Chinatown Video releases for February 2000
Weasel Alert: I occasionally do a bit
of work for Chinatown Video.
DOWNTOWN TORPEDOES (1997) Rated MA.
Rental.
In the late 1990s the youth of Hong Kong turned their back on local action films in
favour of Hollywood ones. Downtown Torpedoes is a deliberate and calculating
attempt to make a HK flick in the Hollywood style, with particular reference to Mission
Impossible. The result is definitely a park your brain affair (lest the technobabble
consume you), but by god, it works, mainly due to the ripping pacing and the marvelous and
varied action scenes - just about any vehicle that drives, flies or floats gets a look in
as the characters case hither and thither between break-ins and double-crosses. The heroes
are a group of globe-trotting safe-hacking industrial spies who are almost too hip for
their handles: Jackal (Takeshi Kaneshiro), Cash (Jordan Chan),
Sam (Charlie Yeung) and Phoenix (Theresa Lee). Right
there you have four of the most charismatic actors amongst the Hong Kong new blood, but
oddly in this film each seems stuck in Charisma-OFF mode - they are too busy posing in
black skivvies, being blue-lit or chasing hither and thither for us to develop any real
attachment for them (the exception is Theresa Lee, who is infectiously
cheery in her non-speaking role as a mute hacker / pigeon tracker / truck driver). The
good news is that the empathy shortfall is made up for by the speed of the plot and the
inventiveness of the stunts (indeed, Hitman director Tung Wai scooped
up Best Action Choreography for his work on this one at the 16th Hong Kong Film Awards,
one of those rare years when Jackie Chan didn't win it). Another
highlight is super suave Alex Fong as Intelligence Chief Stanley, who
makes up for his lack of a hip-handle by being easily cooler than most of the cast. With
plenty of gadgets, bangs and twists, Downtown Torpedoes locks in and hits the
target. Over and out.
PRISON ON FIRE 2 (1991) Rated MA.
Rental.
Oi veh. Ringo Lam is back at the helm of an On Fire film, but
in this case I can only presume he did it for the money. The original Prison on Fire
is an intense and amazing film in which incarcerated men are put on slow burn. However,
the sequel runs about in so many different directions it fails to hit any of them. The
basic plot is okay, with Ching (Chow Yun-Fat) manipulated by evil warden
Killer Zau (Tsui Kam Kong) into being the scapegoat caught between
warring Hongkies and Mainlanders in stir. His only chance is to escape, which he does so
often in the film and with such ease that you wonder why he hung around there to begin
with - it sure ain't the food (unless he really likes oranges and rice) or the clothes
(unless he really likes brown shorts). The problem is that the film doesn't stick to one
thread or theme - you've got your lame escape scenes (complete with the stuffed alsation
fu), your barely serviceable melodrama plot, your never-quite-hits it slapstick moments
(usually involving Yun-Fat's arse), your endless prison riots (barely a
scene goes by in the yard when some schmoe doesn't get beaten on), and a touch of
ultraviolence (who would have thought a toothbrush could be a lethal weapon?). I usually
like a mix of styles, but here it just highlights that Ringo has no idea
where it's all going. The worst thing about Prison on Fire 2 is that it is a
sequel that does not merely capitalise on the success of the original, it actually goes
ahead and loots the corpse. I say give it a miss, and rent Prison on Fire instead.
