history of PM Entertainment is not something just kept alive by those reminiscing a bygone video-rental era. Recently a twenty-one year-old student at Australia’s most prestigious film school (VCA) asked me “Have you seen The Sweeper?” He went on to detail his admiration for the “night freeway extravaganza” and other spectacles. But the student also told me that when he made one of his short-films last year, a sci fi reminiscent of Shane Carruth’s Primer, that he made his cinematographer watch Maximum Force, particularly those surrealist scenes in the atmospheric wearhouse. So apart from overt Hollywood tributes to their action sequences, there is also evidence that PM has an aesthetic legacy that continues to be influential to this day.
Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for the action comedy Gintama (read our review), a live-action adaptation based on the manga series of the same name written and illustrated by Hideaki Sorachi.
In an era where aliens have invaded and taken over feudal Tokyo, a young samurai finds work however he can.
Director: Woo Min-Ho Cast: Song Kang-Ho, Cho Jung-Seok, Bae Doo-Na, Kim So-Jin, Kim Dae-Myung, Lee Sung-Min Running Time: 139 min.
By Paul Bramhall
I finished my review of director Woo Min-ho’s last movie, the excellent Inside Men, by stating my hope that “his next movie is at least on par with what he’s pulled off here.” 3 years later and that opportunity is now upon us, and it comes in the form of The Drug King, a story spanning the decade that was the 1970’s, and the impact that drugs had on it in Korea.
While Inside Men was anchored by a powerhouse performance from Lee Byung-hun, The Drug King enlists one of the most iconic faces of Korean cinema, Song Kang-ho, to carry proceedings. Kang-ho plays a small time smuggler who assists the facilitation of fake watches in early 70’s Busan. A simple man whose only real ambition is to make ends meet for his wife, kids, and unmarried sisters, when an opportunity presents itself to get involved in the lucrative drug trade, the financial rewards make for too good of an offer to pass up.
So begins the overly familiar tale of the small fry who works their way up to be a drug kingpin, and destroy everything that they hold near and dear in the process. The go-to genre movie is of course Brian De Palma’s 1983 classic Scarface, however it’s also been done before in Korea, most recently in 2012’s Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time, which sees Choi Min-sik’s naïve customs officer work his way up the drug trade. So the question is, apart from a stellar performance from Song Kang-ho (which let’s face it, is a given), what else does TheDrug King bring to the table which sets it apart from the other entries in the genre?
The answer is, as much as it pains me to say it, nothing. Min-ho’s latest is one of those infuriating failures where the blame lies solely at the director’s feet. On the surface at least, it’s a movie that has everything – a cast most directors would lose an arm for, the amazing production values and attention to period detail we’ve become accustomed to from Korean cinema, and a soundtrack filled with 70’s classics. So what’s the problem? Put simply, The Drug King is a bore. With a runtime of 140 minutes, the pace will likely test the patience of even the most ardent Korean cinema fan (a group that I count myself amongst).
Half of the problem lies in just how tried and tested the story is. We know how these tales play out, so there needs to be some differentiator for the audiences to buy into it – that could be great characterization, a twist on the perspective the story is told from, or a setting we haven’t seen before. The Drug King offers up none of these, instead falling back on the most barebones plot of the everyman who becomes corrupted by the drugs he’s peddling. This could still have been effective if it was at least told in an engaging way, but Min-ho’s script translates awkwardly to the screen, with the changes in Kang-ho’s personality seemingly taking place from one scene to the next, rather than occurring with any kind of natural build-up.
Onscreen there’s also a glaring lack of tension. The drug trade is a dangerous business, however Sang-ho’s entry into the world of drug making and trafficking is remarkably uneventful, with a good 70 minutes dedicated to what feels like an inordinate amount of gurning, dancing, and general idiocy. I know it was 70 minutes, because I checked the runtime at one point believing/hoping that it must almost be finished, only to realise I was just half way through. The first real sign of any genuine tension comes at a party Kang-ho is attending, at a point when he’s already established himself under a fake name in the drug trade, and an officer from the KCIA recognizes him from when he was arrested and tortured several years before. However the issue is quickly resolved, again dissipating any chance to inject some urgency into the pacing.
