VENGEANCE (2009)

Johnnie To, 2009
Starring: Johnny Hallyday, Anthony Wong, Simon Yam, Gordon Lam, Lam-Suet

If you like triad/crime/action neo-noirs, then Johnnie To's newest effort, Vengeance, is for you. I had the fortune to see it during the Danger After Dark festival a few weeks ago and it definitely benefited from a theater audience.

Francis Costello (Johnny Hallyday), French chef and ex-hit man, comes to Hong Kong to get vengeance on the men who put his daughter in critical condition and killed her family. He has no knowledge of Cantonese or the Hong Kong triads, so he hires three native hit men (Anthony Wong, Gordon Lam, and Lam-Suet) to help him out, offering them all of his worldly goods which are extensive. They agree, mostly because of some sort of hit men camaraderie and set out on a dangerous, yet frequently warm and funny path to track down the Triad hit men hired to kill Costello's daughter, and eventually their boss, the adorably bratty Simon Yam. Unfortunately things don't go as planned. It is revealed that Costello is suffering from some neurological damage he sustained from a bullet to the head twenty years ago. He experiences increasing memory loss and is forced to take pictures of everyone to remember who they are. SPOILERS: When it gets too bad, the hit men deliver him safely to the island home of a young woman who cares for orphaned children. They return to complete the mission, but are ambushed. The young woman and children help Costello track down the Triad boss once and for all, but can he hold out long enough to complete his vengeance?

Overall I very much enjoyed Vengeance. It isn't anything new or special, but is a solid genre film and is populated with actors I would watch in just about any shoot 'em up noir/crime drama. The directing and cinematography are successful and enjoyable. The film is charming, entertaining and is worth watching, but only if you're in to the genre. There's a particularly fun fight scene at night, in a park, that is one of the high points of the film.

The real problem is the script. Apparently there was a lot of on set improvisation, which just doesn't work. It results in some shoddy, stilted dialogue that ups the cheese factor immensely. The writing is also not doing anyone any favors. What starts off as a solid film goes downhill about halfway through when the memory loss idea is conveniently introduced after the first major fire fight. It's what I like to call a convenient inconvenience. A character is doing too well and is provided with an obstacle, usually a cheap twist he or she has no control over that is randomly introduced halfway through the film. The drama is increased because the margin for success is much smaller, but this doesn't hold up to any sort of critical scrutiny or plausible character development. Casablanca is a noteworthy exception.

In retrospect, the script is split strangely in half. The first half is funny, unpredictable, and bad ass. The second half loses most of the humor, throws in weirdo plot twists and sends all the characters to hell in a hand basket in annoying, implausible scenarios.

Vengeance bizarrely opened at Cannes, which is not known to embrace genre films. Despite that, it garnered mostly positive reviews, probably due to a theatrical release in Hong Kong earlier this year and screenings at the Toronto International Film Fest last year. It also reunites a lot of the cast and crew from To's previous, much loved efforts Exiled and Mad Detective. It is also the third installment in a loose trilogy with The Mission and Exiled, insuring at least a rental from To fans.

Vengeance also has a close knit relationship with Jean-Pierre Melville's wonderful noir Le samourai. It's star, Alain Delon, was originally supposed to take the role of Costello, but allegedly turned it down due to disliking the script. Delon's character in Le samourai is named Jef Costello (like Francis Costello) and looks and dressed quite similarly to Vengeance's Costello. They are both hit men, though Delon's Costello is a young man in his prime.

For some reason I really get a kick out of productions, of which their are many in Hong Kong, split between different countries, cultures, and languages. Vengeance is co-production between France and Hong Kong, so that characters jump back and forth between Cantonese, French, and English, which everyone except Anthony Wong speaks badly and with a heavy accent.

If there is any real reason to see this film, it is probably the star power. It's directed by the great Johnnie To, stars Johnny Hallyday, Anthony Wong, Gordon Lam, and Simon Yam. What more do you want? For those of you who don't know any of these names, Johnnie To is a Hong Kong director and producer, most famous for crime/Triad films, for which he has gained a cult following. He has a distinctive style, but is usually able to say something interesting and relevant about Hong Kong society. Critically, he's known for his ability to combine commercial accessibility with artistic vision. And gun fights. If you want to check him out, rent All About Ah-long, his first action film with Chow Yun-fat, Exiled, Election, Mad Detective, The Mission, and Fulltime Killer, which is ridiculous, but is one of my favorite. Most of these are available on Netflix.

Johnny Hallyday is probably lesser known to Americans, but he's basically the French Elvis. He's been insanely popular in France and has branched out into acting, also like the King. He was influenced by Elvis and '50s rock and has had about a billion platinum albums in Europe. As an interesting side note, Jimi Hendrix opened for him on an early tour! He has also hired the likes of Jimmy Page, Peter Frampton and the Small Faces to play with him on studio albums.

The real reason I went to see this, aside from the fact that it's To's newest film, is Anthony Wong. I love him. He's a super famous Hong Kong actor who sometimes gets typecast as villains because he's half-English and half-Chinese and you can't really blame the Chinese for hating the English. He was in Hard-Boiled, The Heroic Trio, The Untold Story, a bunch of Johnnie To films, Infernal Affairs, etc. He is also a director and screenwriter and has produced some Chinese exploitation films. How can I not love a man who made a film called Raped by an Angel 4: The Raper's Union? I'm not kidding.

