Taylor Wong

In an attempt to smuggle contraband into Hong Kong, Charles and Chi find themselves in a secret cave where they wake up a princess and a dark martial artist trapped there for centuries. The duo gets magical powers which they use gratuitously, but when the evil master follows them back to Hong Kong they need to step up and save their loved ones.

The effects are absolutely dire and performances are well over the top, but Andy Lau, Pak-Cheung Chan and Joey Wang have good chemistry and the comedy is delightfully daft. The pacing is insane and the film is completely unpredictable, which makes for 100 minutes of solid entertainment. A pleasant surprise.

Shing is a mangaka who draws fantasy novels. On his way to his publisher he nearly crashes his car, but instead of hitting a wall he crosses over into another dimension. There he meets a ghost who looks an awful lot like the woman from his comics. She follows him into the real world, but Shing isn't too pleased with her attention.

With Tony Leung and Joey Wang there's some solid acting talent present, but since this is a comedy they're not really able to show it. The comedy isn't great and the plot is pretty basic too, but the fantasy elements are executed quite well and the pacing is solid. Just a bit of mindless entertainment, certainly not Wong's best, but not bad for someone who usually does action films.

I had already seen the sequel (not knowing it was a sequel, for some reason the English title is Tragic Hero), but that rarely matters with films like these. The plot and stories are pretty much always the same anyway. Crime bosses fighting for survival, young kids rising through the ranks, a bit of betrayal and some hefty shootouts.

Performances are solid, though Lau steals the show. The action is decent but there isn't too much of it. And Taylor Wong plays nice, keeping his tendency to go over-the-top under wraps. The film's a bit long maybe, especially as it doesn't offer much in the way of originality, overall though it was pretty solid filler.

The story revolves around a couple of Mainland Chinese folk who come to Hong Kong, hoping to find a better life there. A very popular subject among directors who want to stray from the beaten path. When they can't land a job, it's no surprise they end up trying making a living by working a local crime boss.

The performances are pretty basic, the cinematography is crude, and the plot is extremely predictable. It's a pretty generic Hong Kong crime flick in many ways, except that Wong doesn't shy away from blood and nudity. These grittier moments stand out, but they can't really save the film.

The pairing of Wong and Andy Lau looked promising on paper, but the dramatic backstory (Lau's an orphan who becomes a lawyer, reconnects with his birth mother and ends up defending her in court) is garish and Wong's execution is stale and lifeless, depriving the film of an emotional core.

At almost two hours the running time is excessive too. The court scenes are sluggish and uneventful, performances lack weight and the cinematography is comatose. It's a complete misfire, a surprisingly dim film from one of Hong Kong's more energetic and daring B-film directors. A big disappointment.