Out of all the crimes The Drug King commits though, the biggest one is without doubt how it wastes an incredible cast. This is a movie that brings Song Kang-ho and Bae Doona (in her first movie since 2016’s Tunnel) back together, a pairing that resulted in some of the most memorable scenes in Korean cinema thanks to their turns in Bong Joon-ho’s The Host and Park Chan-wook’s Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. It’s been 12 years since they last appeared in a movie together, but with characters as underwritten and underdeveloped as we have here, the joy of seeing them reunited is short-lived. Throw in supporting roles from the likes Jo Jung-suk (The Face Reader), Lee Sung-min (The Witness), Choi Gwi-ha (The Outlaws) and Song Young-chang (a guy who I swear spent the 00’s dying in every movie he appeared in), the fact that none of them contribute any real significance to the overall plot is a wasted opportunity.
If any positives can be drawn from The Drug King, then it’s in the production design, and the way it incorporates the political turmoil of the time. Kang-ho spends plenty of time jetting between Korea and Japan, and both locations are brought to life through impressive sets, littered with small details like movie posters of the time and old soju bottles. Indeed at times it feels like the most well developed characters in The Drug King are the sets, rather than the actors that populate them. Min-ho has also ambitiously attempted to incorporate the various political controversies of the time (such as Park Chung-hee’s 1979 assassination) into the narrative, with Kang-ho involving himself in various political organizations by day. While such inclusions in and of themselves are interesting, their role in the plot seems like a case of attention grabbing padding, rather than adding any real meaning.
For Hong Kong cinema fans, there may also be one ‘bonus’ positive. For those who never thought there could be a connection between a Song Kang-ho and Jimmy Wang Yu movie – well, Min-ho’s latest is the production to prove them wrong. The 1975 Hong Kong and Australian co-production, The Man from Hong Kong, famously used the British band Jigsaw’s single Sky High as its opening theme, and 43 years later, so does The Drug King! Admittedly, it’s a great opener. What can I say? I’m not averse to clutching at straws.
Min-ho’s latest ultimately saves its final derailment for last, dragging its feet to an ending which shamelessly lifts wholesale from De Palma’s Scarface, as a paranoid Kang-ho locks himself up in his own mansion with his drugs and a collection of shotguns. Derivative as it may be, it should have been one last ditch shot of adrenaline in an already bloated and lifeless slog of a movie, however even the finale can’t bring itself to go out with a bang, instead choosing to go for a disappointing fizzle of a conclusion. It inevitably begs the question of what Min-ho was looking to achieve with The Drug King. Its unwavering focus on Kang-ho to the detriment of everything else arguably doesn’t justify such a long runtime, but at the same time any hint of an interesting subplot fades into the background before it’s given a chance to start. Like I said at the beginning of the review – it’s an infuriating failure.
When Min-ho initially released Inside Men it came in a trimmed down 130 minute version from his original 3 hour cut, which eventually saw the light of day because audiences were left wanting more. With so much peripheral plotting that meanders to nowhere in The Drug King, it could well be the case that there’s a much longer cut of it out there as well, but I find it hard to believe anyone would be able to endure more of its coma inducing pace. For me the jury is still out on Min-ho as a director and screenwriter, however if The Drug King is indicative of the style of movie he wants to make, I’ll clock out here.
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But apart from action, one thing that isnt quite as discussed or explored about PM Entertainment is aesthetic. Before budgets became much bigger in the mid-nineties and they could afford to fill half a film with massive escalating car-chases, PM had a string of cheaper crime films with thick film noir atmosphere. PM also had a unique twist on noir, in that they combined it with martial arts and thus arguably created their own new genre of “Kickboxing Noir”.
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