Finally, it's also nice to see Simon Yam and Gordon Lam. They're both regular supporting actors in dozens of Hong Kong action/crime films, though fans of the genre will probably recognize Yam from To's Fulltime Killer and Lam from Infernal Affairs. I realize it's probably confusing that they have similar sounding last names. Also, I almost forgot to mention Sylvie Tested, who plays Costello's injured daughter. She's a famous French actress and Western audiences should recognize her from La vie en rose, where she plays Piaf's troublesome best friend.

Vengeance is available on DVD and Blu Ray in France and Hong Kong (regions 2 and 3, respectively), but there's a cheap region 1 DVD available from MPI.

MIGHTY PEKING MAN

Meng Hua Ho, 1978
Starring: Evelyne Kraft, Danny Lee, Feng Ku, Wei Tu Lin

Though Mighty Peking Man aka Xing Xing Wang aka Goliathon aka Colossus of the Congo is absurd and flawed, I absolutely loved it. I'm sure the Shaw Brothers have made a film I dislike, but this attempt to cash in on the '70s King Kong remake isn't it.

A heartbroken adventurer, Johnny (Danny Lee), is enticed to track a giant ape through the jungles of India. He discovers that it has been raising and protecting a human woman, Samantha (Evelyne Kraft), who survived a plane crash as a child. Johnny and Samantha fall in love and he convinces her to bring Utan, the giant ape, to Hong Kong. Of course everything that could go wrong does. A sleazy promoter displays Utan in chains and attempts to forcibly put the moves on Samantha. Johnny goes back to his ridiculous ex-girlfriend and Samantha and Utan are left to fend for themselves. Predictably, Utan goes on a mad rampage in his attempts to free Samantha and keep her from harm. Watch out, Hong Kong.

Mighty Peking Man is trashy, funny, full of sexual innuendo and even has a few tearjerker moments. Plus, LOTS of stuff gets smashed. There's a monster, a babe, and an action hero. What more could you want? Be forewarned that, like much of its cinematic brethren, this movie is about as un-PC as it gets. I found the numerous visual references to a sexual relationship between Samantha and Utan hilarious, but I'm sure it will offend someone. Plus, there are obvious connections between Samantha and Utan as equally exploited objects of otherness. It's kind of amazing to see the rampant pro-Asian racism at the heart of the film -- namely that Samantha is constantly reduced to a sexual object, as she can't really speak for most of the film and refuses to wear clothes -- and to add insult to injury, is eventually abandoned for a well-dressed, well-spoken, and otherwise more civilized Chinese woman who wants a wedding and not just a roll in the hay.

Thanks to Quentin Tarantino, it got released on region 1 DVD through his Rolling Thunder label. For fans of exploitation, King Kong, kaiju and, honestly, for anyone with a good sense of humor.

FIVE ELEMENT NINJA

Cheh Chang, 1982
Starring: Tien-chi Cheng, Tien Hsiang Lung, Meng Lo, Wai-Man Chan, Chu Ko

A few ago I started seriously getting into Hong Kong crime cinema (think John Woo, Wong Kar Wai and so on) and that about marks the period where I stopped watching a lot of kung fu films. That's fucking stupid, because so many of them are amazing. Five Element Ninja may not be particularly strong in the budget department, but it's a hell of a lot of fun and has some incredible fight scenes.

Tsiau Chin Hau's kung fu school is disgraced and destroyed by head honcho ninja Cheng Yun and his highly trained five element ninjas. They set the school on fire, kill many of the students and even dispatch the master. Tsiau Chin Hau and a few of his surviving brothers are determined to beat the odds and get revenge. They find a teacher who will help them combine their kung fu training with new-found ninja skills to beat Cheng Yun once and for all.

The real reason to watch this film is the amazing, extended fight sequence at the end of the film with the five elements ninjas. They have to face off against gold, wood, water, fire and earth in some truly bloody and spectacular battles, making Five Element Ninja one of the most visually appealing kung fu films, even if the budget is stretched as far as it can possibly go. There's also some inventive fight choreography designed by co-star Chu Ko that kicks ass and spills a lot of guts. The movie was made primarily to showcase the talents of rising star Tien-chi Cheng and though he kicks ass, fortunately doesn't hog all the screen time from his talented co-stars.

It's the sort of typical kung fu revenge plot where you are expected to root for the underdog with the heart of gold who has lost everything at the brutal hands of his enemies. In this case it's also the classic kung fu masters vs evil ninjas scenario that I am totally in love with. I also have a secret weakness for training sequences in kung fu films and there are some great funny moments when the kung fu students have to master ninjitsu.

Though this comes at the end of the great Chang Cheh's reign as a blockbuster director for Shaw Brothers, it is surprisingly bloody and sexy. There's a totally hot female ninja who is basically only wearing a fishnet body stocking. She's responsible for most of the emotional drama in the film and, predictably, is a crazy bitch.

If you're unfamiliar with Chang Cheh, please seek out more of his work. He is basically the greatest director of Hong Kong martial arts cinema and helped to make a name for the wonderful Shaw Brothers studio, the most prolific production company in Hong Kong history. This was Chang Cheh's last major kung fu film for Shaw Brothers, but produced some of their greatest films during his career -- The One Armed Swordsmen, Five Venoms, The Kid with the Golden Arm, and my personal favorite, Crippled Avengers. He's amazing.

There aren't many flaws at work in Five Element Ninjas. Sure, the budget is non-existent, it's slow in parts and suffers from poor picture quality and bad English dubbing. But who the hell cares? To summarize, this movie rules.

It is readily available from Tokyo Shock and I demand that you watch it immediately. It's also known as Five Element Ninjas and Chinese Super Ninjas, so chances are you will also find it in some of those enormous cheap box sets with 50 different kung fu films.